A new series of ‘scaleup’ events for entrepreneurs chose Glasgow Tech Week to launch a nationwide programme across the UK.
ScaleUp Britain hosted its first event in the city to support scaling business leaders and founders in their local communities.
The conference on Monday was hosted in collaboration with the University of Strathclyde at the Technology and Innovation Centre.
It brought together experts from across the business community including the London Stock Exchange, Innovate UK and the British Business Bank.
Alisdair Gunn, Director, Glasgow City Innovation District, organisers of Glasgow Tech Week, said: “Scaleups are an engine of economic prosperity, and having the ScaleUp Britain conference as one of Glasgow Tech Week’s key events, plays a crucial role in shaping our economic landscape.”
The event was organised by the ScaleUp Institute, a private sector, not-for-profit company focused on making the UK the best place in the world to scale up a business.
Research conducted by the institute shows Britain’s scaleup businesses contribute 60 per cent of output from UK small and medium-sized (SME) firms.
In Scotland, 3,000 scaling businesses account for 246,000 jobs, generating over £62.2billion in annual turnover, with 600 growing at a rate of more than 50 per cent, the analysis showed.
However, Scottish scaleup CEOs continue to be hampered by barriers to growth, with 70 per cent citing issues with accessing the right talent, the research found.
Furthermore, the data showed 69 per found it difficult to access new markets and 42 per cent struggled to access finance. Four in 10 felt the southeast of the UK had better access to capital.
Irene Graham OBE, CEO ScaleUp Institute said: “As our new analysis shows, our ScaleUp economy of now 34,180 businesses, remains vital to the UK in every sector and locality, representing half of all SME turnover output despite making up less than 0.6% of the SME population. This reinforces the resilience of our scaleups both in traditional sectors such as wholesale and retail and the strength of our evolving science and tech base which continues to grow.
“The contribution of Scottish scaleups to the UK economy is absolutely critical but they remain concerned on getting the right talent, finance and market access. I’m therefore delighted to be launching ScaleUp Britain here in Glasgow Tech Week with the local ecosystem and our partners, including the London Stock Exchange: Together we are determined to address Scottish businesses scaling needs and support their global ambitions.”
