Michael G. Morrison 

Morrison Marketing

Augusta, Georgia, USA

The Economy of Scotland

(Tolbooth Kirk and Arthur's seat in the background in Edinburgh Scotland, UK)

Chapter 1- Intro

     Scotland's economy is one of the most advanced, productive and dynamic in the world. The history, architecture and cultural significance to the West has cemented its image in the fabric of our culture in America. The English culture that spread through the world by means of the British empire in the 18th & 19th century started partly in and with Scotland.

     Scotland's economy has built upon the platform history & fate has bestowed it, both from obvious advantages of speaking English and being one of the originators of common law. Scotland has access to the words largest markets because it was integral in creating many of them. 

     Scotland is comparable to Switzerland, Luxembourg and Israel, in that it is small, in population, but large in production in high value services. They are compact countries that are crucial in the facilitation of world trade. Scotland is different from these small powerhouse in that it has an abundance of natural resources, access to the coast and a high tech presence that make it arguably the most diversified in this crowd.

     Whilst London, New York City and Tokyo are the epicenter of quality of living and economic power, more efficient and cheaper goods and services are available, with not so much a drop in quality in Edinburgh and Glasgow. The urban feel of Edinburgh lacks skyscrapers and a 40+ apartment buildings on every corner, yet still has world class museums, dance, song, jobs and the multitude of cultural activities not seen anywhere else in cities of its size. The balance of domestic and international affairs has struck a good chord in Scotland's 2 major cities that have yielded an excellent standard of living.

     The diversity of the economy makes it more secular to worldwide downturns in business and is it largest differentiation from England to the South, which is much more reliant on Financial Services and France/Italy even further South, whom rely heavily on tourism. Scotland has Oil, Adv. financial services, higher education, tourism and a stable currency/legal/political system through its unification within the United Kingdom, even among speculation that they may vote themselves independence. Scotland is on of the most complete economies in the World and poised to grow faster than any other developed countries.

(The Economy of Scotland cannot be thought about without its importance with England. These 2 nations, may split, but whatever happens in that vote, they will not stop trading and relying heavily on each other. Their history is already heavily entwined and they will still be each others allies and top trading partner per capita) 

Chapter 2- Scottish History

     Scotland's history is that of a civil war among its modern land, a war of independence from England in the South and later of a booming growth unprecedented outside of the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The last 250 years has been one of economic growth and advancement, bringing Scotland from a patchwork of warring kingdoms, frequently starved people and beyond reach of trade to a united nation, well fed and at the forefront of the trade of ideas and to a lesser extent goods.

     The world industries are crafted and adopted early in Scotland, from scientific to engineering endeavors. The Scots were always a small and outnumbered population. The English to the South have, at most of modern times, been one of the top 2 nations in world influence, behind only America, a nation that broke off essentially as a 2nd Britain.

     Scotland was an economic pioneer through its early adoption of industrial textile mills, coal, steel and railroads. The advanced ports of England, the rule of law and military complemented Scotland's ascent to such a powerful position during the industrial revolution. The years of infighting had ceased and the British Empire was focused on world domination, not on inter-island conflicts. There was plenty of land and colonies to go around, the beast of growth was diverted.

     The academic environment has been vastly changed with Adam Smith, the best (In my opinion of course) and first economic. Adam Smith wrote two of the most essential works in the world of economics. In his first  and in his opinion, the better of the two, He goes over why we think things just, good, bad, hated and otherwise. He uses examples to outline his points that make it seem so easy. Smith was a professor and taught the concepts of this book at the University of Glasgow, one of the top 100 universities and was opened in the 15th century.

(To sit and ponder these two flags and the importance they have had on history, its amazing. From what I have gathered it seems England may very well be corrupted to some extent and is trying to get Scotland to subsidize the London area. This seems to be the strategy of most English politicians, which is to protect London at all costs. This idea may be the origin of the wedge between the two nations now. The interests of such a strategy will not work for Scotland)

     Scotland will soon vote for its succession from the United Kingdom. The country is not satisfied with the West-ministers control of the matters of Scotland, being as little as they are. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom wishes to keep them formed, but I think Scotland will leave the United Kingdom. Alex Sammond has came out and flatly said in a one sentence line, that "It is by being independent that we will realize our potential". A very powerful statement from a man of this high a rank. The main citation, a very believable one, is that Scotland will compete more favorably in the 21st century with the steering wheel in their hands, the same reasons for the American Revolution.

