Visitors to CodeClan often comment on the quiet, studious and laid back vibe that our campus has. Our CEO Melinda Matthews-Clarkson points out that appearances, however, can be deceptive.
April and May have been some of the busiest months in CodeClan’s history and really highlight the incredible activity taking place in Scotland’s digital technology scene.
CodeClan attended this year’s Engage Invest Exploit (EIE) event as a silver sponsor. EIE pulls in dozens of Scotland’s hottest young digital tech startups and gives them a chance to pitch their business to an audience of investors – in only 60 seconds. It’s an amazing, high energy event, which challenges every founder shows the creativity, innovation and technical skills this country has to offer. CodeClan is at the heart of this digital revolution and we were thrilled to be in front of such an influential and entrepreneurial crowd.
One of the key speakers at EIE was Professor Sue Black, the founder of the TechMum’s programme. In May we celebrated the graduation of Scotland’s first ever cohort of TechMums, proudly pioneered here at CodeClan. TechMums is a free weekly course created to take the mystery out of technology, to help mothers understand more about the ways it can be used beneficially and how to keep their families engaged, empowered and educated.
Well done to Maria, Esther, Laura & Rachel. Thanks to Sue and Lauren for trusting us with the first ever Scottish cohort!
In addition, we officially opened our new Inverness campus, held two industry advisory groups and I was delighted to share the stage at the recent Digital Scotland event with an amazing panel including Scotland Is Now’s Cat Leaver, Fintech Scotland’s CEO Stephen Ingledew, BIMA Scotland chair Gerry McCusker and Donald McLaughlin chair of the Digital Technologies Skills Group, exploring the future of business in Scotland and how we need to change the mindset of every industry when it comes to finding the digital skills they need.
Outside CodeClan, our partners were also achieving great things. In the last few weeks it was announced that Lloyds Banking Group is creating 500 New Development Jobs in Edinburgh, Money Dashboard smashed its £2M crowdfunding goal in only 45 minutes and that Soar secured a £450,000 R&D grant for ethical banking app (built with CodeClan graduates!) All of which contributed to the news that Scotland’s fintech sector now boasts over 100 companies.
Amazing achievements! So proud to be part of the digital boom in Scotland.
