As the centre of the Scottish Enlightenment, an industrial and a shipbuilding powerhouse, Glasgow has a long and steeped history. In the 1960s however, the city saw hard times which saw it decline, until recently. It has now transformed into a vibrant and expanding modern city, valued on the international stage, as shown by it’s hosting of the Commonwealth Games in 2014, which brought in government investment of £1.3 billion.

The city is currently home to 1.5 million people who either live or work there daily. The city has over 90 parks or gardens, leading to its nickname of “the dear green place”. Partly thanks to this, the quality of life is high. Given also the low cost of living, it is no surprise that tech companies are relocating and expanding here.

The VP of operations at compliance tech startup Ecompass Corporation, Alex Ford is such an example. She volunteered to move to Glasgow from Sydney in 2015 to set up the office there and she explained its appeal as including “really good access to clients – the banks especially. There is so much technology talent here, at a lower cost than London. Also, the quality of life is great”. The company has 25 staff in Glasgow and 10 based in London at WeWork.

Media and tech groups including the BBC Scotland’s HQ, Capital Radio and STV are just across the river Clyde. There is also another startup called Rookie Oven, a cowering space, which is also just a short walk from the SSE Hydro, a 13,000 capacity arena which was recently ranked the world’s second busiest live entertainment venue. There are some big names already based in Glasgow, especially where tech intersects with finance. Morgan Stanley’s European tech team and Barclays both have tech functions here and both FDM Group and SAS have large offices in the city.

Glasgow is surely a strong candidate and its future looks very bright. At Global {M}, we are excited to see the tech world grow and evolve – please see our job board to see our current openings in Glasgow!