Scotland's growing financial technology (fintech) cluster has been officially recognised by the body responsible for the benchmarking and quality labelling of cluster management organisations globally.

Engineering design and manufacturing firm Albacom is set to expand after raising £500,000 to develop its business in new markets. The company, which has grown out of the 1990 MBO of the Dundee division of Ferranti, specialises in electrical components for the global defence and aviation industry and has diversified in recent years into new commercial sectors.

Aberdeen-based multi-discipline integrated service provider Integrity XL is poised to grow its business having invested £1 million in the purchase of two 90K liquid nitrogen pumps.

Companies are benefiting from £170,000 of Scottish Government funding to use artificial intelligence (AI) to help tackle the global climate emergency.

Archaeological services provider GUARD Archaeology Limited is the latest business in Scotland to become employee-owned, with 32 members of staff given a stake in the business. 

Edinburgh-based bioinformatics company, Fios Genomics (Fios), which helps pharmaceutical and biotech companies to analyse the large amounts of data generated during drug development, has announced a strategic partnership with one of the world’s largest contract research organisations, Charles River Laboratories, (Charles River).

Med-tech firm EnMovi has selected Glasgow as the location to advance its development of cutting-edge orthopaedic sensors and data analytics after receiving a £2.5m research and development (R&D) grant from Scottish Enterprise.

SHE Software is investing £4milllion in a cutting-edge health and safety technology project supported by a Scottish Enterprise Research and Development grant of £1.4million that will also support the East Kilbride company’s global growth and create 15 new jobs.

• Over £2bn of private sector investment planned or already underway
• £235m Growth Deal initiative could see 6,000 new jobs created
• Local businesses encouraged to embrace local opportunities and back Growth Deal

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon launched a £6 million Low Carbon Challenge Fund to support SMEs to grasp opportunities around climate change.

The Scottish Enterprise administered fund will be open to public, third sector and academic institutions working to create opportunities to advance the low carbon capabilities of SMEs within Scotland.

An Aberdeen-based company which specialises in the supply and refurbishment of industrial drill bits has become Scotland’s latest employee-owned business, with all members of staff becoming owners.