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Last month, for a single day, Edinburgh International Conference Centre became the epicentre of Scotland’s AI conversation. More than 30 speakers, hundreds of innovators, investors and industry leaders gathered together for the annual software and technology conference, ScotSoft.
This year we were proud to sponsor the event and send a cohort of 14 startups for a day of deep-dive discussions on AI in Scotland and networking with the industry's top leaders. By backing our founders’ attendance, we wanted to make sure cost wasn’t a barrier to building new connections and exchanging ideas with peers and industry leaders.
Here’s a look at what we learned and what our founders made of it:
Key insights from the day:
“Scotland as the natural place to do AI” was the ambition that Alyn Smith, Scotland’s Minister for Innovation, Technology and Tertiary Education, set out in his ministerial welcome at the start of the conference. It set the tone for the day, with talks and panels focused on what Scotland’s tech sector needs to do to be trusted, competitive and connected to the rest of the economy.
If Scotland wants to be the natural place to do AI, trust has to be part of the offer. That was the argument Emma Logan, Deputy President of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, presented in her keynote speech. She argued that powerful technology paired with weak governance and unclear accountability creates risks that technical capability alone can’t solve. Her point was that trusted AI needs skilled professionals who understand their responsibilities, work to clear ethical standards and can be held accountable for the systems they build.
For founders building in AI, it raises an important question: if something goes wrong with your product, who is accountable, and could you show how you’ve governed it?
Founder perspectives:
For Marcus, founder of Sendix, ScotsSoft gave him direct access to knowledge and networks he couldn't access from his desk in Dundee. Despite the agenda’s focus on cybersecurity, an area outside of Sendix’s focus, he discovered significant overlap in ideas and perspectives through bouncing topics off other attendees. He noted that learning from professional peers was "worth every second of my day," and he even paid it forward on site by pointing another founder toward Techscaler and the startup space.
Crediting Techscaler with putting him "in the room with the right people," Marcus said: "I can name at least one point every single month since we started where Techscaler has provided insane amounts of value to get us to improve and scale."
For Euan, founder of Levara, attending ScotSoft meant gaining direct entry to a calibre of expertise and connections he would have been unlikely to access on his own. Euan spent the day diving into real-world AI agent use cases and corporate tech dynamics, an opportunity he would have missed without Techscaler backing his attendance. In his words: "If it wasn't for Techscaler, I definitely wouldn't be here. Like, I would not be spending £400, £300 to go to this conference and then I would just miss out on that opportunity. So Techscaler has definitely helped me a lot.”
Together, the founders achieved significant engagement at the conference, establishing important pathways for further growth.
Coming next:
Getting Scotland’s founders into rooms like ScotSoft sits at the heart of Techscaler’s mission. With AI evolving at a rapid pace, the founders who are equipped with the right insights and networks are the ones best positioned to scale.
ScotSoft is just one example of the opportunities Techscaler makes available to its members. To be part of future opportunities like this one, become a Techscaler member here.
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