Graham Hatton of StartEDIN gave us his thoughts on the success of Edinburgh’s tech cluster, ahead of their networking event later this month

I love Edinburgh. What’s not to love? There’s a castle and a volcano (dormant) in the city centre! Anyone who has visited Edinburgh will know that it is one of Europe’s most beautiful cities. However, most visitors will probably be unaware of the city’s vibrant tech scene.

Many of the UK’s leading tech firms have grown in Edinburgh including Skyscanner, FreeAgent, Rockstar North and FanDuel. The city has also welcomed global companies such as Amazon who based their Scottish Development Centre in Edinburgh. In addition to well-established companies Edinburgh is also popular with start-ups. The UK’s largest tech incubator, Codebase, is located at the foot of Edinburgh Castle.

Academic excellence has been an important factor is Edinburgh’s success. The University of Edinburgh’s School of Informatics has produced more world-leading and internationally excellent research than any other university in the UK according to the REF 2014 assessment for computer science and informatics.

With the tech sector across the UK moving so quickly and it can hard to keep up with the latest developments. For those interested in what’s happening in Edinburgh we’re hoping to make things a bit easier. First of all we’ve produced a short film so you can hear directly from tech companies on why they love Edinburgh.

We’re also hosting a networking event in London on the 26 March to bring people up to speed. Graeme Smith (MD of the Amazon Development Centre) and Richard Lennox (Senior Architect) Skyscanner will talk about the work their companies are doing and the opportunities they have available. You’ll also be able to chat to people from other Edinburgh tech companies.

And finally for those interested in working in Edinburgh the people behind the Silicon Milkroundabout jobs fair will be hosting their first event outside London in Edinburgh. The event on the 7th March is a great opportunity to meet with a wide range of tech companies who are all hiring. You can also climb a volcano during your visit!

StartEDIN is a recently formed collaboration between Edinburgh’s tech companies and the City of Edinburgh Council with the aim of promoting Edinburgh’s tech scene.

We recently wrote a cluster profile piece on Edinburgh’s digital cluster following the launch of Tech Nation, which you can read here. Core Tech Nation project partner DueDil have also created an interactive guide of the Edinburgh cluster, as featured in the report.