More than 80 tech meetup groups are thriving in Edinburgh, helping the Scottish capital to become one of the UK鈥檚 fastest growing centres for technology start-ups, according to data compiled by Tech City UK.
Tech City UK鈥檚 chief executive Gerard Grech visited Edinburgh as part of the organisation鈥檚 listening tour and met with start-ups, including ShareIn and Machines With Vision, to talk about what Edinburgh young companies need to help achieve their ambitions.
Tech City UK data revealed that in 2018 some 23,571 people are sharing their tech skills through 88 Edinburgh tech meetup groups, helping to put聽the city聽on the map as one of the UK鈥檚 most active tech centres.
Edinburgh is well-known as the home to billion pound tech businesses like Skyscanner and FanDuel but the city鈥檚 strength and depth in software engineering, data analysis,聽artificial intelligence (AI) and deep technology is attracting more companies to the city.
It is also聽persuading more start-ups to base themselves there, according to the data on meetings which is supplied by Meetup.com.
Grech said: 鈥淓dinburgh is one of the jewels in the crown of the UK鈥檚 tech sector as seen in the success of its very own $1bn unicorns, Fanduel and Skyscanner.
鈥淭he tech community here is boosted by the great universities in and around the city and it is great to see that data science and analytics – one of the hot trends in tech right now – is becoming a significant shared skill in the city.鈥�
Software engineering is the main skill being shared across Edinburgh tech Meetup groups, with around 12,000 people claiming to possess programming skills.
Data science/analytics was the next most shared skill, with around 6,000 people claiming to possess expertise in this area.
The abundance of skills in Edinburgh has led to a surge in the number of tech companies in the city.
Some 363 tech start-ups were incorporated in Edinburgh in 2017, according to last year鈥檚 Tech Nation 2017 report.
Many of these new companies are focused on AI, which is being billed as the next great frontier in the technology industry.
Several venture-backed London AI firms 鈥� including autonomous driving start-up FiveAI and AI robot developer Emotech 鈥� have expanded to Edinburgh to capitalise on the city鈥檚 talent pool.
Edinburgh鈥檚 AI companies are attracted in part by the city鈥檚 prestigious university, which boasts the UK鈥檚 longest established centre for AI, The Department of Artificial Intelligence.
Local companies are able to easily draw on the University of Edinburgh鈥檚 students when hiring for new roles.
鈥淲hile we have ten offices across the world, including London and Barcelona, Skyscanner started life in Edinburgh,鈥� said Skyscanner CEO and co-founder Gareth Williams.
鈥淭he thriving digital tech scene in Edinburgh is hugely supportive and collaborative, with a strong sense of camaraderie.鈥�
The openness of Edinburgh鈥檚 groups is one of the main reasons for their popularity聽and聽89 per cent of them have an open membership model, meaning anyone who is interested can join.