According to the EY Attractiveness Survey Scotland 2022, Scotland is second only to London when it comes to pulling foreign investment. Mind you this is all in the Post Covid-19 world, where European countries and the UK are still bouncing back. This is especially true when it comes to Venture Capital Investing where Scotland shines.
The Data
As many regions around the world are still trying to recover from the pandemic, Scotland secured an increase of 14% in the amount of investment that it gets. This is higher than the UK and Europe whose numbers are yet to better those recorded in 2019 despite a notable increase from previous years.
Scotland’s double-digit growth is the highest it has recorded this past decade, although this doesn’t come as a surprise to most experts. This steady rise in projects has been the case for the past six or seven years, with significant growth seen these past four years.
Reaching an all-time high of 122 projects this year, Scotland has managed to pull this off given the Political turbulence it was facing and the Covid-19 pandemic cementing it as a tenacious player with this incredible ability to thrive during adversity.
To further prove this point, Scotland boasts five cities in the UK’s top 20 FDI cities excluding London. These are Edinburgh in 1st place with 31 projects, Glasgow in 4th with 23 projects, Aberdeen in 8th with 14 projects, and both Dundee and Livingston came in at 15th place.
Who are the willing investors?
The UK as a whole is currently experiencing a boom in business, and Scotland is in the perfect position to enjoy this growth. An interesting statistic in all of this is the fact that foreign investors are putting more of their money into Scotland than in the UK as a whole.
Looking at the region’s top foreign investors paints a much better picture. The top foreign investor remains to be the US which is responsible for 29.5% of Scotland’s projects and only 24% of the UK’s.
This trend can be noticed in other investors in the region like Denmark, Germany, France, and Canada who have notably more business in Scotland than in the United Kingdom. Adding to this list is Spain which as a newcomer managed to secure 12 jobs in Scotland, a feat that had not been achieved this past decade.
What kind of projects attract Foreign Investment?
Business service projects and manufacturing projects represent close to half of the total projects that Scotland secured. 55 business service projects were registered which represents around 27% of all of Scotland’s projects in 2021 while manufacturing came a close second with 35 jobs.
In these spheres, a couple of sectors stand out when it comes to driving inward investments. These are:
Business Services – 14 projects
Machinery and Equipment – 18 projects
Digital Technology – 33 projects
Utility Supply – 18 projects
Why Scotland?Foreign investors back Scotland despite renewed independence push | Financial Times
According to the survey, a couple of factors have been detrimental to this growth to take place. These include:
? Skills and availability of the local workforce
? Support from economic bodies
? Strength of local business networks
This tenacity and ability to overcome adversity have greatly increased the attractiveness of Scotland as a long-term destination by investors.
