Great time for investing in Dundee and Angus

Right now the prospects for our regional economy feel promising. Of course the financial downturn is still biting and some sectors continue to struggle, but we can be cautiously optimistic. The spotlight is on the Dundee as the ambitious £1 billion waterfront regeneration project makes good progress and new investors start to be attracted on a significant scale.

The challenge is to ensure that businesses already well established here are geared up to fully participate from the change and improvement going on all around them.

It’s really important that all parts of the business community can benefit. Local planners, policy makers and the enterprise and skills agencies must involve existing companies and help them to invest, expand and to create more jobs and training opportunities.

We should see economic growth and more jobs as Dundee and Angus moves from being a primarily business tourism destination to also become a major player in leisure tourism. Estimates suggest that the V&A in Dundee will attract more than 250,000 visitors every year, providing an enormous boost to the local economy.

At the recent local Economic Summit, one of the most interesting presentations was from economist, Professor Beatriz Plaza, who analysed the economic impact of the Guggenheim on the city of Bilbao in Spain. It showed very clearly that, while tourism got a major and sustained boost, the much greater long-term impact was in other sectors that seemed to benefit from a halo effect of inward investment, boosted business confidence and new learning, research and development. That’s great news for those thinking of starting up in business, expanding or investing in Dundee and Angus. It’s a great time to do so.

Chief Executive, Sandra Burke