Mark Logan, the Scottish Government’s chief entrepreneurial advisor, has revealed a new initiative designed to position Scotland as a global leader in deeptech.
The ex-Skyscanner chief detailed how the Scottish ecosystem is primed to become a deeptech superpower with its stellar universities and strong startup ecosystem.
“Scotland is commencing a phased, multi-year programme to establish a series of Deeptech advanced manufacturing pathways across several technology domains,” Logan wrote.
The initiative aims to give spinouts, deeptech startups, and deeptech businesses better access to advanced manufacturing capabilities in Scotland, as well as expertise in the field.
Though Scotland boasts the highest per-capita concentration of world-class universities in the world, according to QS World Rankings, and these universities develop top tier spinouts and startups, developing beyond the prototyping stage has proven a challenge as manufacturing opportunities are difficult to access.
This has caused companies to either move away from Scotland, or to stagnate at the protype stage, highlighting the need for advanced manufacturing capabilities in Scotland to be more accessible.
“What if Scotland’s tech sector included a series of advanced manufacturing pathways, across a variety of key tech domains that enabled deeptech and related start-ups to move from prototyping to limited-scale manufacture in Scotland?” Logan posed.
The initiative in answer to this query would sit alongside other programmes in Scotland, including Techscaler, Filament STAC, and the nation’s range of accelerator programmes.
Pathways would vary depending on the entry point and end goals but typically would begin with a startup already at the deeptech prototyping stage, which would then be supported by a physical environment to construct an advanced manufacturing line, provided with access to a shared supply chain and expertise, and discounted access to contract manufacturers in Scotland.
The initiative, cited as “bold” by Logan, will work on building a network of advanced manufacturing pathways across Scotland, and start providing a model in one technology domain before progressing to others.
Phase 1 of the programme will be located at the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District (AMIDS) in Renfrewshire, which is already a National Manufacturing Institute of Scotland (NMIS) advanced manufacturing demonstrator.
The site will house a dedicated facility for manufacturing line set up, along with supply chain discovery support.
“It’s been exciting to witness both the collective ambition and collaborative spirit of so many stakeholders in getting to this point,” Logan wrote.
“The Deeptech Supercluster initiative is an important step in establishing Scotland as one of the world’s best places to launch and scale a Deeptech start-up.”