This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Strategy "in place" for economic growth
25/11/2002
The Executive has in place the right strategy to deliver
long-term economic growth in Scotland, Strathclyde
University's "Scotland in a Global Economy: the 2020
Vision" conference was told today.
Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Minister Iain Gray said
Scotland's future depended on the private sector, the
academic community and the government working together and
sharing ideas to promote a climate of innovation and
opportunity.
He said:
"Although the Scottish economy faces a number of
challenges, the Executive is fostering a Smart Successful
Scotland through various programmes aimed at growing
business, creating global connections and enhancing skills
and learning.
"Businesses investing in research and development is
vital to Scotland's ability to compete with the best in the
world. That means getting science out of our laboratories
and into the market place.
"We have put in place a range of initiatives to help
deliver this: the Proof of Concept Fund, the Knowledge
Transfer Grant and the Scottish Co-investment Fund.
Notably, 19% of UK university spin-outs are in
Scotland.
"Scottish Development International and the Enterprise
Networks are working on initiatives such as the Global
Companies Development Programme that is now helping more
than 25 Scottish-headquartered companies to become global
organisations.
"We remain keen to bring high value, high skill
industries to Scotland, alongside a policy of encouraging
our own indigenous businesses to develop and expand.
"Striking the right balance between indigenous and
Foreign Direct Investment is essential. I believe that FDI
has a continued role in Scotland, albeit with a different
focus than in the nineties.
"To pursue this aim I spent last week in America
promoting Scottish companies and industries and encouraging
overseas businesses that specialise in high-value,
high-skill industries to invest here.
"People are the key resource in any economy and
Scotland's people are a huge asset. This is why we have
established Futureskills Scotland to identify skills gaps
and work with stakeholders to better match skills supply to
employer demand.
"We are determined to focus policy on promoting Scotland
and ensuring that we have a growing and dynamic economy and
population. Working together we will bring about a better
Scotland."
The Scotland in a Global Economy: the 2020 Vision
conference is based around the themes discussed in the
recently published book of the same name, edited by Neil
Hood, Jeremy Peat, Ewan Peters and Stephen Young.
The Global Companies Development Programme offers
consultancy and support in terms of product development and
sales and marketing strategies to help global companies or
those working to become global boost their export
performance.
Future Skills Scotland is Scotland's labour market
intelligence unit. It identifies skills gaps and works with
stakeholders to better match skills supply to employer
demand. Its recent Employers Skill Survey analysed skills
related trends in the Scottish labour market to help
identify employers needs.