Responding to the requirements of Scotland’s key industries
Securing faster, more sustainable growth will require increased performance across the economy. Some sectors and firms offer the opportunity to strengthen Scotland’s areas of international comparative advantage, through achieving critical mass and boosting productivity*
The Government Economic Strategy places a great emphasis on Scotland’s key sectors to boost productivity and improve Scotland’s position in the global economy. We will work closely on a pan Scotland basis with partners, such as Highlands and Islands Enterprise, VisitScotland and local authorities, to help support growth across those industries identified by the Government: energy, financial and business services, food and drink, life sciences, tourism and creative industries.
Scotland already has some major competitive advantages within these industry sectors which, as well as being able to boost growth in the shorter term, offer the greatest opportunities for long term sustainable economic growth in the future.
Scotland has other important industries such as aerospace, chemicals, construction, forest industries, marine and defence, and textiles that will also help shape what we deliver as well as supporting the enabling technologies which can be applied across multiple markets and industries e.g. advanced engineering and informatics. We will work with these sectors where there are clear opportunities to sustain or strengthen Scotland’s economic growth.
In supporting growth, we will work closely with industry leaders to understand their requirements for further growth and to set our priorities for future investment and support to help them achieve that growth. The recommendations of the newly constituted Industry Advisory Boards, informed by The Government Economic Strategy, will be the major driver for much of what we do.
We will also work closely with other public sector partners to exploit Scotland’s competitive advantages and support the wider application of these strengths in growing Scotland’s economy. An example of this is the Translational Medicine Research Institute (TMRI), which combines the research strengths of Scotland’s universities with our health service to attract millions of pounds of additional research investment to Scotland from pharmaceutical company Wyeth.
*The Government Economic Strategy