2022 is shaping up to be a fantastic year for Scottish tech companies, who are paving the way and putting our wonderful, wee country at the forefront of some very exciting developments.
Scotland saw a very successful, optimistic year in 2021 for new tech developments. Industry experts Dealroom and Adzuna found that Edinburgh was fourth in the ranking of leading UK tech cities. Scotland’s capital isn’t the only Scottish city that has been producing new, innovative technology advancements – dynamic tech start-ups from Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen have had all eyes on them over the recent months too.
We’ve selected a few inventive Scottish tech companies to look out for in 2022 spanning a variety of industries including:
Based in Motherwell, Insignia Technologies have developed a smart label which helps to track when food is at its freshest, which has been predicted to cut food waste and save shoppers £150 million.
Their range of colour-changing plastics and inks help labels to show when products are past their best or at the end of their shelf life.
Chief Technology Officer, Debbie Allan, explained that Insignia Technologies are not extending the shelf life of food but are maximising it. They cannot help with food waste where food has gone off, but they are bringing a better education of food safety and thus addressing waste where food could be edible, but people throw it out because they aren’t sure.
Allan explained, “After opening a packet of cold meat, for example, the label starts to change colour to tell you how long it has been open in the fridge.
“A packet of ham may have a two-week shelf life, but what a lot of people don’t realise is that once opened that drops to two or three days. So, people either don’t know that and it goes off, or they can’t remember when it was opened.”
Credibly featured by Forbes, MindMate is described as your all-in-one app to keep your mind and body healthy. Trusted by over 1 million people worldwide, the app includes list-making applications, interactive games to sharpen memory and reactions, a ‘My Story’ timeline tool and customisable reminders to help with early-stage memory loss such as Alzheimer’s and Dementia.
Entrepreneurial students, with the help of Dr. Terry Quinn from the University of Glasgow’s Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, developed the app after they had watched people they cared for suffer from memory loss.
“Combining brain games, healthy nutrition, regular exercise and social interaction, the MindMate App can guide its users towards a multifaceted, holistic lifestyle change that may help curtail some of the effects of cognitive decline” – MindMate
Glasgow-based Know-It is a cloud-based platform on a mission to simplify credit management. They aim to help SMEs take greater financial control and manage their cashflow problems, which countless of small businesses have felt throughout the global pandemic.
Know-It enables you to effectively manage all your credit processes, lighten risk and better understand your customers. The platform allows users to run credit checks, chase payments and collect overdue invoices in one place.
The Edinburgh start-up identified a gap in the market throughout the last two years, while the world has been changing the way it works forever. Desana offer an on-demand workspace to enable staff to easily find and book desk/meeting rooms across a global network of flexible workspaces, or private offices, from one app.
With the post-COVID hybrid and remote working culture, Desana saw huge success in 2021 and there are no signs of it slowing down. The Scottish tech start-up has recently secured £2.9m in funding, allowing them to grow internationally.
Developed at Stirling University’s Innovation Park, Attis Fitness have revolutionised fitness tracking technology. They have developed wearable motion-capture clothing that can tell users everything from stride length, cadence, bounce, pelvic rotation/drop – allowing runners to understand their running style and improve their techniques.
Unlike regular activity trackers, which offer data on heart rate and GPS, Attis Fitness take this intelligence to a new level and offers insights that aren’t available anywhere else.
