Scottish IT employment should receive a boost from a new national plan for technology companies being launched tonight. Its pilot project in Edinburgh has already led to investment in two Scottish software companies and it has now raised nearly #1m to take the programme Scotland-wide.

Its model, established at the southern end of California's Silicon Valley, was launched with only $50,000 from five prominent companies but grew to have an annual budget of $1.4m and more than 500 members and supporters.

The keynote speaker at this evening's inaugural forum is Professor Roger Needham,

pro-vice chancellor at Cambridge University and managing director of Microsoft Research Ltd, Microsoft's biggest research investment outside the United States.

The Connect programme was originally set up by the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) but was examined during a two-year inquiry by Scottish Enterprise and the Royal Society of Edinburgh into why Scotland's science and technology capability is under-exploited.

''Connect in San Diego has established a social infrastructure for technology development which allows the unexpected outcomes of basic research to be exploited,'' said Dr Mary Walshok, associate vice-chancellor of UCSD, who will return to Scotland for two seminars on the programme

next month.

''It provides a group of individuals and a pool of capital which can be mobilised on the discovery of an exciting invention and so transform it into a viable commercial enterprise. It is very much a ''bottom-up'' initiative and in line with the amazing success of the Silicon Valley companies.''

The resulting ''Technology Ventures'' report setting out a national strategy for Scotland recommended Connect and it was copied in Edinburgh, where it had the support of its three universities and 18 founding sponsors from the financial, management, economic development and legal sectors.

It was co-ordinated by Ian McDonald, an Edinburgh University Management School lecturer who studied the San Diego programme in depth with the help of Scottish Enterprise funding. ''Edinburgh already has the basic building blocks for further growth in hi-tech business,'' he said.

''Connect has the potential to accelerate that growth by linking the research, business and economic development communities.''

Martin Ritchie, founder of Spider Systems and now chairman of Connect, predicted that ''businesses which have close associations with universities grow faster - Connect will be good value for the Scottish economy.''

So it proved. The first Connect Investment Conference, held last November, is expected eventually to raise around #10m of investment for hi-tech companies and as a result of the conference two Scottish companies have already signed deals for their first phase of funding.

They are InterTrader, which specialises in producing software to handle digital money, and Sirius 7 Software, manufacturers of geographical information systems. ''The Connect initiative has made Scotland an even better place for young hi-tech companies to grow and thrive,'' said InterTrader's founder and managing director Rachel Willmer.

In San Diego, Connect's High Technology Financial Forums are now regular events for venture capitalists across the US and sponsors have held events for San Diego companies in San Francisco and New York. The forums are a showcase for technology companies to present their technical and business plans. ''Connect helps to fill the 'knowledge gaps' between the technological and business communities,'' said Dr Walshok. ''Advice, finance and skills are crucial because of the specialist needs arising from different product life cycles and global marketing plans.''

In Scotland Connect will now have three regional directors for the East, West and north of Scotland. Funding for the national development plan has come from financial institutions, private funders, local enterprise companies, and other public and private sponsors.

''Since Connect was founded its mission has been to help technology companies realise tangible benefits,'' said McDonald, now director of Connect, ''for instance, helping them to access new markets or clients, finding strategic partners, developing management skills or securing funding for growth.

''We have also been active

in enabling the creation of

spin-out companies from our Scottish science and research base and in stimulating collaborative projects between technology businesses and universities and research centres.

''To date activities and events have been focused and piloted in Edinburgh but we are now in a position to extend Connect into other regions in Scotland and are delighted to have secured the right mix of expertise and resources to enable this to happen.''

Eleven Scottish universities - Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Glasgow Caledonian, Heriot-Watt, Napier, Paisley, Robert Gordon,

St Andrews and Strathclyde - and one college, Queen Margaret, are support Connect.

The Scottish Higher Education Funding Council has provided #90,000. ''The Scotland-wide launch of Connect will build on the success of the programme in Lothian,'' said its chief executive Professor John Sizer.

''The network has already helped to bring together higher education institutions, business and finance, to the benefit of society and the economy.''

Tonight's forum will be followed by other regional ones, enterprise workshops and two annual conferences later this year: a second investment conference at the EICC in October and a Technology Partnering Conference in association with Technology Ventures.

A Connect Corporate Partnership Forum in San Diego helped 14 local companies raise $600m of capital.