Action needed to ensure fairness around spinouts
THE WORLD OF high-technology, high growth start-ups is a challenging one. Would-be entrepreneurs have to cope not only with developing a...
Predictions of 1970 economic report now being borne out
SOME FORTY YEARS AGO, when I was a young engineering student at university we were introduced to the Limits to Growth (LtG), a report...
Skills shortfall means we must encourage students into engineering
EVERY NOW AND THEN I give a talk at a Scottish high school where I try and encourage them to consider following a career in engineering....
The time for Scotland to chose its future has finally arrived
WELL, HERE WE ARE, September 2014, and we are finally confronted with making the decision on the most significant constitutional issue we...
In search of a solution to the problem of growing businesses of scale
EVERY THREE MONTHS Ascendant, a corporate finance company based in London, publishes a review of investment trends for the technology...
Capital transport system was on the right track a century ago
AFTER YEARS of what can fairly be described as an absolute shambles – chronic delays, incompetent construction, and costs running way out...
Funding situation for start-ups much improved since 1984
WHERE WERE YOU when Insider was founded back in 1984? Well, I know exactly where I was because I was also founding a new enterprise in...
Energy needs must be met, but without ravaging our environment
CAMPAIGNERS ARE CURRENTLY jumping on the protest bandwagon trying to stop the development of ‘fracking’ – the recovery of natural gas...
Two-year exercise fails to yield research licensing solution
AN ENORMOUS amount of our money, £3bn or so, is spent every year on research at leading universities. Not surprisingly, many think that...
Scots games sector is prolific but notable successes are rare
PASSENGERS on Edinburgh’s No. 14 bus may have been puzzled at the huge posters promoting a computer game – Grand Theft Auto V (GTAV) –...
An innovative new approach to informal investments
IT’S ALWAYS been tough to raise investment for a start-up company but over the last few years it has got much worse. The banking crisis...
Credit agencies yet to be called to account for part in 2008 crash
IT'S HARD TO OVERSTATE the impact of the great financial crash of 2008: around 40% of the world’s apparent wealth disappeared practically...
Why I'm 'un-friending' my 'Friend for Life'
OH DEAR. I find I have to 'un-friend' my 'Friend for Life'. It does seem quaint that any bank these days could get away with such a...
Concentration of wealth leaves many UK regions lagging behind
EUROSTAT, THE STATISTICAL OFFICE of the EU has recently published their annual report on the relative wealth of the various sub-regions...
Innovation needs more long-term support in the wider economy
THE ‘SCIENCE LOBBY’ is on the offensive. Sir Paul Nurse, the President of the Royal Society, speaking on behalf of the four major UK...
English political agenda may propel Scots towards independence
AS WE SQUARE UP for Scotland’s independence vote 18 months from now, the dynamic of the contest is beginning to shape up, and it doesn’t...
Scotland doesn't have a monopoly on infrastructure incompetance
ON A RECENT trip to Berlin I was somewhat taken aback by the relative shabbiness of the city’s Schönefeld airport, which didn't seem to...