International network: annual report 2022-2023

Economy, trade and investment

National Outcomes

Economy

Fair Work and Business

Network Outcomes

• Investment
• International Trade
• Research and Innovation

Scotland’s international network plays a vital role in promoting trade and investment through their economic diplomacy – using their relationships, reach and intelligence about foreign markets to improve economic outcomes at home. This includes creating opportunities and making connections for Scottish goods manufacturers and service providers to grow export sales and working with existing and potential foreign investors to create and safeguard good jobs in Scotland. This section sets out highlights from this activity across the network.

The joint Scottish Government and SDI team in the USA worked collaboratively to secure significant investment from Mangata Networks, an innovative satellite-enabled cloud services company. They chose Scotland as the location for their research and development activities as well as satellite manufacturing, and core network operations. Over the coming years, 575 new real living wage jobs will be created as part of Mangata’s engineering and operations hub at the Prestwick International Aerospace Park in Ayrshire. This transformational investment solidifies Scotland’s place as a global leader in small satellite research, development and manufacturing, providing a platform to attract more global companies to Scotland’s small satellite ecosystem. Mangata’s decision was the culmination of a multi-year engagement across operational and senior team members in the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and SDI in Scotland and the US.

Food and drink is one of Scotland’s key growth sectors domestically and internationally. In Canada, the team worked on an inward mission to Scotland from Québec for senior decision-makers in the spirits supply chain. The project, with a six-month planning horizon and a £10,000 budget, helped increase exports for Scottish distilleries. The forecast international sales resulting from the mission are over £9 million and SDI estimates that over 150 jobs will be created or safeguarded. We aim to further open the Canadian market to Scottish exporters by to replicating this success in Ontario – where annual revenue from spirits is more than twice that in Québec.

Scotland House London engaged with KultraLab – an innovative behavioural science and technology company – to pitch the benefits of locating in Scotland to tap into the country’s supportive tech eco-system and specifically Scotland’s leading research expertise in data and digital. In May 2022, the company announced its decision to establish a new hub in Edinburgh after it received more than £2 million investment from Scottish investment syndicate, Kelvin Capital, and Scottish Enterprise in a move that will create up to 25 high-value jobs in Scotland.

Ongoing Covid public health restrictions through 2022 led the team in China to trial new approaches to outreach in support of trade and investment objectives, including a series of initiatives for scoping opportunities in China to attract Scottish Fintechs. This resulted in a focused market research project with opportunities identified in payment and transfer, wealth management, open banking and Regtech, and more than 20 follow-up sessions on specific opportunities, five successful business matchings for Scottish companies in the Chinese market, and a Scottish Fintech Exhibition at the Shenzhen International Financial Expo.

Life sciences and medical technology is a growing trade and investment opportunity for Scotland. MedInTechs, France’s major Medtech innovation trade show, brings together public and private ecosystems to build the future of healthcare with more than 10,000 visitors and 200 exhibitors. The team in France supported a Scottish pavilion within the UK Village, hosting a delegation of four Scottish companies as well as liaising with other companies interested in these opportunities. One of these Scottish companies, LumiraDX, partnered with Alliance du Coeur, the French Heart Alliance, to perform live diagnostics under the surveillance of a medical board. Another firm, Cardioprecision, used the opportunity to perform the first onstage demonstrations of its CoreVista product.

The team in Ireland worked with EnviroPET, a Dublin micro business developing additives and an innovative method of dosing to allow for a greater proportion of recycled material to be used in the production of plastic bottles. The team helped the company explore how Scotland could become a location to further its experimental development and transition from pilot processes to production scale. Support included assistance with a Scottish Enterprise research and development grant and the identification of a suitable site within Glasgow, which the company formally confirmed in June 2022, creating 11 new green research and development jobs. With additional support from Interface Scotland and the UK Government agency, Innovate UK, the company announced it would partner with Heriot-Watt University and University of Strathclyde to develop new additives that will enhance the recycled content of plastic bottles.

Since the academic and research excellence of Scotland’s universities and colleges is already well recognised in Germany, engagement there over the course of the year focused on facilitating relationships and unlocking collaboration opportunities. Activities included close working with the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the German Research Foundation (DFG) and Connected Scotland partners, in particular the Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance (SULSA), to develop frameworks for academic mobility and research cooperation with Germany following the UK’s decision to leave the Erasmus+ programme and continuing uncertainty over the UK’s association to Horizon Europe. This resulted in a six-week secondment of a member of staff from SULSA to the German Research Foundation.