Digital Economy Case Study
Tech Ecosystem Building
Over the past two years, Glasgow City Council worked with Dealroom.co, the foremost data provider on startup, early-stage and growth company ecosystems in Europe and around the globe, to build the most comprehensive database of its rapidly growing regional technology ecosystem.
The result is the Glasgow Tech Ecosystem Platform - an open-access database offering to better connect start-ups with investors and corporates, providing real-time insights on the health of the regional innovation economy and showcasing the City Region's wider tech ecosystem to the world.
The single platform is specifically designed to support scaling tech communities, with reliable intelligence, overarching trends and headline figures as well as detailed data on a range of ecosystem actors across the city region. The data covers both funded and unfunded startups and scaleups as well as investors and accelerators, universities, co-working spaces, tech meetups and more.
What is the Glasgow Tech Ecosystem Platform?
Powered by Dealroom, it aims to facilitate connections and improve transparency by providing a shop window to our emerging tech ecosystem both locally & globally. As one of the fastest growing start-up scenes in Europe, stakeholders across the City Region and investors stand to greatly benefit from both using and engaging with the platform.
The new database provides a detailed picture of the evolving tech ecosystem in all its facets and will be refreshed through collaboration with the many stakeholders across the city region. Any startup, investor, or ecosystem stakeholder can add their company and organisation details and enhance their profile - ensuring both open access to real-time data for the community and opening up windows of market opportunity. 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 comprehensive mapping of the pipeline of tech-enabled SMEs allows the tech ecosystem to be more effectively benchmarked and promoted. This robust market square of activity and community fabric was highlighted as an essential ingredient to strengthen resilience and scale and grow SMEs per the recommendations of the Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review (STER).
The first Glasgow City Region Ecosystem Report was recently published to showcase the platform and highlight the strengths and potential areas of growth in the startup ecosystem. By analysing data on funding, exits, and talent, the aim is to provide insights that can inform the decisions of founders, investors, and enablers operating in or considering entering the Glasgow startup market. Additionally, founders, investors, and enablers can claim and enhance their profile on the Database, thereby improving the visibility of their company or portfolios and contributing to the growth of the ecosystem.
For more information, please read an interview with Gavin Smyth, Tech Ecosystem Manager
for The Herald Scotland Special Technology Report.
