Scottish Industrial Strategy Efforts
The aim of the Industrial Strategy was to boost productivity by backing businesses to create good jobs and increase the earning power of people throughout the United Kingdom with investment in skills, industries and infrastructure.
Speaking to over 50 business leaders at the Scottish Council for Development and Industry Annual Forum today, Lord Henley showcased how, through collaboration between United Kingdom and Scottish government, Scottish businesses and regions were “rising to the occasion” to meet some of the United Kingdom’s biggest challenges.
In particular he highlighted the importance of collaboration between the SCDI and government in supporting Scottish enterprise in recent years – with £87 million of United Kingdom government funding awarded to 163 Scottish organisations through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund since its launch in April 2017.
The government has also invested over £1.35 billion pounds across Scotland, as part of the City and Growth Deals, aimed at providing more power and flexibility to cities in terms of employment and skills, business support and housing.
As part of his visit, Lord Henley met with life sciences company RoslinCT to see how £887,000 of government funding, awarded in October 2018, is being used to help develop stem cell therapies for clinical use.
He also met with scientists and academia from SynthSys, Edinburgh’s virtual centre for Synthetic Biology, to tour its flagship Genome Foundry, which is using robotics and automation to assemble DNA for medical applications.