Last week we wrote a summary of The Logan Review, Mark Logan’s astonishing report, which reimagines the role, the scope, the success and the future of Scotland’s digital technology ecosystem.
The full report runs to 89 carefully considered pages. In our review, we highlighted many of the recommendations made, which stretched from primary school education, through to a national network of tech hubs to support startups.
If you’ve not yet read it, or if you think 89 pages sounds like a part-time job, we wrote a quick 2,000 word summary which you can find here. If you work in tech, are studying to work in tech, teach, or are interested in the potential future of Scotland, it’s worth your while.
The reaction to the review was almost universally positive. It was praised as bold, detailed, holistic and valuable by everyone from industry and media, through to education and academia. The question then became, what would happen next?
Earlier this week the Scottish Government announced its Programme for Government (PfG) for 2020-2021, outlining the policy and legislation they will pursue over the next 12 months.
The Logan Review was accepted in full. Kate Forbes MSP, the cabinet secretary for finance, tweeted:
Ms Forbes then went on record later that day to provide more details of how the review will be implemented, in a 10 minute statement to the Scottish parliament. You can watch the whole statement here:
In her statement, Ms Forbes noted several key points from the review:
- The creation of a national network of hubs, known as Tech Scalers, to foster the next generation of Scottish start-ups, offering entrepreneurs world-class training and mentoring opportunities
- Establishing an Ecosystem Fund to make strategic investments in the Scottish tech sector, such as in tech conferences, schemes to increase the volume of start-ups emerging from universities and extra-curricular activity in schools
- Create a formal partnership with the digital technology sector to ensure the creation of a Scotland where start-ups can thrive
- A partnership between government, education and industry to reimagine the teaching of computer science and other disciplines, to inspire pupils and address gender imbalance
- Greater focus on the creation on innovative new startups from universities
- A more strategic and engaged use of the global Scottish diaspora
- A formal partnership with the tech industry to deliver the full review
The Scottish Games Network is already speaking to government and other industry organisations to ensure that the games industry is represented and that the full potential of our rapidly evolving sector, from development and academia, to esports and applied gaming, are part of this drive towards a more positive and successful future.