The abundance of opportunities for investment and development in Scotland was at the forefront of the most recent Scotland Development Conference 

Delivering a keynote speech to over 350 delegates Scottish Minister Minister for Trade, Investment and Innovation Ivan Paul McKee said: ‘‘This is a great place to come and live, work, study and invest, Scotland is now and I want you all to be a part of it.” [emaillocker id=”71749″]

McKee noted how Scotland is the second biggest location in the UK for Foreign Direct Investment, making up 50% of the overall investment in Scotland and that returns on investment were strong.

The opening of a Scottish National Investment bank in 2020, will allow the coordination of Scotland’s public investment, the only area in the UK to have such a system. McKee noted how this could be used to leverage Scotland’s £2bn investment fund and upscale public finances. This will allow a unique level of interconnectivity and organisation in Scotland’s development and a draw for investment, with McKee citing that Scotland is “small enough to be nimble, but big enough to be noticed.”

Devolution was cited as giving Scotland advantages over other regions of the UK. McKee said: ”We believe having control over being able to direct that investment would be a positive thing.”

McKee commended the strength of Scotland’s labour market, citing the fact that Scotland has the “most highly educated population of anywhere in Europe.”

The Minister spoke of the record low employment in the nation, showing the active nature of the labour force. He outlined the government’s plans as ‘Attracting people to come live in Scotland is a large part of what we want to do, and increasing participation within the labour market, so we can continue to upscale and add to that talent pool is significant’

He also welcomed talented from abroad, noting that in a post-Brexit era the government “wants to attract and keep talent from the EU, we want to attract and keep talent globally.”

Scotland’s high-tech achievements were commended by the Minister, who stated the success of Edinburgh was built on the technological research undertaken by the University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University, He said: ‘If you look at sectors just now in Scotland be it in fintech, be it in quantum, be it in space, be it in life sciences Scotland is genuinely world leading.”

He added that research and development funding was increasingly significantly, showing a capacity to build on these successes.

On the climate emergency McKee highlighted the Scottish Government’s “clarity” on the issue, underscoring this with the fact that Scotland already uses 75% renewable energy and has plans in the next few years to transition to 100% renewable sources. He also emphasised that Scotland had allocated £3bn for investment in the green sector, showing an opportunity for investors to be part of that necessary transition.

Discussing infrastructure McKee set out the Scottish Government’s mission to treble infrastructure investment in Scotland and noted the government had set up a commission to make this a reality. He discussed their Strategic Transport Projects Review, which identified the transport improvements most needed to facilitate that growth. The minister revealed some of the ways the government was implementing the plans, including “Work on the A9 or the Edinburgh to Glasgow rail line and building on the success of the borders rail’”

McKee took a holistic approach to infrastructure investment describing how the plans went beyond physical construction: ”The £600m we’re investing in broadband roll out providing superfast broadband to every property, business, and residence across Scotland.”

McKee highlighted a number of programmes that makes the country strong for investment detailing the Build in Scotland fund which will invest £150m between 2019-2021 and the Growth Accelerator programme which allows local authorities to borrow in light of projected returns as engines for this growth. He also referenced the Rental Income Guarantee Scheme which guarantees 50% of any shortfall between projected and actual income, making the Scottish housing market particularly prime for investment. McKee also described how the business rates rules were favourable to investment with “no rates until the first occupier.” 

The Minister also brought Scotland’s market resilience to political uncertainty to the fore: ”Scotland’s performance in FDI has been the second top after London for the last 6 years and that predates the independence referendum and evidence suggests that’s not had a detrimental impact, uncertainty over Brexit on a UK level we’re starting to see slow down there, Scotland’s relative place on FDI has been retained’’

The social responsibility of the investment was also a key concern of the Minister who praised Scotland’s “progressive spirit of inclusive growth.” He also stressed the need for targeted expenditure, describing the strategy as “investment for a need, investment for a purpose.” 

He expressed these sentiments when responding to a question on public procurement: “We’ve got to walk that line correctly between the best value for the public purse but also using the power of that public sector spending in Scotland which is more than £11bn to understand of how to use that most effectively to leverage economic growth.”

McKee summarised by highlighting the unique strength of Scotland: “We’re international, we’re open for investment, we’re business focused, we are coherent, we understand the strategic direction we have here, and we think that’s a strong message for investment in Scotland.” [/emaillocker]