Techscaler Programme 2022-2024: early evaluation - main report

1 Introduction

1.1 This evaluation report

This report presents the findings from the independent early evaluation of the Techscaler Programme which was commissioned by the Scottish Government.

The evaluation was undertaken by EKOS, in partnership with Frontline and Research Resource, between January and December 2025. Representatives from the Chief Economist and Economic Development directorates in the Scottish Government have been part of the steering group to help guide the research.

The Techscaler Programme is the Scottish Government’s flagship, transformational programme for creating, developing, and scaling digital technology (tech)^[1] startups in Scotland. The overall policy proposal is to develop longstanding entrepreneurship infrastructure to propel startup and scaleup within the Scottish digital tech ecosystem.

The aims of the early evaluation were to:

• undertake an early indicative impact assessment in relation to emerging and intermediate outcomes achieved (for example, emerging and intermediate capabilities within supported individuals and companies, and across the ecosystem).
• undertake a process evaluation, and to provide a summary of the findings.
• identify lessons learned of Techscaler Programme delivery experience to date to facilitate continuous improvement in terms of implementation and delivery.
• provide recommendations as appropriate.

The early evaluation covered the period July 2022 to December 2024, and future evaluations of the programme are planned. The Techscaler Programme entered its third year of delivery in 2025 and CodeBase has continued to refine, develop, and improve programme processes and support in line with Scottish Government and user feedback as well as market trends.

Changes that have been made include for example:

• the development of new education courses such as Techscaler Catalyst which offers guided progression aligned to founder stage, pace, and ambition — an intensive 10-week accelerator, delivered by founders and industry experts.
• bringing in entrepreneurs in residence to support companies.
• closer engagement with universities, for example via AI Discovery — a nine-week programme to help postgraduate researchers in Scotland become startup founders.
• a shift in focus of the mentorship programme toward more one-to-one support for growth and scaling stage businesses (as defined by CodeBase) while replacing some early‑stage one-to-one capacity with one-to-many group mentorship to increase reach and efficiency.
• continuing expansion of international programmes.

Further, additional changes are in the process of taking place, including efforts to strengthen financial reporting to the Scottish Government in order to provide more granular detail.

Please see Appendix I for more information.

This evaluation report has not considered the changes introduced in 2025 in line with the agreed time period for this early evaluation.

1.2 Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review

The independent Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review (STER, August 2020) was commissioned by the Scottish Government to better understand the nature and extent of blockages and challenges that exist in the tech ecosystem in Scotland. The STER was authored by Professor Mark Logan, former Chief Operating Officer at Skyscanner.

Subsequently, Professor Mark Logan was appointed as Chief Entrepreneur to act as a senior adviser to the programme to deliver the remaining recommendations of STER. Professor Mark Logan left this role in 2024 and Ana Stewart was appointed the Scottish Government’s new Chief Entrepreneur in April 2025.

STER’s main observation was that technology ecosystems exist in either the ‘post-tipping point’ (the preferred state) or ‘pre-tipping point’ state.

While Scotland’s technology ecosystem is the strongest it has ever been, it remains in a pre-tipping point state. The ‘post-tipping point’ state is characterised by a critical mass of viable startups and scaleups to continually strengthen the ecosystem without requirement for state intervention.

The Techscaler Programme’s origins stem from the recommendations contained within the STER to help strengthen the country’s tech sector, encourage entrepreneurship, and accelerate maturity of the Scottish ecosystem.

“By this we mean the system, in its widest sense, that supports and nurtures technology businesses in Scotland, from the early startup phase through to fully scaled maturity.” (STER, 2020)

The recommendations in STER seek to optimise the rate at which large scaleup and unicorns are achieved, as well as to create other successful companies of scale along the way, see Figure 1.1.

Source: STER, 2020

The origins of the Techscaler Programme stem from the report’s central recommendation that Scotland should:

“Create a nationwide network of Tech-Scaler centres…whose capabilities build upon and extend beyond traditional incubation programmes. Tech-Scalers combine best practice in incubation, intensive founder education in Internet Economy best practice, ecosystem social infrastructure, and integrated funding. Access to all services would be provided both physically and in a fully-virtualised form, enabling country-wide participation in Scotland’s high-technology economy.”

The overall goal is to help increase the rate of profitable, scaled tech businesses, and reduce the average time taken for viable individual startups to reach scale —the theory is that building startups is teachable, and that being playbook-literate can help communicate and build ideas better, and faster.

STER emphasised the importance of implementing the recommendations in their entirety — not least as the interventions identified are mutually reinforcing, and in order to evolve the ecosystem at pace and achieve transformational change.

