Edinburgh the UK's second biggest hub for tech start-ups

Scottish Development International (SDI) said that only in London are there more technology start-ups in the UK. It said 44 university 'spin-outs' were created in Edinburgh last year.

Spin-outs are where universities split an area of their research operations from the rest of their organisation so as to separately commercialise the opportunities they have identified from their research.

"2014/15 marked the year in which Scotland produced its first two ‘unicorns’ – technology companies with valuations in excess of $1 billion and the country’s capital, Edinburgh, took pole position in the UK for the most technology start ups outside of London with a record number of 44 university start ups and spin outs in the year," SDI said.

Flight-booking platform Skyscanner and PureLiFi, a business that has developed a means of mobile wireless communication using light, are the two unicorn companies, SDI said.

Neil Francis, director of international operations at SDI said: “Scotland’s innovative technology sector has gone from strength to strength in recent years and is benefitting from, not only a very active risk capital market, but a unique set of science and innovation assets clustered around its capital, Edinburgh. It is now widely recognised as one of the UK’s most successful technology start-up communities and thanks to the strength of the region’s higher education sector and business environment for start-ups, continues to produce, nurture fast growing digital companies with true global potential." 

"We’ve been working close with the sector in Scotland to help support with across a wide range of areas including access to finance, commercialisation and internationalisation," Francis said.