Tech Events in Scotland 2013 [Update]

So far this year Scotland has been home to many brilliant tech events and that trend looks to continue as we close out 2013. Here are a selection of top tech events this small country of ours is hosting up until the end of 2013. Any events I’ve missed? Add them in the comments or tweet them to @RookieOven.

Turing Festival

• Date: 23rd -24th August
• Tickets: £249 + £15.22 booking fee
• Hashtag: #turingfest

Turing is a festival that brings together digital technology and the web within the world’s largest arts and creative gathering in a celebration of digital culture and creativity. Named in honour of Alan Turing, father of modern computing, the festival moves beyond traditional tech conferences to explore the ways in which technology is affecting all aspects of culture and society.

Speakers include D.J. Powers from Valve, Neal Stephenson and Jim McKelvey co-founder of Square. Now in its third year Turing is continually growing and I highly recommend attending.

Also worth checking out the various Fringe events such as Tech Jobs Scotland and Mostly Functional Conf.

Lean Agile Scotland

• Date: 19th-20th September
• Tickets: £275-£300
• Hashtag: #lascot13

Lean Agile Scotland brings leading figures from the Lean Agile community to Edinburgh for a two day conference. Set in the contemporary Dynamic Earth in Holyrood, Edinburgh and hosting Lean and Agile thought leaders, practitioners and enthusiasts from across the UK and beyond.

Speakers from a range of background will be covering topics such as TDD, Kanban and LeanUX.

Startup Weekend Glasgow

• Date: 25th-27th October
• Tickets: TBC
• Hashtag: #swglas
  

One of the key members of the 2012 Startup Weekend Glasgow organising team, Allan Lloyds (@5L) is bringing back Startup Weekend to Glasgow in 2013. Take an idea, form a team, validate, pitch and have fun all over 54 hours. This will be the third Startup Weekend to take place in Scotland and previous events have been hugely popular.

The 2013 edition of Startup Weekend Glasgow will have a ‘Clean Web’ focus and will offer an opportunity to validate sustainable tech ideas. Never been to a Startup Weekend before? Check out coverage of previous Startup Weekends on RookieOven and also these top tips from Michael.

ScotlandIS Scotsoft

• Date: 29th August
• Tickets: £48-£72
• Hashtag: #scotsoft2013

The Global Forum brings together software entrepreneurs and technology professionals across the industry with cutting-edge ideas and delivers insights from leading industry figures. Discuss the challenges of “Scaling Fast” , and “Funding Growth” in the workshops, and debate the future of the internet.

Speakers include Dr Vint Cerf, Google Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist, Larry Cable, Principal Architect at Salesforce.com and Heidi Roizen.

NSScotland

• Date: 19th-20th October
• Tickets: £199-£259
• Hashtag: #nsscotland

The second running of Scotland’s first conference for Mac and iOS developers is loaded with content for both beginners and more experienced programmers.

In addition to the single-track two day weekend conference, there are a choice of two full day tutorials for just an extra £50. Choose either a full days intro course from Pragmatic Studio instructor and author Daniel Steinberg, or a bootcamp tutorial for experienced iOS developers taught by consultant Lori Olson in building a custom server side for your apps with Ruby and Rails.

EuroIA 2013

• Date: 26th-28th September
• Tickets: €280-€460
• Hashtag: #EuroIA 

The 9th European Information Architecture Conference. EuroIA is based around the concept of learn, share and network. There will be case stories from some of the world’s most influential organisations, including Facebook, eBay, Virgin, UCLA, and the BBC. EuroIA aims to break down cultural barriers and facilitate the sharing of knowledge and ideas across Europe and further afield.

Other Events:

• CloudOpen Europe is a conference celebrating and exploring the open source projects, technologies and companies who make up the cloud and takes place in October.
• BarCamp Glasgow is being organised by @richquick and @markprovan and will take place in September.
• Random Hacks of Kindness on the 7th and 8th of September is a cyber security special and aims to create a self-sustaining global community of innovators building practical open technology for a better world, and to ensure their work creates impact in society.
• Girl Geeks Scotland Conversations with Silicon Valley and Startup Party - Girl Geek Scotland is hosting an exciting double event on 30 August Edinburgh. There will be a dinner: “Conversations with Silicon Valley”, followed by the “Summer Start-up Party”. Readers can use the code ‘EARLYBIRD’ for a discounted rate.

Also remember the many regular events going on across the Scottish tech and startup community such as:

• CoderDojo – regular events across the country. Teaching kids to code and develop their own applications and services.
• Refresh – bringing great minds together across the country. Taking place in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
• TechMeetup – monthly meetup with talks, beer and pizza in Glasgow, Edinburgh Aberdeen, Inverness and Dundee.
• RookieOven – monthly meetup organised through this site for startups in Glasgow.
• ScotRUG - Scottish Ruby User Group meet monthly in both Glasgow and Edinburgh.
• AngularJS - Meetup for those using AngularJS in their projects.
• STV Tech Talks – monthly tech talks hosted by STV at their Glasgow HQ at Pacific Quay. Free to attend just grab a ticket from the Eventbrite page.