SDI extends global footprint with seven new international offices

Scottish Development International (SDI) has announced plans to open seven new overseas offices during the next year and extend its overseas staff by a quarter.

These efforts will seek to build on recent successes, with Ernst & Young’s influential UK Attractiveness Survey reporting that Scotland was the UK’s leading location for FDI job creation for the second year running.

The move will allow SDI to be more proactive in responding to significant new international opportunities, particularly in emerging markets where staff operating on the ground with specific in–market expertise is vital to secure new business.

The biggest expansion will be in Asia, where SDI is seeing significant interest in Scotland’s strengths in growth industries such as food & drink, energy, business services, technology and life sciences. SDI plans to extend its staff by over 25 per cent, with new offices opening in both China and India later this year.

SDI also plans to establish a presence in Brazil, Norway and West Africa and expand its existing presence in the Middle East to tap into new market opportunities. Aiming to more than double its activity in these regions over the next three years, SDI’s expansion also includes some traditional markets that offer significant opportunities for Scotland, particularly for new exporters, such as Canada, the US and Germany.

That came after major foreign firms such as GlaxoSmithKline, Aker Solutions, Amazon, Samsung Heavy Industries and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries made significant investment announcements in Scotland.

First Minister Alex Salmond said: “In tough economic times it is absolutely crucial that we do everything we can to secure new investment and jobs in Scotland.

“Scotland is clearly already an attractive place for international business, with the influential Ernst & Young survey demonstrating that – for the second year in a row - we lead these islands in inward investment projects.

“Those findings, allied to recent investment announcements from major firms such as Mitsubishi, Samsung and GlaxoSmithKline are a testament to Scotland’s attractiveness to foreign investors and multinational companies.

“However, the Scottish Government and its agencies continue to work tirelessly to build on these successes and bring in even more new investment by making the best of every competitive advantage we have.

“While economies in Europe continue to have difficulties, it is vital we work even harder to identify opportunities in emerging and growing markets such as Brazil and the Middle East, helping Scottish firms export more and attracting inward investment to Scotland.

“That is why I am delighted that Scottish Development International is expanding its operations, with seven new offices to be opened in key overseas markets as part of renewed efforts to capitalise on Scotland’s strengths in sectors such as energy, food and drink and life sciences.

“Proactive work such as this is vitally important, as we seek to send out a message to investors from economic powerhouses such as China and India that Scotland is very much open for business.”

A joint venture between the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), the expansion is part of SDI’s ongoing efforts to help Scottish companies trade overseas and to encourage more inward investors to view Scotland as the ideal place to locate and do business.

Lena Wilson, chief executive of Scottish Enterprise, says: “The global economy continues to change and it’s our role to help ambitious Scottish companies take advantage of the emerging patterns of international trade. By having experts and offices based in key markets across the globe we can help more home-grown businesses tap into new overseas opportunities.

“And we know this works. By strengthening and expanding our presence overseas, ‘we’ve been able to achieve some huge successes. For example, we’ve increased our activity in the Middle East substantially in recent years and this has led to a number of key developments such as a new agreement with Masdar in Abu Dhabi and the expansion of Emirates Airlines services from Glasgow airport. Thanks to our efforts in Asia we’ve also seen 20% year on year growth for the last three years of Scottish companies assisted into Asian markets as well as a sevenfold increase in food and drink companies supported into the region”.

SDI’s strategy has been informed by working closely with Scottish industry and the gathering of intelligence from its existing field teams across the world. This has helped to identify the key international markets, where there is expected to be an increase in demand for Scottish goods and services.

These include:

• China, which as the second largest consumer of energy consumption after the USA, is set to become the largest importer of food by 2017 and will offer significant opportunities for Scotland’s energy and food and drink sectors.

• The Middle East, where there will be considerable investment in the continued growth of the energy sector over the next ten years

• Norway, where Scottish premium food and drink continues to be in high demand, driven by the population’s high disposable income in addition to new opportunities in oil and gas

• Brazil, which as the world’s ninth largest oil producer, also offers significant opportunities for Scotland’s oil and gas companies

• West Africa, which has been identified as a market that offers significant opportunities for Scotland’s oil and gas industry to grow internationally through supply chain development and technology collaboration.

• South Africa, which is the 5th largest export market for Scotch Whisky
  
  
• Canada, which has been rated by the Economist Intelligence Unit as the number one place to do business in the G7 over the next 3 years

• South East Asia, which is the world’s fastest growing student market and is set to account for 70 per cent of the global demand for international higher education by 2025.

Anne MacColl, chief executive, Scottish Development International, added: “SDI is committed to helping companies address wider barriers to internationalisation including access to finance, leadership and innovation.

“By working with our partners including HIE and UKTI and using our extensive expertise such as our GlobalScot network, our Smart Exporter programme and our trade missions, we can help increase the reach of our companies - ultimately driving home long-term sustainable growth for the Scottish economy.”

Alex Paterson, Chief Executive of HIE, said: “Over the next three years we are forecasting an increase in international sales for our account managed businesses in the Highlands and Islands of over £20m each year. Having excellent on the ground market intelligence is an important part of reaching new markets. The region, which in particular is synonymous with world leading food and drink brands and in the development of marine and tidal energy, has much to offer international customers and investors.”

The announcement was made to coincide with the opening of Scotland House in London, where Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Development International will be promoting Scotland's key industry sectors and targeting potential investors who are in London for the Olympic Games.

In 2011/12 alone, SDI helped more than 1000 high potential Scottish companies target new global markets and worked with 190 companies on significant new international projects with a projected growth of £733million in sales over the next three years – almost double the £405million that was achieved through the same activity last year. In the same year, almost £22million of Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) support for projects with a planned expenditure of almost £163million was offered to more than 30 inward investors to locate or grow their operations in Scotland.