A new survey reveals that one in 25 Scots is now employed in the technology sector, boosting the prospects for young people choosing a career in Scotland’s digital future.
The Scottish Technology Industry Survey has highlighted growth the country’s tech sector with 80,000 people working and 1,000 vacancies available.
The news was welcomed by Richard Higgs, chief executive of Scottish cloud hosting and datacentre provider Brightsolid, but he urged more investment and greater encouragement for young people to study science and technology subjects if the country wished to capitalise on the thriving sector.
Higgs said: ““This survey confirms what we in the industry already have long believed – that Scotland’s tech sector is going from strength to strength. With a talented and tech savvy population, and a government that has rightly placed emphasis on innovation to further Scotland’s digital future, the economy is reaping the rewards.
“The question now is how to nurture our growing tech industry, keep it here, and turn Scotland into an IT force on a global scale?
Higgs said it was crucial that Scotland continued to investment in infrastructure. Brightsolid officially opened a £5million datacentre facility in Aberdeen last month.
“The city of Stockholm has more connectivity than the whole of Scotland put together! As this survey shows, Scottish businesses are pursuing innovation, but they need a core underlying infrastructure to keep up with the demands that digital growth requires.”
He also said it was crucial that young people were encouraged to study science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).
“In order to feed Scotland’s growing IT industry, we need home grown talent with the ability to drive innovation. The education system needs to inform young people of the new skills they’ll need in the future, and inspire them to develop these skills.
“Scotland then needs to arm itself to fight a good fight in what has been called ‘the war on talent’ in the tech industry to make sure our next generation of innovators and coders don’t leave for the pull of bigger cities,” he added.
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