     Scotland will move forward into this highly connected world well. They have 2 cities that have the diversity of skills, labor and capital employable to raise every merchants income in the neighborhood as Adam Smith said. The urban environment of the future will be embraced by the highly educated, cultured and world traveling residents of Scotland.

Chapter 3- Trade in Scotland

Scotland exported

In 2011, Scotland exported almost $24,000,000,000 worth of goods & natural resources, excluding oil and gas.  

They also exported 12,500,000,000 of services, which 

The top export markets of Scottish Goods, Natural Resources (Excluding- Oil) (2011)

 United States- $5.66 billion

 Netherlands- $4.37 billion

 France- $3.07 billion

 Germany- $2.26 billion

 Belgium- $1.62 billion

Ireland- $1.29 billion

 Norway- $1.29 billion

 Spain- $1.13 billion

  Switzerland- $0.97 billion

 Italy- $0.97 billion

(The United States and the EU are largely the recipients of Scottish trade. It has not managed to reach China, Japan and SouthEast Asia, where much of the economic growth will be located worldwide, but this is also a story of the Eastern markets being premature for many Scottish goods)

     Scotland has a vibrant textile industry of designers and artists. The include Christopher Kain, Jonathan Saunders, Graeme Armour, Graeme Black, Holly Fulton and Louis Gray. These are the influential bunch of artists that meek out an artistic arm of Scotland's economy, but not a large sector at all, especially compared to France, Italy, the U.K and even Greece or Russia. This is one sector that Scotland is not very competitive in and does not seem to be on the rise either. 

     Scotland has a reputation, due to its landscape and architecture, as a great place to shoot films. The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Harry Potter series all earned very high revenue in the box office and were shot partially in Scotland. The movie industry worldwide is fragmenting from Hollywood, New York and other central areas, but it is not shining as bright on Scotland as other places. The unique geography is a strong selling feature, along with the abundance of historical structures, but that is not as common as imagined with Ireland, the U.K, France, Italy and Eastern Europe all have roughly similar structures and many of them with very attractive film tax credits. The United States is also extremely competitive with states like Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Michigan and Connecticut make it almost impossible to compete profitably.

Chapter 4- Financial Services

Part 1- Edinburg, a financial service capital

Almost 90,000 people are directly employed in Scotland's financial services industry. Almost half of these (44,000 people) are based in Edinburgh City Region, providing an experienced talent pool for financial services recruiters.

The Exchange District - Edinburgh's central business district features more than 92, 900 sq m of office space and a cluster of financial services headquarters. The financial services sector employs approximately 14,000 people in Edinburgh's City Centre.

West Edinburgh - West Edinburgh is the location of the head offices of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group. Edinburgh Park is based in the West of the city, 15 minutes from the centre of Edinburgh. This 58 hectare business park is recognized as one of the best in Europe and is home to more than 20 large companies. The financial services sector employs approximately 10,000 people in West Edinburgh.

Edinburgh city centre - Edinburgh's historic New Town is a vibrant and well-connected business location with a range of prestigious financial services addresses, including George Street, Queen Street and St Andrew Square.

Edinburgh's Waterfront - one of Europe's most significant regeneration projects, the redevelopment of Edinburgh's Waterfront at Granton is creating a number of exciting new office, commercial and retail destinations.

Edinburgh City Region - financial services is a major employer across Stirling, the Forth Valley and Fife, where providers such as Prudential and Bank of Scotland occupy a range of customized and campus-style sites.

Part A- Banking

     The banking sector of Edinburgh is made up of a relatively small number of banks and building societies, some of them “universal banks” providing both retail and wholesale services and others specialized banks catering to niche markets.

     A number of the banks have corporate head office functions or significant back office operations in Edinburgh, while others have only a branch presence. In 2008, there were approximately 15,000 people employed in banking in Edinburgh.

     The banks of the city state financial centers like Singapore, Hong Kong and Switzerland are much more comparable, as they are quite large, but still very picky and have the access to capital and expertise to compete against sheer scale and volume.

