SCOTTISH technology companies have raised $53 million (£43m) in funding so far this year, signalling a sharp fall-off in investment after a record-breaking 2018, figures from UK Government-backed Tech Nation show.

Technology companies north of the Border raised $223m over 2018 as a whole, Tech Nation noted.

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Asked whether there was a reason why the funding raised by technology companies in Scotland had dropped sharply so far this year, a spokeswoman for Tech Nation highlighted record levels of investment in informatics and artificial intelligence in Scotland in 2018.

And the spokeswoman noted the potential for investment levels to pick up again given the amount of research and development activity in the Scottish technology sector.

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She said: “2018 was a record-breaking year for investments in informatics and AI in Scotland. This year investments are not at the same level. However, given the R&D-heavy nature of many emerging industries in Scotland, it’s likely that investment levels will pick up again when marketable technologies are tested and applied.”

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Tech Nation noted Edinburgh had been identified as one of the UK’s top 15 tech clusters, ahead of the launch event of its Bright Tech Series tour at the Codebase incubator in the Scottish capital today.

This is aimed at celebrating “Scotland’s breadth and depth of talent”.

Tech Nation added that one in five job vacancies advertised in the Scottish capital were in the tech sector and that, after London, Edinburgh offered the highest salaries for people filling these roles. It observed the average tech sector job in the Scottish capital pays £42,500, nearly 15 per cent more than the average non-tech job in the city.