In a bid to become the software capital of Europe, Scotland is putting an infrastructure in place to promote local business as much as possible. The latest initiative is the Livingston Software Innovation Centre – this is the only organisation in Europe that aims to remove the hassles plaguing start-up companies, by providing them with a nice roof over their heads free of charge for the vital six months to a year before they start making money. The Centre is a joint venture between the Livingston Development Corp, a government-funded body set up in 1962 to develop new towns – this organisation provides Centre users with in-house advice on marketing and introduces them to the local information technology and software community; Lothian and Edinburgh Enterprise Ltd, a local enterprise company that provides training, commercial validation of business plans and advice on possible avenues to funding, such as venture capital; and the Scottish Enterprise Software Group, which offers technical and product evaluation. Although users are encouraged to finance themselves via banks and sponsorship from private enterprise, the Centre will provide some personal computer hardware and even software development tools if necessary. Four companies have already signed up to the scheme, and the Centre has the capacity to look after three or four more – it has already had about 20 applications. The four new recruits are Euroquest Solutions, a software developer, integrator and value-added reseller of document imaging products; Interstellar Systems, which has developed an X Window repeater for Digital Equipment Corp boxes, enabling users in diverse locations to share an interactive screen; OST Ltd, which specialises in computer-aided software engineering tools; and Active Applications Ltd, a developer of multimedia systems. The Centre basically consists of a 500 square foot office, housed at Livingston Development Corp headquarters in Livingston – the capital of Silicon Glen, somewhere between Glasgow and Edinburgh. This means that costs are kept to a minimum because overheads, such as lighting, equipment, and any little extras, are paid for out of a centralised annual fund.
Hassle-free environment
The Centre’s goal is to create quality jobs for the local community – not only does it give start-ups a hassle-free environment in which to get their business going, but as they expand, they inevitably take on more staff. Once they start making money, the Centre will then help them move into safe houses, where they pay a single fee to cover rent and bills. Furthermore, according to the Centre’s marketing officer, Ken Forrest, there is no shortage of skilled personnel in the region – not only are there are more graduates per head in Scotland than in any other region of the UK, but 20% of all UK computer science graduates are Scottish. In real terms, this means 20,000 software professionals are now living in the region, while another 7,000 or so students are studying software-related disciplines in Scotland’s 12 universities. As a result, Forrest says the Scottish software community is seeing revenues grow at about 16% per annum, in contrast to the European average of about 7%. Moreover, software is a fast-growing market – the entire European market is currently worth UKP27,000m, but this figure is expected to double by the end of 1995. And Forrest reckons that Scotland, with its excellent telecommunications infrastructure and relatively cheap rent and rates, is well-placed to take advantage of the new barrier-free European Community single market. The plan is to open two more such centres by the end of the year – one in the West, possibly Glasgow, and the other in the North, probably Sterling, to ensure that as wide a geographic coverage as possible is achieved. Other initiatives in the region include Scottish Enterprise’s Match-Maker, whereby well-established Scottish companies are put in contact with their continental counterparts to undertake joint sales, marketing, and product development activities. And a Scottish Partner Centre has als
o been set up to attract companies that are interested in either expanding or setting up headquarters in the region. – Catherine Everett
