Glasgow City Council has announced the roll-out of an “open access” database aimed at showcasing tech startups, investors and corporates in the city.
Working with Dealroom.co, the Glasgow Tech Ecosystem Platform will provide a “comprehensive overview” of the city’s rapidly growing tech ecosystem and offer “real-time insights” on the health of the regional innovation economy.
Figures from Dealroom show that the combined enterprise value of all startups & scale-ups located within the Glasgow City Region currently stands at £2.6 billion.
The single platform is designed to support these scaling tech communities, offering reliable intelligence, overarching trends and headline figures, as well as detailed data on startups, scale-ups, and corporates across the region.
According to the council, the database covers 740+ technology-based startups as well as investors and accelerators, universities, co-working spaces and tech meetups.
Long-term, it is hoped that the database will offer a detailed picture of the evolving tech ecosystem, and will be updated in collaboration with stakeholders across the city.
Any startup, investor, or ecosystem stakeholder can add their company and organisation details and enhance their profile – ensuring open access to real-time data for the community and potentially opening up windows of market opportunity.
In a statement, Glasgow City Council said: “Better tech and investment industry data will support improved local ecosystem connectivity and help promote the Glasgow Metropolitan Area internationally as a promising emerging hub for tech and innovation.”
The mapping of the city’s tech-enabled SMEs will allow the tech ecosystem to be more effectively benchmarked and promoted, the council believes.
Additionally, the initiative with Dealroom follows recommendations outlined in the Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review on ways that the sector can be promoted to a wider global audience.
The council says it has developed and supported a number of other complementary initiatives to address priorities outlined in the Review.
These included support for the city’s first major tech conference in September, as well as the recent launch of two Tech Smart support grants to support collaborative spaces and community events for tech meet-ups.
Councillor Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council, said: “Glasgow has a growing and vibrant tech ecosystem. It’s important that government only intervene in a way that’s helpful and will allow the sector to continue to grow.
“By funding the Glasgow Tech Ecosystem Platform, we will provide the glue that will bring together start-ups, investors and existing players to allow the sector in Glasgow to reach a critical mass.”
Source: DIGIT