Tech Ecosystem Event Subsidy

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Since 2023, Glasgow City Council has established several Tech Ecosystem subsidies to help stimulate and increase tech ecosystem "market square" activity in the city, based on a number of key recommendations on how to develop a world-class tech sector in line with both the Scottish Tech Ecosystem Review (STER) and Digital Glasgow Strategy.

The Tech Ecosystem Event Subsidy is specifically designed to support organisations and activities that will facilitate the growth and development of Glasgow's startup- and scaleup-driven ecosystem by delivering high impact tech events.

The Council offers a grant allocation for organisers to subsidise the costs of hosting and delivering events that attract, connect and convene national and international tech businesses and employers, talent, investors and tech diaspora to Glasgow.

The Fund is opportunity-focused; seeking initiatives that do not duplicate existing activity but fill gaps in the current ecosystem offering in Glasgow. While the Tech Ecosystem Event Subsidy seeks to nurture the tech ecosystem, it does not provide direct funding for individual companies to grow their businesses.

Applicants must articulate how they will deliver new initiatives or meaningfully improve existing ones, to increase and widen their benefit and value to the tech startup and scaleup community.

Though applicant organisations will directly participate in and benefit from these programmes, they may not apply for themselves to gain capital for their own operations or to subsidise overt business development initiatives.

To emphasise, the Subsidy is for Projects that have a collaborative, ecosystem-wide impact, not activities solely benefiting a single organisation. The goal is to catalyse tech innovation and augment business and investment opportunities in and for the regional tech ecosystem.

Priority will be given to proposals that fill gaps in current market square activity that help elevate the City Region's tech offering beyond a local audience and would not otherwise take place without some element of public sector support. The grant is not designed to plug gaps in funding for existing events in the calendar that already benefit from adequate private sector sponsorship or public subsidy.

All proposed activity must be delivered, and all Project costs incurred by 31st March 2026. This is a hard deadline, and as well as based on quality, Projects will be assessed for feasibility of delivery within this timescale including the securing of a suitable venue. Therefore, be ambitious, but realistic when submitting your Proposal.

Support Available

A grant up to a maximum value of £10,000 (VAT is ineligible) in the financial year 2025-26 is available to support eligible organisers with the costs of delivering a tech ecosystem-focused event against the set criteria with a view to showcasing Glasgow's regional tech ecosystem to a wider audience.

This subsidy focuses specifically on activity and events physically located within the Glasgow City boundary scheduled to take place from 1^st April 2025 to 31^st March 2026 only. It is designed to support professional tech-related projects and applications will not be considered for purely social events.

The grant is now open for applications. The Grant will close to new applications on 5 December 2025 or when the set budget is fully allocated (whichever is earlier).

To draw down your grant, you must provide copies of all invoices and proof of payment in the form of a business bank statement relating to eligible costs no later than 8 weeks post-event.

Examples of eligible, and non-eligible spend are in the Eligible Spend section below.

Application Process

Applicants must complete the online form.

Proposals will be assessed in 3 stages:

1. Eligibility. Eligibility checks will be carried out to ensure that your organisation is a suitable potential Awardee. This will include, but is not limited to, having the HQ or substantial operations in Glasgow, having no flags or sanction registered against your organisation on Companies House, passing legal Sanctions checks concerning trade with Russia and Belarus, adherence to Fair Work principles and practice, and checks against Non-Domestic Rates (NDR) payments as well as Glasgow City Council's CRM.

2. Specialist Assessment. Our team of assessors will review Proposals against each of the themes and will be scoring according to the following criteria: ▪ alignment with the objectives of the Fund ▪ feasibility of the proposed delivery within the timescale ▪ extent to which the applicant has justified the amount of Funds requested ▪ assessors' quality score on the kind of activity, beneficiaries, outputs, and likely impact of the proposed activity.

3. Final Decisions. A final Validation Panel of GCC senior management team representatives will meet to review the assessors scores and agree the grant award based on the Specialist Assessment. The decisions will be final.

Following the final decisions, all applicants will be informed of the outcomes of their Proposal.

What constitutes a Tech Ecosystem/Market Square event?

At a broad level, Tech Events meet the Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review (STER) definition, as published in August 2020, and is aligned to the associated recommendations with respect to scaling Ecosystem Infrastructure, specifically the creation of temporary market squares in the form of conferences and meetups:

"These market squares can be small to large in size, are typically temporary in nature (comprising a single or multi-day event occurring on a one-off or semi-regular basis) and have a tech content, networking, business development and education component in their makeup."

While not definitive, examples of eligible projects may include:

• regional technology and/or startup/scaleup company showcases
• investor matchmaking events
• networked conference events that are demonstrably tech- (and not sales) led
• founder education and development sessions at industry or technology level

Specifically, Tech Ecosystem Events and/or Conferences are larger in scale and tend to be more professional and curated in setup. They often (though not exclusively) share some of the following characteristics:

1. Large open sessions in halls
2. Small meeting rooms for private discussions
3. Technical help during the conference
4. Host, sponsors and organisers presentations
5. Rooms have to be equipped with sound and projection facilities
6. Bigger budget fund to maintain financial risk, organisational issues and retention of profits for special members
7. A website with several social media accounts connected
8. A promotional element or marketing campaign incorporating an element of planned media coverage and lead generation.