The Scottish Government, in its formal response (September 2020) to the technology review accepted the STER recommendations in full. The STER recommendations were welcomed by the then Finance Secretary Kate Forbes who said:

”The review provides an industry-led blueprint for the Scottish tech industry, outlining the actions necessary to elevate the sector to a world-class level.“

1.3 Procuring a delivery partner for the Techscaler Programme

The Scottish Government began an open, competitive procurement exercise for delivery of the ‘Tech-scalers Network’ (now known as the Techscaler Programme) in November 2021. The procurement exercise was undertaken to secure a suitably qualified and experienced independent supplier with a proven track record in helping technology startups and scaleups to learn, grow and achieve their ambitions.

The Scottish Government specification for the Techscaler Programme set out that:

“The service provider will undertake the administration and management of a national network of tech-scalers — new economic infrastructure to provide technology startups and scaleups with the community environment, networks, support, and education they need to grow. This will include the provision of first-rate commercial education, mentoring, virtual support, and the facilitation of a vibrant peer community.”

Following the procurement exercise and scoring process, the Scottish Government identified CodeBase (an ecosystem builder in Scotland, the UK and internationally since 2014) as its preferred service provider and delivery partner for the Techscaler Programme.

The Techscaler Programme mobilisation period commenced on 8 July 2022, and the programme formally launched on 30 November 2022. STER recommended:

“At least a five-year contract window (with appropriate exit clauses for non-performance), based on a combination of key build-out milestones, occupancy milestones and performance against an ecosystem-value-based north-star metric with associated target levels. This timescale provides a sufficient period for the model and implementation to demonstrate its value to the ecosystem and aligns the measurement of that value with the point in the ecosystem where the value is manifested.”

In November 2022, Scottish Ministers published an update on the progress on implementing the recommendations from Professor Mark Logan's review of Scotland's technology ecosystem. The report notes that it remains important to support the growth of startups as a way to boost the economy, unlock sustainable growth and better career opportunities. While the report acknowledged that Scotland’s entrepreneurial activity was improving, there is recognition that transformational change of the scale required is a long-term process — and that Scotland is still in the ‘pre-tipping point’ stage.

1.4 The Techscaler Programme

The Techscaler Programme’s investment from the Scottish Government represents a significant investment for entrepreneurship support. The programme is key to the Scottish Government’s ambitions as reflected in the National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET, March 2022) for Scotland to be a top performing startup economy by cultivating a culture of innovation and high growth entrepreneurship — for Scotland to be recognised at home and throughout the world as the best place to start and to grow a business, and as a nation of entrepreneurs and innovators.

Techscaler vision, ambition, mission, and method

• Vision: Scotland is recognised as Europe’s leading startup economy.
• Ambition: The Scottish ecosystem reaches tipping point and generates positive economic output.
• Mission: Increase the number of successful tech startups from a diverse group of founders.
• Method: Deliver a programme which supports founders and employees to accelerate the creation and growth of tech startups

The Scottish Government continues to invest significantly in innovation, enterprise, and entrepreneurship. Despite challenging financial conditions, the 2025–2026 budget breakdown shows a significant increase compared to the previous year. This growth reflects the Government’s ambition to establish Scotland as a top-performing start-up economy by cultivating a culture of innovation and high-growth entrepreneurship. The entrepreneurship programme has a budget of £23.4 million for the 2025–2026 financial year.

The Scottish Government in its specification for the procurement of the Techscaler Programme identified seven broad objectives, based on the STER recommendations, to guide programme delivery.

The objectives are to:

• contribute, over time, to a sustained increase in the rate of profitable, scaled technology businesses generated by the Scottish tech ecosystem.
• create, for the first time, a truly world-class national infrastructure to co-locate, educate, and scale technology companies.
• provide technology companies with free access to first-rate commercial education in internet economy growth techniques and related disciplines.
• provide technology companies with access to high-quality, long-term, flexible, and affordable incubation space.
• support the creation of a world-class community and market square environment — facilitating collaboration, networking, and the exchange of ideas.
• provide full virtual access to commercial education and community events for technology companies unable to physically co-locate.
• provide a clear focal point for the Scottish tech ecosystem and to create a scaled, expert partner to collaborate with the broader STER programme to establish Scotland as a first-rate European tech hub.

These objectives formed the basis of the Services Contract between the Scottish Government and CodeBase, and this early evaluation has sought to explore progress in delivery.

To deliver against the specified programme objectives, the Techscaler Programme in the first two years of delivery has provided eligible members with access to a range of activities and support under three broad pillars. This has included support to:

1. Build core startup and scaleup skills — the Techscaler Programme provides Scottish entrepreneurs with access to expert-led education courses and mentorship sessions which provide founders with the practical playbooks, frameworks, and tools needed to launch and grow their business. STER notes that education is important since pre-tipping point ecosystems such as Scotland will typically lack a critical mass of experienced founders and senior employees — ‘since we are short on experience we must go long on education.’

