North east building on energy tech at Offshore Europe

North east Scotland’s high-value digital tech sector is leveraging its energy industry expertise to drive further innovation and growth.

Digital tech is a key growth sector for the region. Benchmarking analysis commissioned by Opportunity North East and Scottish Enterprise earlier this year revealed that north east Scotland’s tech cluster now comprises more than 300 companies employing almost 4,400 people and turning over more than £520 million a year.

These businesses work across markets including agritech, clean tech, health tech and sustainability. Energy tech is the dominant focus, with 42% of companies, 59% of the employees and 59% of the total sector turnover, and businesses are increasingly targeting new market opportunities in energy-related fields.

Karen O’Hanlon, Director of Digital Tech at ONE, said: “North east Scotland has one of the largest clusters of energy tech businesses in Europe. They increasingly provide tech products and services beyond the oil and gas market and respond to opportunities in emerging high-growth sectors such as clean tech, climate tech and renewables. This diversification is essential to the continued growth of the region’s innovative tech cluster, and its deep energy sector knowledge differentiates it from others in the UK.”

ONE has established ONE Tech Hub in Aberdeen city centre as the entrepreneurial ecosystem and place where a fast-growing community of entrepreneurs and founders, innovative businesses and support organisations meet, share, learn, work and grow together.

ONE is now exhibiting at Offshore Europe for the first time to showcase the capabilities and strengths of some of the region’s innovative tech companies to a global audience, including Fennex, Intelligent Plant, STC INSISO, Solab IT Services, Sysmax and CodeBase.

Kevin Coll is Managing Director at Solab, which will be promoting its Onboard Tracker™ online Crew Management, Rota, Certification and Competence software. He said: “Innovation and technology are at the core of a dynamic and growing cluster of ambitious scaling tech businesses in north east Scotland. It is great to be able to demonstrate the strength of the community and its solutions to the global energy sector at Offshore Europe. Customers are increasingly prioritising digital technology to transform how they operate and accelerate their journey towards a sustainable future.”

ONE will exhibit at Offshore Europe in the Scottish Development International area on stand 2L40.