Team Scotland Inward Investment Practitioner Consultation

This report is part of a wider Team Scotland evaluation of inward investment support led by the Scottish Government and published in 2026.  

Scottish Development International (SDI), the international arm of Scottish Enterprise (SE) and Scotland’s Investment Promotion Agency (IPA), leads in attracting and supporting investors over the analysis period, along with support from Team Scotland partners: Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) and Skills Development Scotland (SDS).

The purpose of the wider evaluation is to examine the effectiveness and impact of support delivered to companies and identify potential areas of improvement using a mixed methods evaluation approach. This mixed methods approach includes a survey of inward investment practitioners within the above delivery partners and Scottish Government.

On behalf of Team Scotland partners, SE commissioned Frontline to undertake this survey of inward investment practitioners, which is the subject of this report.

The commission focussed on gathering qualitative feedback from practitioners via an online survey and one to one consultations. It aimed to capture practitioners’ perspectives, including themes and operational insights on a wide range of issues rather than precise quantification of impact or effects of support. There were 72 respondents in total from across the Team Scotland partners.

The survey and consultations were carried out between April and June 2025 alongside a parallel commission for export promotion practitioners which is the subject of a separate report.

The report presents emerging findings which will feed into the wider evaluation mixed methods approach. Inward investment practitioners reported the following:

• The main barrier for all inward investors is access to finance, including capital, investment and incentives. For new investors, access to land, buildings and infrastructure was the second most important challenge, with access to skills, talent and workforce availability taking second place for existing investors.
• Taxation, regulation, macroeconomic uncertainty and global uncertainties also feature as barriers for both new and existing investors. Brexit and an increase in energy transition challenges plus growing international competition were also areas of challenge which have changed the most in recent years. Within companies, the main factors impacting on investment included resources, finance and investment.
• The changing global environment has created challenges most often related to rising costs such as energy, materials, taxation, NI and wages followed by global uncertainty as the second main challenge. However, respondents also identified opportunities in some key sectors e.g. energy, food and drink, fintech and AI.
• University and college graduates were a major source of companies’ staff recruitment, followed by apprenticeships and recruitment from the rest of the UK and overseas. The data, digital, tech, offshore wind and renewables sectors were highlighted as facing recruitment challenges. Geographically, rural areas presented the most challenges for inward investors’ staffing.
• A joined-up Team Scotland approach was seen as the strongest aspect of inward investment support, followed by access to grants and funding for inward investors. At the same time, respondents noted that support can also be cluttered and uncoordinated with areas of duplication, which could be improved through more tailored sector support, better streamlining and reduction of bureaucracy. Companies’ awareness of support was dependent on their level of engagement and previous experience of support.
• Support delivered was believed to create additionality mainly by accelerating company projects, but also by enabling investments which were larger or of a higher quality. Broader spillover benefits include positive supply chain impacts e.g. employment as well as increased R&D activity, industrial and academic partnerships, skills and training benefits and knowledge transfer. Aftercare activities were noted as one way to maximise spillovers.
• Lost projects were most often linked to competition from other regions, lack of company capability/commitment as well as unclear or slow support decisions. Suggested improvements included improved utilisation of the CRM/Dynamics system and an enhanced Team Scotland approach to supporting fragile projects.
• The majority of respondents believe the Inward Investment Plan (IIP) is an effective approach for attracting inward investment, by providing prioritisation, focus and direction for inward investment support, but also that it required updating.
• Looking ahead, respondents see increased scrutiny of investment options by companies and the need for greater reassurance on areas such as uncertainty, risk and costs. Major challenges over the next 5 years were anticipated to include geopolitical instability, economic insecurity and rising costs.

Recommendations are considered as part of the wider Team Scotland evaluation study.