     Scotland banks are not the mega-banks of America, the UK, China, Japan in size and breadth of loans and find a sweeter spot in the medium sized ventures that these banks may miss out in scale and in specialty.

     In addition to retail banking, a number of boutique and specialist banks are active in Scotland's capital. The private bank Adam & Company is based in Edinburgh while Brown Shipley and Kleinwort Benson also have offices in the city. Merchant banks Noble Grossart and Quayle Munro are headquartered in Edinburgh.

Baillie Gifford

 

(Baillie Gifford is an investment management firm which is wholly owned by 40 partners, all of whom work full-time for the firm. It was founded in Edinburgh in 1908 and still has its headquarters in the city. Assets under management and advice exceed £108 billion. They remind me a lot of a Goldman Sachs investment management branch)

AEGON UK

     Aegon UK is a pensions and life assurance company with its head office in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has been a subsidiary of Aegon N.V. since 1994. In the UK it has pensions, investments, life insurance and advice businesses. The company has sales centres across the UK supporting its key distribution channels.

(This is a life insurance company with operations are in the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. In Central & Eastern Europe, Aegon has businesses in seven countries:the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Turkey and Ukraine. The company also has operations in Canada, Spain, France, Hong Kong, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Australia, Thailand, Singapore, Mexico and Brazil)

The Royal Bank of Scotland 

(The Royal Bank of Scotland's headquarters)

     (This is the headquarter branch for Turkey, which in turn serves as the gateway for the Middle East and Africa. Places like these will one day grow to be nearly as important as the Headquarters of the company in whole as business in those markets grow in GDP, to even half Scottish standards, which is very plausible)

     There are 270 branches with 11,500 employees, with most of those in Scotland, and the rest mainly spread out among larger cities in England, Ireland and Wales. The downsizing of the retail aspect of this bank reflects its positions going into the 2008 crisis and the fact that the UK government had to purchase over 80% of the company. The bank has never quite recovered and has been going through a process of internationalizing its operations to capitalize on strong capital markets at home from plush liquidity from quantitative easing to 

Scottish Widows Bank

(The Scottish Widows Bank, on Morrison Street, AKA, my last name! This bank was set up to give life insurance to widows form the napoleonic war. Scotland was the first place to practice life insurance on a large scale and has remained fairly competitive in this slice of financial services. The company has one of the highest levels of customer trust in UK banking services. Lloyds operates the bank as a loosely held subsidiary)

Tesco Bank 

     Tesco Bank is a telephone and internet based commercial bank in the United Kingdom owned by Tesco, the UK's largest supermarket. Until 2008 it was a 50:50 joint venture between Tesco and the Royal Bank of Scotland, one of the UK's largest banks and remained under the Tesco Personal Finance plc (TPF) branding until 2010. 

(This bank offers a range of insurance, credit cards, loans, savings, mortgages and travel products, and launched a current account in June 2014. A unique selling point of Tesco's banking products is that the bank is able to leverage its large customer base tocross-sell financial services products, as customers can accumulate Tesco Clubcard points when they purchase finance products. The bank has around 7 million customer accounts and policies. Tesco Bank provides a range of personal accounts, including current accounts, mortgages, credit cards, loans, savings accounts, insurance and foreign currency exchange. )

Lloyds Banking Group

     The UK's biggest retail bank and owner of the Bank of Scotland. Other banking operations headquartered in Edinburgh include Scottish Widows Bank, Standard Life Bank, Tesco Bank, Sainsbury's Bank. Clydesdale Bank, HSBC and the Co-operative Bank have flagship centers in the city, while Virgin Money's mortgage operations are based in Edinburgh.

     The insurance and pensions sector of Edinburgh is made up of large companies offering a wide range of products to customers around the world and small, independent companies focused on the local market. The insurance sector of Edinburgh is strongly focused on life insurance.

