Having grown up on the west coast of Scotland, I have always loved sailing. So I can certainly see the appeal of opting to work from a laptop while circumnavigating the globe in an 82-foot catamaran such as the Coboat.

As flexible working arrangements become increasingly the norm and entrepreneurs look for quality of life outside the city thanks to high-speed internet access, Coboat’s founders pitch their business as the chance to “free your mind, immerse yourself in nature and boost your productivity on the high seas”.

Among the world’s young and entrepreneurial, the move away from the stresses of city life is only gaining momentum.

Cloud computing has removed the need for office space by providing access to any file, anytime, anywhere − while a more precarious labour market has led an entire generation to favour life experience over being slaves to the rat race.

All of this is good news for Scotland. There are few places that can offer such an appealing combination of quality of life and startup opportunities as Scotland can.

However, if we want young entrepreneurs to stay and create rural hubs for business, then we need the infrastructure to see it through. We need high-speed internet access across the country. Not in the distant future, but in the here and now.

Businesses with social value Rolling out high-speed internet is just one part of bridging the digital divide. Digital and tech entrepreneurs also need dynamic public and private sector support to match their stage of development − from networking and mentoring opportunities, to access to angel investment or patient capital. Scotland can even go one step further, leading incentives for entrepreneurs to build businesses aimed at creating positive social impacts from the get-go. The Edinburgh-based Power of Youth Metta-Network has been doing this for years, bringing young British and international entrepreneurs to Scotland and encouraging them to design businesses with social value in mind through pro-bono leadership training and scale-up support. You only have to look at the rising tech and startup scenes in countries such as Portugal, Estonia or Israel to see what a difference offering connectivity, an attractive lifestyle and acceleration opportunities can make to a small country in just a few years. I worked for a spell in Eindhoven in the Netherlands − a city which turned its barren, post-industrial, empty Philips factories into havens for tech startups, by encouraging fellowship, entrepreneurialism and collaboration. I have seen similar hubs first hand in other cities across the world. There is nothing to stop Scotland heading in the same direction, except the current lack of connectivity in Scotland’s remote and rural areas preventing both new businesses from moving in and native talent in the digital and tech sectors from sprouting up.