How Scotland’s Remote Digital Innovators Are Competing Globally, guest blog by Elevator CEO Rachel Ross

We often hear the same story: tech startups thrive in cities, in coworking spaces near capital and innovation. But this is no longer the full picture – and increasingly, it’s out of date. 

At Elevator, we’ve worked with over 9,000 startups and 3,500 established SMEs across Scotland over the last five years. What we’re seeing — and what we believe the country must now fully embrace — is that rural entrepreneurs are not just keeping pace with their urban peers; they’re pushing boundaries in ways that reflect resilience, creativity, and innovation at the very edge.

And they’re not alone. Around the world, rural regions are fast becoming crucibles of cutting-edge innovation. From geothermal biotech in Iceland to agritech in New Zealand, digital platforms in Indigenous Canada to AI-powered craft in rural Japan, we are witnessing a global trend: innovation is no longer geographically confined. It’s culturally and contextually driven — and rurality is emerging as an asset, not a liability.

So, where does Scotland fit in?

Rethinking “Remote”

The word “remote” means different things to different people.

Located near Oban and co-owning a business there, I often find people slightly incredulous that I manage to be a CEO based from a Head Office in Dundee, with frequent meetings in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow to get to – yes, the road and rail infrastructure is poor and I need to plan where to stop to answer emails or take work calls en route. No, there is no such thing as a consistent signal on any of the routes I journey along.

Yet from my superfast connected house overlooking Jura, I have no problem dialling in to meetings and thanks to frequent EV charge points, can easily take my car to a meeting in Edinburgh by lunchtime and be back in Argyll that evening.

Mainland Argyll is pretty accessible compared to the islands and whilst we may be considered remote if you live in the central belt, we are on the urban fringe by many highland travel standards. 

Perspective on distance shifts mindsets. Rurality in Scotland is not a barrier. It’s a context — one that comes with challenges, yes, but also with strengths: close ties to natural resources, tight-knit communities, and a mindset that naturally leans toward sustainability and adaptation.

And these are precisely the conditions in which innovation thrives.

HerdAdvance: From Farm to Cloud in Aberdeenshire

Take HerdAdvance, founded by Jilly Duncan-Grant in Aberdeenshire, who has just won a National Women in Agriculture Award Combining deep farming expertise with cutting-edge digital tools, Jilly has developed a platform that transforms how livestock health and performance is tracked and managed — reducing antibiotics use, improving welfare, and boosting farm productivity.

HerdAdvance isn’t just a tech company; it’s a rural impact business. Jilly’s lived experience of farming, and her embeddedness in her community, allow her to design for real-world complexity — something that can’t be easily replicated in a city lab.

But make no mistake: HerdAdvance is also globally relevant. The future of food security, ethical farming, and sustainable land use depends on innovations like this. That it’s being built in rural Scotland is not a curiosity — it’s a strategic advantage. 

AgriAudit: Growth, Trust, and Data in Angus

Another example is AgriAudit, a Scottish EDGE winner based in Angus. Led by founder Tom Porter AgriAudit helps farmers and food producers simplify and digitise compliance processes, making food assurance easier and more trustworthy.

AgriAudit is particularly exciting because it bridges two critical issues for rural innovators: trust and digital transformation. In sectors where trust and reputation are everything, AgriAudit helps business streamline the painful paper audit process that is the thorn in every farmer’s side, and what used to take days is now less than a few hours. 

As with many rural ventures, the innovation here is not just in technology — it’s in business model, access, and empathy. And again, this insight was born of place. Rural founders design from the inside out.

Digital Barriers Are Real — But Not Defining

This is not to suggest that rural innovators don’t face real challenges — especially when it comes to digital infrastructure. We often hear from business owners across rural Scotland who are navigating inconsistent broadband, poor mobile signals, and the cost of cloud services at scale.

But what’s interesting is that these challenges have become part of the innovation process itself.

Take the recent ScotRail pilot, using low-orbit satellites to provide uninterrupted internet to train passengers — a brilliant example of how rural and mobile connectivity problems are spurring advanced solutions. Richard Lochhead can now travel and work along with the rest of the Inverness population, saving time and improving productivity on his route south to Edinburgh. 

The truth is, rural entrepreneurs are not waiting for perfect infrastructure. They’re innovating around it — designing lighter systems, storing data offline, collaborating asynchronously, and building resilient, flexible tools.

In a way, their constraint is their creativity.

Programmes Driving Change in rural Scotland

At Elevator, we’re proud to be delivering several rural-focused programmes funded by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) — each one geared toward supporting businesses to grow through innovation and change.

The Digital Innovation for Tourism Businesses programme offers the opportunity to support rural tourism SMEs in leveraging tech — from digital booking systems to immersive visitor experiences. It’s not just about modernisation; it’s about storytelling, reach, and resilience in a sector central to Scotland’s rural economy.

Meanwhile, our new Gaelic Business Change Programme – launching  on 13 June in Portree – supports Gaelic-first enterprises to innovate, adapt and grow — combining cultural preservation with business development. The programme is almost entirely delivered on-line, with businesses spanning the whole of the highlands. 

These are not fringe initiatives. They reflect a serious, system-wide commitment to rural-led growth and impressively show how improved digital connection can lead to reinvigoration and innovation in our cultural heritage businesses 

What Rural Entrepreneurs Teach Us About Innovation

There’s a misconception that innovation means disruption — a word associated with high-speed change and Silicon Valley swagger. But rural innovation in Scotland tends to look different. It’s quieter, more deliberate, more interdependent. As Professor Donald MacLean at Glasgow University often states ‘ Our rural businesses follow an emergent strategy. They think like red squirrels and not grey’. And often, it’s a more sustainable and impact-led approach too.

Rural innovators design for complexity. They are deeply embedded in systems — environmental, social, economic. They don’t build to flip. They build to last.

And this ethos — one of regeneration, long-termism, and circular thinking — is exactly what the global economy now needs.

So, What Needs to Happen Next?

If we want to unlock the full potential of digital innovation in rural Scotland, as a country we need to take a few bold steps:

• Invest in infrastructure: Not just broadband, but also logistics, workspace, and training capacity and rural leadership skills – that are founded on innovation and creativity.

• Shift the narrative: Recognise rural founders as national assets, not edge cases.

• Design policy that fits: Support for startups and SMEs must consider rural timelines, markets, and modes of working.

• Celebrate success: Awards like the King’s Award and Scottish EDGE are great — but let’s tell these stories louder, in more places, and more often. The move to the Regional EDGE awards this year has been a real testament to this and it is great to see how digital transformation is featuring so strongly in applications. 

Because when rural businesses win, Scotland wins. These enterprises bring jobs, pride, sustainability, and international reach — all rooted in place.

Final Thought: The Edge Is Where Innovation Happens

The world doesn’t need more of the same. It needs different perspectives, deeper thinking, and solutions that work not just in labs, but on land. And often, that means looking to the places furthest from the capital — where innovation is driven not by need, care, and courage.

At Elevator, we’ll continue to champion Scotland’s rural digital innovators — because they’re not behind. They’re ahead, in ways that truly matter.