Scotland National Strategy for Economic Transformation: Regional Economic Partnerships - evidence

5. Glasgow Regional Economic Partnership

Regional Aspirations to 2030

The region has set itself clear and ambitious aspirations to achieve by 2030. These are outlined in the new vision: "By 2030, Glasgow City Region will have the most innovative, inclusive and resilient economy in the UK."

The vision is underpinned by the following three missions:

• By 2030, the Region will have the most inclusive major city-region economy in the UK.
• By 2030, the Region will have the most productive major city-region economy in the UK.
• By 2030, the Region will have the most advanced city-region economy in the UK in the race to net zero and climate resilience.

Regional Opportunities

• the region has built a competitive advantage in the last three years in several high value industries with growth potential, including Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities; Financial and Insurance Activities; and Information and Communication.
• there are technological transformation opportunities within these sectors as the region shifts into Industry 4.0.
• there are plans to build on the region's innovation district with the new emerging tech programme, to align with sectors the region performs strongly in, including - Fin Tech and the health and clinical tech sector.
• the region's foundational economy has growth opportunities in sectors that have low paid jobs with lower productivity, such as retail, hospitality, care and tourism. Glasgow City Region plans to support these industries to become more innovative, inclusive and fairer.

Regional Challenges

The following are challenges that the region faces:

• Automation may pose a challenge in some sectors.
• High levels of long-term sick economically inactive residents is a major challenge in the region. Up to one third of the region's productivity gap could be attributed to health-related issues. Focussing on addressing health inequalities is key to growing an inclusive, productive economy.
• skills-related:
• High number of residents in the region with no qualifications, limiting their economic opportunities;
• Issues of underemployment and the positive gap between the number of graduates and graduate positions in the region; and
• Evidence of a lack of progression for those in lower paid jobs.
• Overall, the skills challenges amount to a broader question of whether the region's current skills system is providing people with the skills they need. The Future Skills programme, which is in development, will take into account the above challenges.

Ongoing and Planned Activity for Region

• The Glasgow City Region Regional Economic Strategy identifies 7 transformational opportunities to reshape the economy for all. The seven transformational opportunities are within the Foundational Economy; High Growth Sectors; Accelerating Climate Action; Health; Skills; Technology and, Place. These are tied to the 12 regional programmes which make up the first phase of the Regional Economic Strategy Action Plan.
• The programmes within the Regional Economic Strategy that will support key elements of the region's economy include:
• innovation districts which focus on cross sectoral innovation through growing R&D, start-ups, investment, and employment in the region's highest value sectors;
• a pilot project to support growth of the foundational economy to implement a Living Wage, skills progression, and adoption of new business processes to support business growth across the region;
• the Future Skills Programme which aims to develop regional skills programmes to deliver a skilled workforce to meet current and emerging demands of the public and private sectors;
• helping businesses transition to net zero;
• developing better places for people to live and businesses to locate – through a housing retrofit programme to help reduce fuel poverty and get the Region to net zero, a city and town centre programme that will help our centres adapt to changing consumer behaviours and working practices, a programme to address issues of blight associated with vacant and derelict land, plus a green demonstrator programme focused on supporting the uptake of electrical vehicles across the Region;
• continued support for the transformational Clyde Mission and Clyde Metro programmes.
• To help deliver these ambitious programmes, the region will continue to work with investors, both in the public and private sectors. It is also looking at new and innovative funding solutions such as creating a Regional Investment Fund that will be designed to ensure the region attracts the investment required to achieve its vision and missions