Economic research

Economic commentary November 2008 (Word 62kb)
A brief, non-technical overview of recent trends in the global, UK and Scottish economies.

Scottish economy

Scottish e-Business Survey 2007 (PDF, 1.1Mb)
This survey aims to understand the attitudes towards and adoption of e-business and ICT within Scotland's business community. Interviews were conducted with key technology decision makers from around 4,000 Scottish businesses, and included questions relating to the importance of ICT, technologies, practices, benefits, processes, planning, skills and support. The survey was conducted during September and October 2007.

Research & development and innovation in Scottish businesses
(Word 600 kb)
The analysis draws mainly on existing research and outlines what is meant by R&D and Innovation, why they are important drivers of growth, what the potential measures/ indicators are and how the UK and Scottish economies perform. Where available, performance is compared to the ‘Arc of Prosperity’ and other small European countries outlined in the Government Economic Strategy.

Scottish Economic Forecasts (PDF, 1.5Mb) (September 2008)
This report presents a set of forecasts for the Scottish Enterprise regions, Scotland and the UK in Spring and Autumn 2008. It focuses on providing an overview of the global and macro models, and sectoral and regional forecasts. In addition the Scottish and Scottish Enterprise regions forecasts are presented with commentary on each individual region.

Scottish key facts October 2008 (PDF, 105kb)
Brief overview of some of Scotland's key statistics including GVA (Gross Value Added) and employment figures, exports, sector level data, academic achievement statistics and key enterprise and inward investment news.

Economic Review of Scotland (PDF, 537kb) (April 2008)
This report is split into four chapters:

Comparing Scotland’s performance with the UK across a number of key economic indicators.
Benchmarking Scotland’s performance against similar sized, successful European countries.
Exploring the drivers of productivity growth.
Drawing the evidence from the previous chapters together to highlight the key challenges and opportunities for the economy.

The Business Services Sector in Scotland (Word, 355kb) (Nov 2006)
In many publications and data sources, the ‘Real estate, renting and business activities’ sector (often referred to as ‘business services’) is used as an industrial classification to report economic activity (employment, gross value add, etc). A recent analysis of Scotland’s economic performance highlighted the importance of Real estate, renting and business activities/services in terms of its size and recent growth performance. This short paper provides more information about the sector including why it is important; recent performance; details of what makes up the sector; and the degree to which it supports other sectors of the economy.

Corporate Headquarters in Scotland (PDF, 996kb) (2005)
This study was commissioned by Scottish Enterprise to deepen our understanding of the contribution of corporate headquarters to the Scottish economy and associated economic development issues, such as the locational requirements of HQs. We will use the research to inform the development of our strategy and operations.

Corporate Headquarters in Scotland - Summary (PDF, 64kb) (2005)

Key Indicators

Futureskills Scotland's Key Indicators is an easy-to-use tool that provides free online access to a wide range of labour market and economic data for a range of geographical areas in Scotland.

Find out more about Futureskills Scotland's Key Indicators

Local economy

Borders Economic Review 2007 (PDF, 1.6Mb)

Dumfries and Galloway Economic Review 2007 (PDF, 604kb)

Dunbartonshire Economic Review 2007 (PDF, 694kb)

Edinburgh and Lothian Economic Review 2007 (PDF, 1.8Mb)

Fife Economic Review 2007 (PDF,2.5Mb)

Forth Valley Economic Review 2007 (PDF, 2.6Mb)

Tayside Economic Review 2007 (PDF, 1.5Mb)

Aberdeen City Region Economic Review 2008 (PDF, 919kb)

Dundee City Region Economic Review 2008 (PDF, 1.8Mb)

Edinburgh City Region Economic Review 2008 (PDF, 327kb)

South of Scotland Economic Review 2008 (PDF, 331kb)

Global economy

The Economic Performance of Finland: (Word, 909kb)
This paper provides a brief overview of economic trends in Finland, with Scottish comparisons where available, and highlights the main factors behind recent performance.

The performance of the Massachusetts Economy (Word, 223kb) (May 2007)
The Massachusetts and Boston city region economies rank highly in a number of benchmark indices and are often cited as examples of successful knowledge economies. The 2005 World Knowledge Competitiveness Index, which benchmarks the world’s top ‘knowledge regions’, ranks Boston second out of 125. Boston’s position is boosted by high productivity and GDP per head, driven in particular by high levels of R&D expenditure and equity finance. Scotland is ranked 83rd.

Industries

Aerospace, Defence and Marine

Enterprise

Enterprise and Economic Growth (Word, 810kb) March 2008
This analysis draws on existing research and outlines what is meant by enterprise, why it is an important driver of growth, what the potential measures/indicators of enterprise are and how the UK and Scottish economies perform. Where available, performance is compared to the ‘Arc of Prosperity’ and other small European countries outlined in the Government Economic Strategy

Competition and Economic Growth (Word, 549kb) August 2007
The analysis draws mainly on existing research and analysis, for example recent reports by the Treasury and Office for Fair Trading, and outlines why competition is an important driver of growth, considers the potential measures/indicators of competition at the UK and Scottish level and assesses the available evidence on levels of competition faced by businesses in Scotland.

Investment

Investment and Economic Growth (Word, 534kb) December 2007
This analysis draws on existing research, for example the HM Treasury’s ‘Productivity in the UK’ series, and outlines what is meant by investment, why it is an important driver of growth, what the potential measures/indicators of investment are and how the UK and Scottish economies perform. Where available, performance is compared to the ‘Arc of Prosperity’ countries outlined in the Government Economic Strategy.

The Risk Capital Market in Scotland report (3.5 Mb) (2005-2007)
The report, commissioned by the risk capital investment team, is a key tool for gathering intelligence on the risk capital market in Scotland. The findings provide a view on the suitability of existing funding mechanisms and where, if appropriate, there is a requirement to develop new funds as market gaps emerge. The research looks at investment in the early stage risk capital market including the number and value of investments made, investment by industry sector, location of companies receiving and investors giving finance and the types of investors making investment over the period 2005-2007 inclusive.

Talent attraction

The Place Race (PDF, 1Mb) February 2008
This report is about the relationship between mobility, talent and place. More specifically it is about how four of Scotland’s city regions – Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow – can influence this complex relationship to attract and retain talented workers.

Understanding the Role of Place in City Regions and Rural Scotland (PDF, 3.84Mb) (April 2008)
This research aims to help us better understand the economic roles of places across Scotland, particularly in the context of city regions and rural areas. A new evidence-based economic typology of places in Scotland was created to understand how and why places change, to highlight the economic roles that they play and the economic development strategies they have adopted over the last 20 years.

Experience of People Who Relocate to Scotland (2006)
This study was commissioned by the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise, and conducted by TNS System Three Social in 2005/6. It looks to understand why people choose to relocate to Scotland - including returning Scots, people from the rest of the UK and people from outside the UK.

Labour market issues

Futureskills Scotland's Research Online portal provides a single gateway to the most recent and relevant labour market intelligence. It contains details of material on all aspects of labour markets with particular reference to Scotland.

Find out more about Futureskills Scotland's Research Online portal

Rural issues

Download our rural research reports