The ripple effect of global restructuring and the economic slowdown in the high-tech industry has had effects in other European economies relying on the new economy. Scotland, which is heavily slanted towards manufacturing and export jobs in this field, has felt an obvious negative effect.

On top of 3,000 job losses announced at Motorola in Bathgate, West Lothian, in May, there is now speculation that NEC's semiconductor plant in Livingston, which employs 1,600 people, is on the brink of cutting 50 per cent of the workforce as it looks to restructure the company's manufacturing base.

It is a worrying time for technology companies in Scotland's "Silicon Glen" - an area which comprises the central belt between Edinburgh and Glasgow where most high-tech plants are located - and according to the Scottish office of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), business leaders face a number of difficulties. "The problem for Scotland is that the jobs are based mainly on assembly and manufacture and they are the most vulnerable to global change," says Mr Alan Hogarth of the CBI.

"We want to encourage more research and design jobs, because then there is an intellectual property that is not as vulnerable and this involves training and education."

It was a very different picture a year ago when Scotland was riding high on the silicon wave. With more and more companies relocating to the region and with established names like IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola already in place, Silicon Glen was producing 29 per cent of Europe's personal computers and employed 40,500 people in the electronics industry.

Scotland had moved away from its traditional heavy industry of shipbuilding and mining and embraced high-tech in the 1950s and Silicon Glen became the hub of this new economy. Ideally placed between the two main cities and with a plentiful supply of water, Silicon Glen quickly developed sophisticated links with universities, local businesses and its reputation as the engine room of Scotland's high-tech industry was confirmed.

A volatile electronics market, however, has seen a gradual shift in emphasis from manufacture to customer support and ecommerce solutions so that, at IBM for example, manufacturing jobs have been cut and the company is concentrating less on building computers and more on providing internet solutions.

There is some good news, argues the CBI, pointing out that several of the smaller high-tech companies have survived the current economic downturn.

The Alba Centre in Livingston is one such success story. The centre has set up a components exchange, which facilitates companies in buying and selling each other's intellectual property.

And foreign companies continue to set up technology plants in Scotland, attracted by a powerful legal system that protects intellectual rights. However, an unpredictable high-tech industry means Scottish workers will continue to face uncertain times.