2. Foster social infrastructure development — the Techscaler Programme nurtures a supportive community which supports founders and their teams to make valuable connections, explore collaborative opportunities, and find relevant support from ecosystem builders and experts.

3. Increase investor connectivity and internationalisation — the Techscaler Programme fosters actionable connections with investors, creating accessible funding pathways for high potential companies and offers global opportunities through international residencies.

The Techscaler Programme is one of the 27 entrepreneurial support programmes listed in the Scottish Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Guide 2025-2026 (Scottish Enterprise). What distinguishes the Techscaler Programme from other ecosystem support provision in Scotland is that it is a national endeavour and has a focus on people — it invests in founders and their teams to provide the right support and environments to help reach their potential.

In line with STER, the Techscaler Programme offers members access to physical and social infrastructure such as education courses, expert mentorship, fundraising support, partnerships, community and events, and a network of physical hubs. STER recommended that the network of physical hubs should initially be created in six cities — Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, and Stirling.

CodeBase, via the Techscaler Programme, also seeks to work collaboratively with other ecosystem players to:

• build capability and entrepreneurial skills.
• increase the average likelihood of startup success.
• engage and support companies on their growth journey.
• establish Scotland as a leading startup economy and tech ecosystem.

The Scottish Government purposefully designed the specification for the procurement of the delivery of the Techscaler Programme and its objectives to be broad. This was with a view to inviting bidders to:

• provide their own vision for the service.
• encourage innovation in service delivery.
• ensure sufficient flexibility within the Services Contract for the Scottish Government’s Techscaler Programme delivery partner to continue to evolve how, and what, is delivered through the programme in response to changing needs and circumstances and based on experimentation and learning — but within the parameters of the Techscaler Programme objectives.

1.5 Scotland is performing well in startup creation and attracting equity investment

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Scotland 2024-2025 Report notes that entrepreneurial activity in Scotland has reached record levels, with one in ten adults now starting or running a young business. The latest survey shows that 10.4% of working-age adults were engaged in early-stage entrepreneurship in 2024 — the highest figure recorded since GEM began tracking Scotland’s entrepreneurial landscape in 2002. With an additional 8% of adults reporting as established business owners (in operation for more than 42 months), it means nearly one in five Scots are now classed as entrepreneurs.

Recent market intelligence in The State of Investment in Scotland (Beauhurst, May 2025) also shows that Scotland is performing well in startup creation and attracting equity investment.

“If we discount the heights of post COVID-19 funding where 2021 and 2022 saw huge amounts of capital injected all across the UK, Scotland’s investment seems to be on the steady incline. This is particularly positive if we consider that the amount of investment and the number of deals is on the decline across the UK as a whole.

In fact, from 2023 to 2024, the amount invested into Scottish companies grew by 24%. And while the number of deals dropped by 9% year-on-year, it shows that there’s still investor confidence in Scottish companies — and even that investors are choosing to invest larger amounts”.

The tech sector — particularly in application software and data services — accounts for about one-third of all equity deals. While this is below the UK average (where tech makes up half of all deals), it is still a strong showing. Funding activity in 2025 has been led by venture-stage and scaling companies. This suggests that Scottish investors are showing greater interest in later-stage businesses than the UK average.

Further, the TechNation Report (2025) paints a positive picture at a Scotland level — key findings in this report include that:

• London dominates the UK tech sector (based on a market share of 59%) but exciting tech hubs are emerging and fast-growing elsewhere, including in Scotland, East Midlands, and North East England. Scotland’s market share is 2.2% and has a value of $25.6 billion.
• London-based startups raised 7x more in venture capital investment than any other UK region in 2024, while Scotland and the East of England have seen the biggest growth in investment — Scotland saw venture capital funding increase by 120% to $660 million between 2020 and 2024 (a 4.1% share of total investment raised in the UK).
• Scotland’s tech sector is growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)^[2] of 19% — the second highest in the UK after the East Midlands (21%), and higher than Greater London (12%) and the UK as a whole (12.5%). It is higher than other European counties, including France (12%), Sweden (10%), Germany (7.5%), Netherlands (6%) and Switzerland (6%).
• London-based founders give up the least equity (11.6%) when raising early stage funding — the equivalent for Scotland-based founders is 13.1% which is considered good.
• Scotland has three unicorns headquartered in the country.

