Driving innovation in Scotland
Published
November 2007
Download
Driving Innovation in Scotland 82KB
Description
Innovation is vital to Scotland’s future economic prosperity and social well-being. As the nation becomes more reliant on services – and confronts national challenges such as an ageing population and environmental sustainability – it must develop its own distinctive innovation policies.
Scotland aspires to develop those sectors that add most value to its economy - advanced manufacturing, tradeable services and high-tech industries such as biotechnology, nanotechnology and genetics. In public services, the nation needs to do more with fewer resources, and better use the skills and resources of the third sector.
All these aspirations have one thing in common - their dependence on a healthy innovation system. Scotland differs from other countries with similar goals in that it has a greater opportunity to make this transition, with a proud history of invention, a stronger Higher Education base than the rest of the UK, and a number of important growth sectors.
To make the most of these attributes the Scottish Government needs to develop a policy framework that supports all forms of innovation, led by a new Minister for Innovation in the Scottish Government. This Minister should consider creating a Scottish Innovation Centre to catalyse the nation’s ecology of innovation.