News
Scottish businesses to benefit from £500,000 support to boost trade
Scottish businesses are set to benefit from £500,000 of government support for a programme of trade missions to help them grow exports and build global partnerships.
The four sectors that have been identified as priorities for growth are energy, life sciences, technology and digital services, and food and drink.
Edinburgh highlighted as investors broaden outlook
In a ranking by research consultancy ING of 40 locations, Edinburgh is fifth while Glasgow is in the top 15. Commissioned by construction and civil engineering company McLaughlin & Harvey, it finds that the future of UK life sciences development could expand beyond the best-known towns and cities as technology changes the market and factors such as access to housing, talent, infrastructure and favourable planning conditions become increasingly important.
Source: Daily Business
Edinburgh leads Scotland in life sciences rankings
Edinburgh has been ranked as the UK’s fifth most promising location for future life sciences development, emerging as Scotland’s highest-rated city in a new study that suggests the industry’s next phase of growth could increasingly take place beyond the “Golden Triangle” of London, Oxford and Cambridge.
Source: The Herald
Why Scotland must address the key scale-up challenges
Dr Yvonne Davies says we are good at creating start-ups but could do more to help companies take the next big step
Scotland has so much to celebrate when it comes to entrepreneurship across multiple sectors. Within industry, universities, business support networks and innovation centres up and down the land, we are producing exciting technologies and world-class science along with ambitious founders.
Source: The Scotsman
Scotland’s 358-strong ‘untapped innovation cohort’ presents a real opportunity
More than 350 Scottish businesses have been identified as part of an “untapped innovation cohort” that could boost economic growth.
Publishing research into the UK’s innovation economy and access to public funding for high-growth companies, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) - part of NatWest Group - said Scotland was home to 1,737 “innovative” businesses, 59 per cent (1,027) of whom are recipients of public funding and 367 classed as university spinouts.
Source: The Scotsman
Growing Scotland's life sciences sector
Life sciences firms will gain direct access to investors, healthcare networks and commercial partners in the United States through a new Scotland-Massachusetts partnership.
The ‘Scotland-Massachusetts Bio-Bridge’ will bring business leaders from Massachusetts to Scotland to explore investment and collaboration opportunities.
World Cup connection helps spark new Scotland-US partnership
The UK and Scottish governments have joined together to fund science collaboration with the United States.
Venture Café Edinburgh hosted the official launch of the Biobridge programme, a new partnership connecting Scotland's life sciences ecosystem with Massachusetts.
The “Scotland-Massachusetts Bio-Bridge” will bring business leaders from Massachusetts to Scotland to explore investment and collaboration opportunities.
Source: The Herald
Career support is now closer to Scotland’s communities
Career journeys are rarely straightforward, and people do not all need the same thing at the same time.
That is why Skills Development Scotland’s (SDS) all-age careers service meets people where they are, helping them build the confidence and skills to make informed decisions throughout life.
Source: The Herald
Funding gap widens as investors become more selective
Scotland's early-stage investment market remains active, but raising capital is becoming more difficult for ambitious growth companies.
While investors continue to back innovative businesses with strong growth prospects, fundraising rounds are taking longer to complete, investors are carrying out more detailed due diligence and capital is becoming increasingly selective.
Source: The Scotsman
Scotland attracts record 76 new funders to the market in 2025
A record 76 funders backed Scottish companies with risk capital for the first time in 2025, up from 73 in 2024, according to the latest Annual Newcomers Report from Young Company Finance (YCF), which tracks the financing of early-stage companies in Scotland.
Midlothian Science Zone-based Rhizocore Technologies is one of those companies, attracting five investors to the Scottish risk capital market for the first time including The First Thirty, The Grosvenor Estate and Sand River, investing alongside Scottish Enterprise and the University of Edinburgh’s Old College Capital.
Source: Scottish Financial News