|
|
In looking to a more proactive way forward, the objective set for Ernst & Young was to define a strategy to create and enable an economically strong software industry in Scotland. Our terms of reference determined that such an industry should be coherent and compare favourably in measurable respects to other comparable regions. It would operate with world class practices and be a high value-added centre.
To achieve this vision for Scottish software will require a marked change to the current industry structure. Scotland has no major indigenous software players that would provide a central focus to the mass of smaller firms, or the critical mass necessary for seedbeds of innovation and business formation, to attract skills and retain the computer sciences graduates trained in Scotland each year many of whom borne Scotland and apply their skills elsewhere.
There are two mechanisms for overcoming this structural gap in the short to mid term; grow existing, medium-sized firms to create indigenous larger firms, and/or inward investment. We will show that the key to achieving both these mid-term aims is “internationalisation”; that is, that Scottish firms engage more fully in world-level markets and supply chains. This will be underpinned by more substantial “productisation” than is currently the case in Scotland. Longer term, Scotland should build the critical mass and local innovative culture that underpins successful, globally important software regions. This is a challenging and exciting vision.
|
|