SOFIAH NICHOLE SALIVIO

News Editor

ScotlandIS has appointed Andrew Weir as its new Chief Executive Officer, succeeding Karen Meechan, who stepped down in May.

Weir takes charge of the membership and cluster management organisation for Scotland’s digital technologies industry following a recruitment process that drew candidates from across the sector. The body represents a significant part of Scotland’s technology economy through its membership base and wider industry work.

His remit includes leading the organisation’s work with members, public bodies and industry partners across Scotland’s technology sector, with a focus on strengthening links across the ecosystem and supporting members.

He joins from engineering group Weir Group, where he served as Transformation Programme Manager. In that role, he led programmes to cut IT spending and improve internal business operations, delivering savings worth millions of pounds.

Earlier in his career, he held advisory and government roles, including positions in the Scottish and UK governments. He also spent 17 years as an independent consultant, supporting organisations through transformation programmes across sectors including financial services, manufacturing, logistics and pharmaceuticals.

Sector backdrop

The appointment comes as digital technology remains a significant part of the Scottish economy. According to ScotlandIS, Scotland has about 3,900 digital technologies companies, and the sector contributes around GBP £7.5 billion to gross value added.

Across the wider economy, about 100,000 people work in digital technology roles, the organisation says. It adds that 13,000 digital technology job opportunities are created each year in Scotland, and filling all of them would add GBP £1 billion to Scotland’s gross value added.

ScotlandIS members employ about 60,000 people and contribute about GBP £4.7 billion to Scotland’s gross value added. The organisation works with the Scottish Government, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Scottish Enterprise and Skills Development Scotland on industry and skills issues.

Its work has included involvement in the ICT and Digital Technologies Skills Investment Plan, intended to strengthen the skills pipeline from schools through to workplace development. ScotlandIS has also highlighted the sector’s export contribution, describing digital technology as Scotland’s fourth-strongest export sector, with exports of more than GBP £3.3 billion.

Leadership change

Weir takes over following Meechan’s departure after she led the organisation through a period of growth in the sector’s profile. His appointment puts an executive with experience in both business change programmes and government structures at the head of one of Scotland’s best-known technology industry bodies.

Commenting on his appointment, Weir set out his initial priorities.

“It’s a real honour to be joining ScotlandIS, an organisation that plays such a vital role in championing Scotland’s technology sector and is so widely respected across industry and government. This is an incredibly exciting time for Scotland’s technology sector – digital technologies and AI are shaping every industry, and the UK’s AI agenda shows how seriously government is taking this. I look forward to working with members, partners and stakeholders to strengthen connections and showcase Scotland’s innovation and expertise on a global stage. My immediate priority will be to listen, learn and build strong relationships with the wider community to ensure ScotlandIS continues to support a thriving and ambitious technology sector,” said Andrew Weir, Chief Executive Officer, ScotlandIS.

The Chair of the ScotlandIS board said the search had identified a candidate with experience across both industry and the public sector. That blend, the organisation said, is important at a time when technology policy and economic policy are increasingly intertwined.

“Andrew brings a wealth of experience spanning multiple sectors and a proven track record of delivering meaningful change. His understanding of both the digital economy and the public sector landscape makes him exceptionally well placed to lead ScotlandIS through its next chapter. At a time when technology is playing an increasingly critical role in driving economic growth and innovation, Andrew’s ability to connect industry and government will be invaluable. We are delighted to welcome him to the organisation and are confident that his leadership will help strengthen Scotland’s technology ecosystem,” said Williams.

SOFIAH NICHOLE SALIVIO

News Editor

Rock Solid Knowledge has launched Open.IdentityServer, a free open-source identity platform for Microsoft .NET users.

The launch follows the commercialisation of a previously free identity security platform used by thousands of organisations. Open.IdentityServer is intended to give those users an open-source alternative built from the IdentityServer4 codebase under the Apache 2.0 licence.

Identity software underpins sign-in systems, access controls and application authentication. Open.IdentityServer is aimed at developers and organisations running .NET applications that need OpenID Connect and OAuth 2.0 support for token-based authentication, single sign-on and API access control.

The earlier free IdentityServer community was used by up to 10,000 organisations. Rock Solid Knowledge has long contributed to that ecosystem, and its founder, Andrew Clymer, decided to fork the project and maintain a separate open-source version.

The new platform is intended to keep the core software free, while optional commercial products, services and support generate revenue around it. Rock Solid Knowledge has also published a manifesto setting out how it plans to run the project.

The manifesto says the core platform will always be free and open-source, commercial offerings will remain optional and help finance the free core, and the community will have a voice in the project’s direction.

Open.IdentityServer is being maintained in a public repository with documentation and community contributions. Version 1.0.0, the first release, was published earlier this month.

Rock Solid Knowledge has worked in several open-source software communities, including IdentityServer, OpenIddict and Umbraco. The business was founded in 2009 and has a 22-strong development team in Bristol.

Until this year, it was also the official European support partner to Duende IdentityServer. That background gives the company a direct link to the software lineage behind the new project and to users looking for continuity after licensing changes in the market.

The move also reflects Rock Solid Knowledge’s wider positioning. The company became a certified B Corporation in 2023 and said supporting an open-source identity platform aligns with its view that technology should serve people as well as profit.

A central issue in the identity software market is how open-source projects are funded once adoption grows. Some vendors move towards commercial licensing to fund development and support, while parts of their user base look for low-cost or free options that can still be used in production systems.

Open.IdentityServer appears to target that gap. Rather than charging for the core platform, Rock Solid Knowledge is separating the free software from paid support and related services, a model used elsewhere in open-source software.

For organisations already using .NET, the launch may offer a familiar way to maintain existing sign-on and access management systems without switching to a different architecture. For developers, the practical question is whether the project can sustain updates, support and community involvement over time.

Clymer set out the company’s rationale in a statement on the launch.

“We’ve worked in the IdentityServer ecosystem for more than a decade, and we know how important it is for teams to have a dependable open-source option. Open.IdentityServer is our commitment to keeping that option available, supported and genuinely free at its core. This is not a short-term initiative; we are here to invest in the platform, protect it and grow it,” said Andrew Clymer, founder of Rock Solid Knowledge.

The company revealed that last week’s Met Office red alert temperatures triggered a sharp spike in demand for drinking water across its region, with daily household use surging by around 30 per cent.

As temperatures neared 30C across Oxfordshire and the UK recorded the hottest June day on record, surpassing the mark set during the 1976 heatwave, the Thames Valley and Home Counties saw usage exceed 750 million litres a day.

Thames Water supplied an extra 316 million litres in the Thames Valley compared with the same week last year and reported exceptionally high demand in areas including Oxford.