Chamber and committees

Through the Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (SIETF), to date, The Scottish Government has awarded the following proportion of the SIETF; (a) micro 3%, (b) small 12% , (c) medium-sized 17% and (d) large 68%.

As the Pathways report acknowledges, delivery of its recommendation and closing the gender gap in entrepreneurial participation is a long-term undertaking. In addition to the activity outlines in the answer to S6W-21604 on 2 October 2023:

• We are addressing the issue of data to improve our collection and reporting of data, developing a dashboard of measures that show how women are supported by our business support systems and how our actions are closing the gender gap and widening participation in entrepreneurship.

The Panel has made good progress since its inception and has concluded work on Workstreams 1 & 2 which focused on market intelligence and the policy environment. The Panel is progressing Workstream 3, the sector deep dive at pace and it is right that we provide the Panel with the time they need to fully consult, analyse and inform recommendations.

To date no Scotland Innovates funds have been spent to develop submissions received via the service. We do not hold data on monies spent by other parts of the public sector who have assessed submissions.

Supplementary note “The vast majority of Scotland Innovates submissions are from SME’s and are either “at or near market ready”.

There have been a total of 95 submissions received by the Scotland Innovates service. 66 were received during the 2022-23 FY and 29 have been received so far during the 2023-24 FY.

In total 63 submissions have been closed – 36 were closed during the 2022-23 FY and 27 have been closed during the 2023-24 FY so far. Of those closed, 18 have been deemed “successful”; 9 in the 2022-23 FY and 9 in the 2023-24 FY so far.

For the purposes of Scotland Innovates the following defined closure reasons have been considered “successful”:

“Successful” submissions were targeted at the following Scotland Innovates categories:

• Food, Beverage & Catering / Catering Equipment / Catering Equipment & Supplies
• Social Care & Services / Other Social Care & Services / Other Social Care & Social Services
• Business Support Services / Information Services / Information Services
• Waste & Environmental Services / Environmental Services / Environmental Equipment & Services
• Healthcare / Pharmaceuticals / Sterilisation & Disinfection
• Other Goods & Services / Economic Development / Social Research Services
• ICT / IT Hardware & Software / Software as a Service
• Healthcare / Clinical & Medical / Diabetes
• Healthcare / Healthcare Services / Digital Health
• Healthcare / Clinical & Medical / Cardio (thoracic, vascular, ology)
• Healthcare / Clinical & Medical / Dermatology
• Facilities Management / Cleaning & Janitorial Services / Specialist Hygiene Services
• ICT / IT Hardware & Software / Software as a Service
• Public Sector Bodies / Emergency Services / Fire Services
• Education / Schools & Colleges / Primary School Supplies and/or Services
• Healthcare / Clinical & Medical / Cancer service
• Healthcare / Clinical & Medical / Physiotherapy
• Clothing / Clothing & Footwear / Clothing & Footwear Supplies & Services

There are 19 submissions where assessor(s) have been or are currently assigned and 5 with assessment completed.

The Scottish Government’s National Innovation Strategy included an action to publish a "comprehensive plan to establish the Scottish higher education system as a world-class hotbed of startup creation and scaling". This plan, the Entrepreneurial Campus, was published in June, shortly after the publication of the Strategy.

To achieve our aims, the Entrepreneurial Campus, sets out actions across a number of themes in collaboration with our excellent further and higher education institutions, underpinned by regional alignment, inclusivity and a guiding framework for change.

As announced in the Strategy, Scottish Universities are developing a Scottish Innovation Fund to invest in early stage start-ups. We are liaising with relevant Universities as they develop the Fund and will work closely with them as they progress their ambitions.

On 6 April 2022 we published an independent analysis of the responses to our consultation on developing an aviation strategy. Amongst other topics, the consultation invited views on the transition to low and zero emission aviation and the role that the Scottish Government could potentially play. Decarbonising aviation is also relevant to the ongoing development of the Scottish Government’s climate change plan and it is important to ensure policy coherence between the two documents. We are also considering the appropriate time to publish the aviation strategy given this context.

In the interim we continue to support the aviation sector in line with our commitment to making Scotland as well connected as its peer nations and regions, and to support and improve lifeline air services for our rural and island communities.

In June 2023 the Scottish Government published the National Innovation Strategy which sets out our ten year vision for Scotland to once again become one of the most innovative small nations in the world.

The Strategy sets out a number of programmes to enable us to achieve our vision and ensure all of our businesses, people and institutions are ready and able to meet the global economic challenges and opportunities we face over the next ten years. These include a National Productivity Programme, a Research Commercialisation Programme and the publication of an annual Innovation Scorecard.

Work on implementing the Strategy has begun, in close partnership with our enterprise agencies, and the Programme for Government recently announced an additional £15m enterprise package which will be utilised to help deliver the Strategy.

Further details will be announced following the conclusion of delivery discussions between the Scottish Government, it’s agencies and institutions.

The Scottish Government agreed to include targeted Land and Buildings Transaction Tax relief and Non-Domestic Rates relief, alongside UK Government reserved tax reliefs and seed capital funding, to ensure that the offer to Green Freeports in Scotland was competitive with Freeports elsewhere in the UK.