Scots Business Leaders Call for Lower Rates In New Budget - DIGIT Tech News Roundup

Welcome to the latest edition of the DIGIT Tech News Roundup.?

In this week’s newsletter, we will cover some of our top-trending tech news stories, features and op-eds from the week beginning the 6th of November.?

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DIGIT's Top Trending Stories

Scots Business Leaders Call for Lower Rates In New Budget

A consortium of business leaders urged the deputy first minister to freeze business rates ahead of the government budget.?

The coalition of 35 business leaders from organisations representing various sectors of Scottish industry and commerce sent a collective letter to Shona Robison MSP, deputy first minister and finance secretary, calling for a freeze on business rates in the upcoming budget.?

The new budget is set to be released on 19 December this year, and will determine the business rate and associated reliefs and thresholds for the 2024-25 financial year.

The call for a freeze comes on the backdrop of increasing rates, which companies say are putting a further burden on them in an already challenging economic environment.?

Scottish Enterprise and Innovate UK to Spur Scots Innovation Further

Due to a new agreement between Scottish Enterprise and Innovate UK, Scots businesses are set to benefit from increased support and easier access to funding.

Scotland’s national economic development agency and the UK’s innovation agency have entered a Memorandum of Understanding which aims to deliver “further and faster” assistance to Scottish businesses.

Adrian Gillespie, chief executive of Scottish Enterprise, and Indro Mukerjee, his counterpart at Innovate UK, both signed the agreement that will leverage additional innovation and investment into Scotland at the CAN DO Innovation Summit in Glasgow Science Centre.

“Our collaboration with Innovate UK means business support that’s easier to access and navigate,” said Adrian Gillespie, chief executive of Scottish Enterprise.

UK Gov to Expand Controversial “Snoopers’ Charter”

The UK Government proposes to expand its internet investigatory powers amidst privacy concerns.?

In a contentious move, King Charles III announced the government’s intention to expand the powers of the controversial 2016 Investigatory Powers Act during the State Opening of Parliament.

The Act, commonly known as the “snoopers’ charter” is made up of a range of provisions, such as requiring broadband internet service providers and mobile operators to log internet connection records (ICRs) for up to 12 months. As it stands, the ICRs are made up of IP addresses, visited servers, and timestamps, but are considered not to contain the content of communications made.?

Now, due to the evolved nature of threats facing the UK since 2016, the government is proposing changes to grant broader investigative powers to security and law enforcement agencies, allowing deeper scrutiny of online activities.

Dundee Fintech Firm Launches New Tech School

The Dundee-based financial services company hopes to bridge the skills gap and empower the local community through the new initiative.?

Financial services firm Embark Group has launched the brand new Dundee Tech School, which intends to create a pipeline of high-value fintech and technology roles and inject fresh investment in the Dundee economy.

The facility is the latest part of a wider initiative, started in 2020, which aims to create 150 new jobs in Dundee.

The Dundee Tech School is situated within Embark’s West Marketgait office and has initially recruited 12 graduates and career changers into junior software developer roles.

Scottish Enterprise Supports Record Number of Spinouts

Scottish Enterprise, the national economic development agency, has supported the highest-ever number of academic spinouts via its High Growth Spinout Program (HGSP), figures for the 2022-23 financial year reveal.

Scottish Enterprise supports research teams to commercialise ideas and projects, helping to transform them into commercial businesses. In total, 33 research teams were supported by the development agency in FY22/23, receiving ￡2.06 million in grant funding.

The projects come from research institutions including the universities of Strathclyde, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Heriot-Watt, Napier, and the James Hutton Institute.

Bruntwood SciTech’s ￡60M Met Tower Refurb Gets Green Light

The approved plans mark a new milestone in preparation for the refurbishment of the former City of Glasgow College, bringing the Grade B-listed building back into use following a 10-year period of vacancy.

The redeveloped Met Tower, which is scheduled to open in Winter 2025, will serve as a new technology and digital hub in the heart of the city centre and within the Glasgow City Innovation District. With its ￡60m investment into the project, Bruntwood SciTech will also create a new 10 storey tower which will interconnect with the building.

The plans outline how the existing 110,000 sq ft 14-storey Met Tower will be redeveloped to offer 2-40 person serviced offices and larger leased office space, accompanied with multiple meeting rooms including a 16-person boardroom, breakout spaces, a wellness and treatment room, a grab and go cafe, and a multi-faith room.

Edinburgh Care Homes Using AI to Monitor Residents’ Pain

Two-family-run Edinburgh care homes are at the leading-edge of artificial intelligence (AI) – having implemented new technology that assess tiny changes in expressions to understand residents’ pain and comfort levels.

One of Scotland’s top rated care home groups, Elder Homes Ltd, has adopted PainChek’s AI technology across its two Edinburgh care homes to assist staff in assessing pain levels for its 90+ residents.

PainChek uses AI facial recognition to analyse facial expression from a smart device’s camera. It detects pain indicators like grimaces and winces and guides caregivers through observing other pain behaviours like vocalisations and movements in resulting in an overall pain score to help monitor the effectiveness of pain management over time.