Official figures show Scottish inward investment on the rise

Scotland enjoyed a rise in inward investment last year despite economic headwinds, new figures have revealed.

There were 126 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects generating just over 8,500 jobs during 2017, up almost 9 per cent on the previous year, according to Scottish Devel- opment International (SDI). Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) was the biggest region for both FDI projects and jobs, while technology and advanced engineering (TAE), tourism and life sciences were the biggest contributors for projects by sector.

Key FDI successes during the last year included Sthree’s new centre of excellence coming to Glasgow, creating 314 jobs, and Australian fintech company Computershare’s technology centre heading for Edinburgh with the creation of 300 roles.

The figures were released yesterday as Scottish trade minister Ivan Mckee met with a number of inward investors from the life sciences sector during a visit to Biocity in Lanarkshire.

Neil Francis, operations director of SDI, said: “Just recently, the EY attractiveness survey highlighted a record year for Scotland in attracting inward investment during 2017, and now our own results back this up, showing a 9 per cent increase in new jobs from inward investors over the 2017/18 financial year. These results recognise the collective effort of partners across Scotland and internationally.” 0 Neil Francis: Latest results ‘recognise collective effort’