SCOTTISH ENTERPRISE | BUSINESS PROFILE
and grain merchants from Lanarkshire, who developed a new management approach and appraisal system. Or Coretrax Technology (pictured, page 216), an Aberdeen-based oilfield services firm that doubled its turnover and increased its workforce from two to 23.
ALLEVIATING RISK Thirdly, Scottish Enterprise specialises in what it calls “customer-led innovation”. “Companies are cautious about what they invest in, especially since the recession,” says Watson. “They think innovation will be risky, but research suggests that if you don’t innovate, you won’t move forward, you’ll go backwards. So companies need an incentive. Customer-led innovation sees us working with a large firm – one that might be having problems innovating – and introducing them to a smaller firm with big ideas. We help to de-risk the enterprise.” In this process, a big company will be
teamed up with a smaller firm and will invest in early-phase development projects. “It works because it’s a win-win situation,” says Watson. “The big firm gets a competitive advantage through innovation. The small firm develops a product or service and also has a guaranteed buyer at the end of the process.” Finally, Scottish Enterprise has identified what it describes as “sector innovation”. “A firm might be ahead of the game in terms of innovating
“ SCOTLAND’S REPUTATION AS A NATION OF INNOVATORS SPANS CENTURIES, AND THIS LEGACY CONTINUES”
in its sector,” says Watson. “But, as well as being an early mover, you need an early user. Companies and individuals can often only work as part of a broader infrastructure. A firm might need to be introduced to a good university, or a business school, or financial funding, and we’re here to facilitate that.” Some innovations will also have
applications outside of the originally intended sector. An example is Aberdeen-based Return To Scene (pictured, opposite), a subsidiary of Sea Energy PLC. It developed a technological innovation called R25 Visual Asset Management, initially for police forces to log evidential information onto 360-degree images. However, with the assistance of Scottish Enterprise, the technology was adapted and improved for use in the oil and gas industry. “This is something we always do with
SMEs,” says Watson. “As an innovation develops, we start to look at it and ask, what are the other applications? What else could we use this for? Would this work in another sector? Sometimes, if a bigger firm is helping to pay for the research, that firm might – understandably – prevent the SME from selling the technology to its industry competitors. However, the SME
will own the intellectual property, and they’ll be free to sell it to other sectors.”
GREAT SCOTS Scottish Enterprise will often work in conjunction with UK-wide agencies, such as Innovate UK, and all of its projects are of benefit to UK plc. There is, however, something uniquely Scottish about much of this innovation. “Scotland’s reputation as a nation of
innovators spans centuries,” says Lena Wilson, Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise. “This legacy continues with our newest innovators who have the ambition to go out into the global marketplace and make their mark in a way that makes a positive and lasting difference.” And, as more and more Scottish firms
diversify their export base and enter new or emerging overseas markets, Scottish Enterprise is there to assist them. “Scotland’s long-standing reputation
for trust and transparency is why a lot of firms from around the world want to work with us,” says Wilson. “Careful, astute and skilled, Scotland’s businesses personify the notion of the ‘canny Scot’.”
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