Innovation and Investment Hubs: staffing, costs and generated value:FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/18/01610
Date received: 4 June 2018
Date responded: 2 July 2018

Information requested

• The number of staff i) permanently and ii) temporarily employed at each innovation and investment hub operated by the Scottish Government.

• The annual cost to run and maintain each innovation and investment hub.

• The number and value of business and trade deals generated by each innovation and investment hub.

Response

The Scottish Government's Innovation and Investment Hubs are an integral part of wider work across the Scottish Government, partners and businesses to support trade, investment, innovation and inter-governmental relations. Innovation and Investment Hubs provide a platform that brings together Scottish Government and its agencies, with partners and businesses to promote Scotland's interests, increase exports and attract investment to Scotland. Each Hub will have a different scope and focus, depending on their locality, and specific opportunities will be tailored to each location.

In respect of your first request for the number of staff (i) permanently and (ii) temporarily employed at each Innovation and Investment Hub – staff employed by the Scottish Government, as of 4 June 2018, is as follows:

• 2 staff are employed in the Berlin Hub,

• 2.75 staff are employed in the Dublin Hub,

• 8 staff employed in Scotland House London

• 15 staff (with 2 additional people recruited as interns) are employed in Scotland House Brussels.

The information you request in respect of staff from the agencies co-located in each Innovation and Investment Hub is not held by the Scottish Government. I suggest you write to Scottish Development International, VisitScotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise to request this.

Scottish Development International can be contacted at the following address: Scottish Development International, 5 Atlantic Quay, 150 Broomielaw, Glasgow, G2 8LU.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise can be contacted at the following address: Highlands and Islands Enterprise, An Lòchranm, 10 Inverness Campus, Inverness, IV2 5NA.

VisitScotland can be contacted at the following address: VisitScotland, Ocean Point One, 94 Ocean Drive, Edinburgh, EH6 6JH.

Scottish Enterprise can be contacted at the following address: Scottish Enterprise, Atrium Court, 50 Waterloo Street, Glasgow, G2 6HQ.

In respect of your second request, you asked what the annual cost is to run and maintain each Innovation and Investment Hub. For financial year 2018-19, the Scottish Government's indicative costs for Dublin, London and Berlin combined is £2.3 million, however, this is an estimate and will not be finalised until conclusion of this year's business planning process. The Scottish Government's indicative costs for the Brussels Hub in financial year 2018-19 is £2,081,000. Once again, this is an estimate and will not be finalised until the conclusion of this year's business planning process.

In respect of your third request, for the number and value of business and trade deals generated by each Innovation and Investment Hub – we are in the process of developing a framework to assess the network's contribution to trade, investment and other outcomes though it will be challenging to fully separate out the specific impact of each Hub from wider trade and investment activities.

Scottish Development International's full year annual performance figures are formally published in Scottish Enterprise's Annual Report and Accounts.

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