Tech meetups by comparison, are events where like-minded people in tech can connect, learn new skills, and hear from experts and speakers. A Tech Meetup could be geared around a variety of topics, including software development, programming languages, blockchain, VR, or AI. Tech Meetups exist worldwide and can take place online or in-person. Depending on the group dynamic, expected attendance, and community activity, tech meetups typically organise an event once a month or every couple of months and tend to be locally hosted and attended.

If your event criteria more aligns to the definition above then please note GCC also offers a Tech Smart Meetup Subsidy, please click here for more information.

Eligibility

Eligibility (Event):

• Must be located within Glasgow City Council Area (Postcode checker: www.mygov.scot/find-your-local-council)
• Must be in-person (virtual or on-demand access can be provided by the organiser, where possible) and take place within the Glasgow City boundary, to enhance the city's reputation as a credible host of tech business events
• Must have capacity to measure tangible economic impact through market square enhancement and networking benefits for the Scottish tech ecosystem and Glasgow in particular
• Must seek to address an identifiable gap in market square event activity, e.g. leveraging specific vertical industries or sectors of relative regional strength, addressing a broad range of technologies and/or providing a focal point for identifiable ecosystem trends, themes or identifiable gaps, e.g. growth of tech investment, etc.
• Must be demonstrably tech- (and not sales or business development) led
• Does not duplicate existing provision currently satisfied by other providers at city region level.
• Clearly targets a broad tech audience with a relationship to the Glasgow and Scottish marketplace through content, education, product demonstrations, networking, et al.
• All events must be delivered within the City of Glasgow and benefit the Scottish tech ecosystem. Organisers must have either an existing track record of delivering events that support the tech ecosystem or be able to demonstrate the ability to do so credibly.
• The tech ecosystem is defined as 'a network of interconnected and interdependent diverse business entities that come together to support each other and spur innovation sustainably. These ecosystems support growth through pooling resources and sharing technologies and applications developed to boost each other's productivity'.

Note criteria is not definitive and should be used as a baseline. Fresh and innovative ideas are welcomed. All projects and events must be of a professional standard, purely social events will not be considered. If you have any queries about your eligibility, please Email.

Business Eligibility

• Businesses must have been trading for at least 6 months
• Businesses must be compliant with Minimal Financial Assistance threshold of £315,000 over the current and proceeding 2 financial years. The threshold will not be exceeded by the amount the business will receive if grant award is approved.

Not Eligible (companies):

The following are not eligible for funding:

• Businesses who possess undischarged bankrupts, subject to insolvency proceedings or an individual who has entered into an arrangement with his/her creditors (including a trust deed).
• Businesses who are in arrears of Non-Domestic Rates (NDR).

Not Eligible (items):

The following items are not eligible for funding:

• Sundry one-off expenses, e.g. office supplies, cabling, parking tickets, etc.

The final grant will be subject to specific Terms and Conditions set out in an individual grant award letter.

Application Process

Eligible businesses must complete the attached form, including:

• A 500-word (max) description of your proposal for a one-off or series of events which will support and promote the Glasgow tech ecosystem
• A 500-word (max) description of your organisation/individual responsible for managing the event and experience in the Scottish tech ecosystem
• A 500-word (max) breakdown of costs, e.g. venue hire, speaker costs, hospitality, etc.
• A 250-word (max) description of expected key outcomes of the event and how they will directly benefit Glasgow's tech ecosystem
• A 250-word (max) summary of how your event will be promoted to the wider tech ecosystem to ensure relevant support/attendance
• Details of additional funding for event - either applied for or secured - in the form of sponsorship, grants, additional public sector support, in-kind benefits, etc.

Please email your completed form to:techecosystem@glasgow.gov.uk

Grant payment

The grant will be paid as follows:

• An advance payment of 50% is available, on acceptance of the conditions of grant and evidence of a signed event lease or, alternatively, production of invoices for a minimum 50% of overall event costs requiring paid in advance.
• Balance of payment made available on successful completion of event and production of invoice(s) from event with business bank statement showing previous payment(s) being made.
• Please note that a contribution will only be made towards actual costs incurred and VAT costs are not eligible.
• Applicants may not claim cash payments; handwritten invoices and receipts will not be accepted.
• A report summarising key event outputs and outcomes (including final attendee numbers, partners involved, audience reach, participant feedback et al.) should be forwarded no later than 4 weeks post-event.

Branding requirements

This project is part-funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Successful applicants should follow UK Shared Prosperity Fund branding and publicity requirements - click here for details. Physical and digital branding for the event(s) and relevant comms should acknowledge and incorporate both UK SPF and Glasgow City Council branding as key sponsors. Click here for details on GCC logo + guideline use.

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