Three Scottish startups made TechNation’s Future Fifty Report 2025 (September 2025) which places a spotlight on the UK’s top 50 late-stage tech scaleups poised for global impact. The three Scottish startups that made the list are Techscaler members demonstrating the strength of Scotland’s potential.

The signals are positive, as the Techscaler Programme moves into its third year of delivery to help further grow and accelerate Scotland’s tech sector. The data above, and wider insights captured through this evaluation, suggests that there is an ongoing need and strategic rationale for interventions such as the Techscaler Programme that aim to further propel startup and scaleup within the Scottish digital tech ecosystem.

1.6 Purpose and scope of the early evaluation

Relationship to future Techscaler evaluations

The Scottish Government is developing a longer-term evaluation programme to assess and evidence whether the Techscaler Programme has been delivered as intended and to measure its outcomes and impact. A letter from the then Deputy First Minister (dated 17 June 2024) considered at the Economy and Fair Work Committee noted that:

“We are scoping an early evaluation exercise for next year to learn lessons from the Techscaler delivery experience to support continuous improvement.”

As set out in the letter, a more strongly outcome focussed evaluation (impact evaluation) is planned at a later stage in the programme’s delivery to assess ‘harder’ quantifiable economic impacts.

Programme period in scope of the early evaluation (2022-2024)

This early evaluation of the Techscaler Programme is the first stage of that longer-term evaluation programme and covers the period from procurement of the contract to the mobilisation period as well as the first two full years of programme delivery — the period from July 2022 to December 2024. The evaluation covers a specific point in time, and CodeBase has continued to adapt Techscaler Programme delivery as the programme moved into its third year of delivery, and in tandem with the evaluation process. Future impact evaluations of the programme will consider the remaining years of the contract.

Research aims, objectives and approach

For the process evaluation element of the research, the Magenta Book specifies that this type of evaluation has a focus on how a policy, project, or programme was implemented.

Process evaluations examine whether the delivery of the intervention matches the intended design, and it investigates how the intervention’s operational processes contributed to or hampered its outcomes.

Key questions addressed in process evaluations include:

• implementation fidelity: was the policy or programme delivered in the way it was originally planned? If not, what changed and why?
• reach and coverage: who received (or did not receive) the intervention and to what extent were certain populations missed?
• delivery mechanisms: which delivery mechanisms or processes were most and least effective?
• contextual factors: how did external factors (for example, socioeconomic context, political environment, staffing, stakeholder engagement) influence delivery?
• resource use and efficiency: were resources (time, personnel, funds) used effectively in implementing the intervention?

In relation to the impact assessment element of the early evaluation it is understood that it will take time for the Techscaler Programme to translate into these types of outcomes — recognising the lead-in time for genuine transformation in the companies supported and ecosystem will take years.

The focus of this early evaluation has been on the extent to which the support provided is building the capabilities and expertise of entrepreneurs and what improvements can be made to how the support is provided and on how the programme is administered.

The evaluation findings and recommendations from the evaluation team will be considered by the Scottish Government, and in turn CodeBase and stakeholders, as government looks to maximise the impact and value for money from its investment. The data captured through the research will also be used by the Scottish Government to help inform future evaluations of the Techscaler Programme, acting as a baseline to measure progress.

1.7 Report structure

The remainder of this evaluation report has been structured as follows:

• Chapter 2 provides an overview of the evaluation methodology.
• Chapter 3 provides an overview of Techscaler Programme mobilisation and implementation to December 2024, including financial reporting.
• Chapter 4 presents a summary of the feedback received from Techscaler members, including those highly and least engaged with Techscaler Programme activities and support.
• Chapter 5 presents a summary of the feedback received from Techscaler mentors.
• Chapter 6 presents the main themes arising from the stakeholder and partner interviews undertaken as part of the early evaluation.
• Chapter 7 presents an early indicative impact assessment of the Techscaler Programme to date.
• Chapter 8 presents the conclusions of the evaluation.
• Chapter 9 provides the recommendations from the evaluation team to the Scottish Government.

The evaluation is supported by the following appendices:

• Appendix A — Recommended actions from this evaluation
• Appendix B — Study methodology.
• Appendix C — Stakeholder organisations interviewed.
• Appendix D — Lessons learned from undertaking the early evaluation.
• Appendix E — Techscaler Programme context
• Appendix F — Current theory of change and critical review.
• Appendix G — International connectivity.
• Appendix H — Technical impact assessment.
• Appendix I — Post 2024 changes to programme delivery (some examples).

A standalone executive summary has been published separately to this main evaluation report.

The supplementary report which has been provided separately to this main evaluation report contains the full survey findings and data tables, with summary findings presented in this main evaluation report.

The fieldworks materials document contains the topic guides and survey questionnaires used for the primary research stage of the evaluation.