Scotland's National Strategy for Economic Transformation

Executive Summary

Our ambition for 2032 is for Scotland to be successful. Success means a strong economy where good, secure and well-paid jobs and growing businesses have driven a significant reduction in poverty and, in particular, child poverty. It means a nation of entrepreneurs and innovators, with resilient supply chains and competitive advantages in the new industries generated by technological change, scientific advance and our response to the climate and nature crises. It means a society in which everyone can participate in economic success, in every community and in every region.

Our vision is to create a wellbeing economy: a society that is thriving across economic, social and environmental dimensions, and that delivers prosperity for all Scotland's people and places. We aim to achieve this while respecting environmental limits, embodied by our climate and nature targets.

The next ten years will be a time of incredible change and extraordinary opportunity – but success is not inevitable. The time for brave and bold action is now. The pandemic has hit our economy hard, forcing us to re-evaluate questions of economic value and national resilience and revolutionising the way in which some of our industries work.

As we recover we must map out a future role in a world where Brexit has undermined so many of the trading and collaborative relationships on which we have relied for many years and efforts must go into rebuilding, restoring and identifying new markets and relationships.

Whilst the foundations of Scotland's success exist, there remain long-standing challenges, with weak productivity compared to international competitors, a relative lack of new business growth and persistent poverty. We need to take action to shift the dial in these areas, not just by doubling down on the things that are producing results but by working together – government, public sector, business, trade unions, third sector and social enterprises – to deliver five bold new policy programmes of action.

These will:

• establish Scotland as a world-class entrepreneurial nation founded on a culture that encourages, promotes and celebrates entrepreneurial activity in every sector of our economy;
• strengthen Scotland's position in new markets and industries, generating new, well-paid jobs from a just transition to net zero;
• make Scotland's businesses, industries, regions, communities and public services more productive and innovative;
• ensure that people have the skills they need at every stage of life to have rewarding careers and meet the demands of an ever-changing economy and society, and that employers invest in the skilled employees they need to grow their businesses;
• reorient our economy towards wellbeing and fair work, to deliver higher rates of employment and wage growth, to significantly reduce structural poverty, particularly child poverty, and improve health, cultural and social outcomes for disadvantaged families and communities.

This strategy is intentionally focused on a small number of priorities; it does not seek to do everything. It focuses on five policy programmes with the greatest potential benefit and on how to achieve them, rather than address every potentially beneficial action for every industry. The programmes have been carefully chosen, based on the evidence.^[1]

A sixth programme on delivery introduces a new streamlined delivery model in which all participants are clear about their roles and accept accountability for their actions. We will draw on the strengths of people and organisations from all sectors of the economy – a "Team Scotland" approach. In combination, these six programmes will transform the Scottish economy over the next decade and drive economic opportunities.