IoD Scotland Autumn 2021

that the internet was global so there was
no point just trying to be the best tech
business in Scotland. We had to compete
with the best in the world – we had to
match Google and be world-class at
all levels. So we have to learn from the
world, too.”
The thought of sharing ideas with
potential rivals is the type of idea
that may horrify some CEOs, yet it’s a
concept on which the tech sector has
long thrived. “The reason Silicon Valley
succeeded was because it attracted
a critical mass of talent that created
a virtuous network within which
businesses flourish. If you are going to
become a digital leader you need to get
to that tipping point where you have
more and more successful businesses
that in turn attract more talented people.
“When I started out at Atlantech it
felt like we were the only people in the
world doing what we were doing. We
were on our own. It’s not like that now
in Scotland; there are so many digital
companies out there, it’s such an exciting
and vibrant picture. I’ve never felt so
excited about our digital future and
when I talk to start-ups there’s a real
belief that they can succeed.”
Some of that belief stems from the
success of Skyscanner, of course. “I’d
be delighted if people said they were
“Climate change has us locked
in an enormous ‘tragedy of the
commons’. We used to talk about
it affecting our grandchildren but
not any more; it’s affecting us,
right now. We must act.”
inspired by the Skyscanner story,
proving that a tech firm could scale-up
and succeed in Scotland. The great thing
about that company was so many people
joined us, developed and grew, then
left and set up their own businesses. I
always said my greatest ambition was for
100 new ‘Skyscanners’ to be born from
Skyscanner. That’s how Silicon Valley
started.”
Can Scotland ’s latest tech start-ups
scale-up in the same way? “Absolutely,
as long as we get the ecosystem right.
Make sure the talent is there, make sure
we can share ideas, get the funding in…
and anything is possible. As I said before,
we are a start-up nation, we always have
been. We need to remember that now.”
There is something else Mark is keen to
remind us: the aforementioned challenge
of climate change. “It’s the biggest
threat we’ve ever faced and yet we’re
sleepwalking into a disaster,” he says
ruefully. “It’s the modern equivalent of
’the tragedy of the commons’ ” – [the
situation, first suggested in 1833 by
British economist William Forster Lloyd,
in which individual farmers with open
access to common land for grazing act
in their own self-interest and, contrary
to the common good of all users, cause
depletion of the resource – and its
eventual collapse - through their uncoordinated
action, to the detriment of all].
“When that happens we all starve
in the end, and that’s exactly what’s
threatening us now. It’s hard to break out
of our current way of acting and thinking
as it is seductive to receive the benefits
of our carbon consumption in the shortterm
and to think climate change won’t
happen or won’t affect us – it will. We
are locked as a species in an enormous
tragedy of the commons. We used to
talk about it affecting our grandchildren
but not anymore; we are passing into
the second half of the exponential, it’s
affecting us, right now. We must act
right now.”
His desire for an immediate coherent
response explains his frustration with the
reaction to the release of the UN IPCC
report in August. Its conclusion was that
climate change was ‘widespread, rapid
and intensifying’.
“It was terrifying,” says Mark. “It
was unequivocal on the science and
provided the data to measure the
impact. Yet we got no real response
from governments; what is the wake-up
call we need before it is too late, if that
report wasn’t?”
Mark is baffled by a lack of funding
into new technology that could offer
answers. “We showed that concerted
efforts could move mountains during the
pandemic, with the search for vaccines,
and we need a similar response now. It’s
a moon landing project. Government
needs to fund and direct companies to
solve the problems.”
He cites a number of areas where
central intervention is a necessity.
“Where’s the comprehensive charging
network for electric cars we need? Why
isn’t that infrastructure in place yet?
“Where is the funding for research
into nascent technology such as green
hydrogen and scaled carbon capture?
AI has helped us make huge bounds in
protein folding prediction; can we use
similar techniques for investigating the
possibilities of fusion modelling?”
But the lead for such work has to
come from the state. “In the USA,
homes contribute 27 per cent of all the
country’s carbon emissions. But it could
decarbonise all its homes by directing
just one per cent of the defence budget
to do so. What’s stopping them?”
It’s an example of what is possible but
“it won’t happen without a dramatic shift
in the government’s thinking; a wartime
urgency is required.”
Is he optimistic of success, starting
from the COP26 Summit? “Honestly? No.
I’m not without hope but one thing Covid
has taught us is that we don’t do the
exponentials well. Problems sneak up on
us and we don’t respond quickly enough.
“We need resolute action, not words;
we have to act now otherwise this is a
war we won’t win.”
Autumn 2021
iod.com
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