The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
International development work boosts Scottish jobs
FUNDING: America the biggest source of inward investment into Scotland
Thousands of jobs were created in Scotland last year as a result of armslength investments made by overseas headquartered companies.
Annual results for Scottish Development International show a total of 7,839 jobs were created during the financial year 2016-17 on the back of efforts to promote Scotland on the global stage as a place to do business.
The figure represents a 10% increase on that achieved in the prior year period and comes a month after the 2017 EY Scotland attractiveness survey ranked Scotland as the most attractive UK location for investment outwith London.
The US was the biggest source of inward investment during the year, followed by England and then Norway.
From a sectoral perspective, new investment was led by the oil and gas and financial and business services sectors.
Singapore-based Clinnovate, Chinese mobile games firm Skymoons, US marketing and sales solutions provider Televerde, diabetes management leader Dexcom and Chinese power company Red Rock were among the group’s that made significant investments in Scotland during the year.
SDI operations director Neil Francis said it was clear Scotland remained an attractive place to do business.
“I’m particularly pleased to see investment successes from China and India, as this reflects our increased focus on developing relationships in these markets and our investment in a high growth market team based here in Scotland,” Mr Francis said.
“We have a clear focus on winning the right kind of investment for Scotland – which is secured because of our skills base, science and research excellence and our connected business infrastructure.”
The publication of the inward investment results coincided with the announcement that Australian financial services company Computershare has secured £2m of funding from Scottish Enterprise to create 300 jobs at a new technology Centre of Excellence in Edinburgh.
The cash will see the company recruit 300 employees over the next three to four years, at a new city centre location.
Computershare’s global president Stuart Irving, who was raised and began his career in Edinburgh, said: “As a growing business we need the skills and hard work we see on offer in this city, and we’re looking forward to welcoming our first new recruits to join our technology team.
“We are grateful to the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Development International (SDI) for helping us with our plans and are looking forward to our continued partnership.”
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “Together with the inward investment figures published by SDI, this offers further evidence that we have the skills and expertise to attract and retain global companies like Computershare.”