Scottish Enterprise (SE) has today (22 September) revealed that companies will achieve an additional £658million in revenue over the next three years, through its innovation support during 2014/15. This has more than doubled compared to the figures from the previous year, demonstrating year on year progress in encouraging more companies to be innovative and embrace a culture of continual innovation for business growth.
Commenting on the results, Jim Watson, director of innovation and enterprise for Scottish Enterprise, said: “We know that investment in innovation and R&D leads to business growth, increased productivity, greater opportunities and a globally competitive edge, making it crucial to the long-term success of the Scottish economy. In fact, innovation accounts for some two-thirds of all the productivity in the economy.
“What is more, evidence shows that innovative companies grow nearly twice as fast in terms of sales than non-innovators, create more jobs and are more attractive to investors.
“As the world becomes closer, more connected and more competitive, companies need to do more and go further to ensure they are not left behind. At Scottish Enterprise, we believe that innovation should be more than just an ‘add-on’ or a ‘nice-to-have’ for businesses. It should be the core culture of companies that strive for growth. It’s our role then, to work with companies to help them become more innovative by developing new products and services, streamlining processes or adapting business models - recognising that innovation is more successful if it is focused on international markets.
“These latest figures are testament to our ongoing commitment to increasing innovation. What we need now is for more companies to embrace new ideas and new ways of doing things, and follow the likes of Alexander Denis Limited in using innovative approaches to realise growth ambitions.”
Other key Innovation and R&D results from 2014/15 include:
- £149million of additional commitments in R&D investment were secured through SE assisted projects
- 350 new companies received SE innovation support with additional support from local authorities, Business Gateway, Interface, and UK IPO
- Around 35 companies participated in SE’s Deeper Engagement programme, targeting established innovators to help them benchmark their innovation performance against their competitors in Europe and to develop innovation strategies with a view to each company becoming more competitive in their markets
- Memoranda were signed with Norwegian oil major Statoil and Scottish manufacturer Devro – as part of SE’s increased focus on working with larger companies to stimulate innovation with SMEs supply-chains
- Informatics Ventures 3 was launched, as a partnership between Edinburgh University and Scottish Enterprise to support the creation and scaling of ambitious innovation based companies through increased entrepreneurial talent and investment.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: “Our vision is to make Scotland a world-leading entrepreneurial and innovative nation. That’s why we have put innovation at the heart of our Government Economic Strategy and the Programme for Government, to drive long term competitiveness, boost productivity and increase sustainable economic growth.
“These results show that increasing numbers of companies are recognising the benefits of investing in innovation, reaping the rewards and contributing to the Scottish economy.”
2014/2015 has also seen some significant elements of SE’s longer-term strategy put in place, including continued support for the establishment of eight new Innovation Centres. Funded by the Scottish Funding Council, the innovation centres aim to encourage business growth that takes advantage of Scotland’s world-class strengths in research within Scotland’s universities, and drive forward change in some of Scotland’s major sector opportunities such as advanced manufacturing, big data, stratified medicine and industrial biotechnology.
Companies successfully innovating with help from Scottish Enterprise include Selkirk-based Spark Energy, a challenger brand to the Big Six energy companies which specialises in rented property. Spark has entered the Sunday Times Fastrack 100 and has an award-winning Customer Service centre. The company has a commitment to outperform the Big Six and is consistently focused on investing in innovation and business improvement. SE supported the company last year with over £150,000 towards their continuous improvement of customer experience. Over the last three years the company has had annual sales growth of 97% and forecasts continued substantial growth in the next few years, with turnover in the coming year forecast at £130million.
Similarly, with support from SE, Falkirk based bus and coach manufacturer, Alexander Dennis Limited introduced the revolutionary Enviro400 single and double-decker bus models, which have captured 50% of the UK market. SE also supported the development of their Enviro 500 double-decker for international markets. Since the Enviro500 was created, the company has sold 1,500 buses in less than two years into Hong Kong and other new markets in Asia and the Pacific Rim. Due to their ongoing investment in innovation over the last 7 years, Alexander Dennis Limited has grown from an annual turnover of £170million to one in excess of £500million, leading the world in midi bus and double-decker vehicle production.
Click here to find out more about the Innovation and R&D results from Jim Watson, director of innovation and enterprise for Scottish Enterprise.