8.4 Strategic multi-sector offering
Traditional export promotion activity generally focuses on specific sectoral trade missions or in some cases cross-sectoral missions but without strategic coherence between the sectors. From work highlighted by Universities Scotland, we believe there is an opportunity for Scotland to pioneer an approach to export promotion which involves identifying specific challenges in target markets and then positioning a coherent strategic cross-sectoral offering, involving a number of businesses and potentially spearheaded by a higher education institution, which provides solutions to strategic problems in these markets. One such market could be the United Arab Emirates where, for example, there is a need to develop a quarter of its structures using 3D printing technology by 2030. In this model, innovation centres act as the hub for bringing consortia together for collaboration.