In conversation with Kate Forbes MSP, Deputy First Minister of Scotland and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic

With just 9 days left in her role as an MSP before standing down at May’s election, the Deputy First Minister took part in an “In Conversation With” hosted by Sheila Flavell CBE, President of techUK. The wide-ranging discussion reflected on Scotland’s progress in building a world‑class tech ecosystem, and the work still to be done to ensure that growth is sustained across the country.

Ms Forbes began by recalling her first role as the Minister for Public Finance and Digital Economy, during which time she commissioned the STER report - a key moment that paved the way for the creation of TechScaler.

A central theme of her remarks was the importance of asking “so what?”, stressing the importance of not only inputs but outputs. She highlighted that independent data now shows strong growth indicators across Scotland’s tech community, with both the volume of start‑ups and the investment secured by them increasing faster than originally hoped.

This success, she noted, brings a new challenge: ensuring Scotland does not lose high growth companies at the moment they reach an inflection point and require larger pools of capital or specialised talent to scale. Supporting companies to start, scale and stay in Scotland is now a key area of focus for the government.

The Deputy First Minister also addressed how government itself is evolving. She spoke about efforts to digitise and adopt AI across government processes - a necessity given ongoing pressures on public finances. She stressed the importance of collaboration with industry, both to accelerate adoption and to ensure innovations can be translated into real operational improvements.

Zooming out, the Minister outlined the broader landscape: Scotland is now home to 2,970 scale-ups and a pipeline of 1,400 scaling companies. She highlighted that two regions - HIE and Edinburgh South East - are UK standouts for density of scaling businesses. This, she argued, reinforces the need for infrastructure and support across the whole of Scotland, not just the central belt.

Reflecting on ongoing work, she referenced the recently commissioned scaleup report from Shane Corstorphine, which focuses on priority areas such as capital, governance, and talent - all critical factors for retaining and accelerating Scotland’s most promising companies. She reiterated that government does not want to lose start-ups at the moment they begin to scale due to gaps in the support ecosystem.

When asked about her proudest moments in government, the Minister returned to TechScaler. She spoke about the fight to secure funding and build the programme, and the satisfaction now of seeing its role in the expansion of the start‑up economy and the wider tech ecosystem.

techUK would like to thank the Deputy First Minister for being part of our Tech Policy Conference, her support for growing the tech sector and we wish her well in her life after frontline politics.

Nations and Regions Programme activities

techUK champions the tech sector throughout the UK. We work with local authorities, devolved government, and local and national policy makers to advocate for the tech sector in strengthening economic growth and resilience across the nations and regions. Visit the programme page here