In 2008, there were approximately 13,100 people employed in insurance and pensions in Edinburgh. Three of the UK's leading insurance companies have their headquarters in Edinburgh - 

Part B- Insurance

Standard Life

(The headquarters of Standard Life, a long-term savings and investment business, headquartered in Edinburgh, with operations across the globe. It employs around 9,000 people worldwide, and has over six million customers. It is notable for having invested in some of the most pioneer of markets as early as the 19th century in places like Indonesia, Shanghai and India. They have an advantage in these emerging markets and serve as an exporter of financial services for the insurance slice of financial services)

Chapter 5- Sectors of Economy (Ex- Fin Serv)

Electronic manufacturers

• Clyde Broadcast- is a Scottish manufacturer and integrator of radio studio products. The company is based in Clydebank, and has installed radio studios in the UK, Middle East, Europe, Asia Far East and Africa. The firm's products include systems for radio broadcast. In the UK, Clyde are exclusive representatives for the Klotz Digital range of broadcast mixers and routers. Clyde Broadcast studio installations are used in many of the UK's national commercial radio stations, hospital radio stations, commercial radio groups and school radio stations, college media courses and community radio stations broadcast on an RSL. Clyde Broadcast built and designed Synergy

Construction

• Barr Construction Ltd- The Company began life at the end of the nineteenth century as a joinery firm known as W & J Barr & Sons and gradually expanded into civil engineering projects. The firm was incorporated in 1976 as Barr began to grow its operations out of its native Ayrshire and into larger civil engineering developments. Firmly established in the civil engineering sector at the start of the 1990s, Barr looked to broaden its skillbase by developing its portfolio in building projects. During the next decade, Barr developed its skills across a number of core sectors. These sectors included Retail, Leisure and Education. The current structure has evolved to reflect the organization’s strengths in these sectors.
  The company is best known perhaps for its stadia work which includes new facilities for Southampton, Fulham, Celtic, and Rangers Football Clubs as well as projects for lower league and rugby clubs. The projects at Airdrieonians and Raith Rovers excited controversy when the resulting debts to Barr Construction caused financial problems for the clubs.

Oil and Gas Exploration/Extraction

• Abbot Group plc-  is a leading oil and gas services company based in Aberdeen, Scotland. The Group employs more than 8,000 people in over 20 countries across the world. The group has two operating divisions, KCA DEUTAG and Bentec, which provide drilling and related well and facilities engineering services to the energy industry. It is a market leader in the North Sea and also operates in locations such as Russia, the Middle East, Caspian Region, North and West Africa, and Asia. In 2008, Abbot Group was acquired by US private equity firm First Reserve Corporation.
• Cairn Energy- a independent Scottish oil and gas exploration and production company headquartered in Edinburgh. It has operational interests in Albania, Bangladesh, Greenland, India, Nepal and Tunisia and produces around 33,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Its largest activities are in India, where it has made more than 20 discoveries in Rajasthan, including a major oil discovery in Mangala. As at 2010 it had total proven commercial reserves of 247.4 million barrels of oil equivalent. Cairn Energy has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. It has a secondary listing on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
• Dana Petroleum- is an oil and gas exploration and production company based in Aberdeen, United Kingdom. Its activities are focused on the North Sea, Africa and The Middle East. It is a subsidiary of the Korea National Oil Corporation and is a former constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
• Britoil- The Company was originally formed in 1975 as the British National Oil Corporation, a nationalized body. Its objective was to maintain adequate oil supply levels. The business of BNOC was transferred to the new Company Britoil in August 1982. Shares in the Company were then issued on the London Stock Exchange in two stages in 1982 and 1985. The Company was bought by British Petroleum in 1988.
• Wood Group- is a multinational oil and gas services company headquartered in Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom. It is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

Food and Beverages

• AG Barr - Producers of soft drinks, including Irn Bru and Tizer A.G. Barr plc, commonly known as Barr's, is a British soft drink manufacturer, based in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is particularly notable for the manufacture of the popular Scottish drink, Irn-Bru. It is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. In 2012 A.G. Barr and Britvic agreed the terms of a merger to create Barr Britvic Soft Drinks which will be one of Europe's largest soft drinks companies.
• Highland Spring - is a supplier of bottled water. It produces still and sparkling water at its factory in Blackford, Perth and Kinross, Scotland, although despite the name this area is not actually within the Scottish Highlands. Highland Spring was the highest-selling sparkling water in the UK in 2008 and consolidated its 1st place position in the UK still water market
• Baxters - Baxters is an international food company, based in Fochabers, Moray, Scotland. Baxters is best known for canned soups, made to unique recipes, such as Royal Game. It also makes a range of jams, pickled vegetables and chutneys. The company holds the Royal Warrant for manufacturers of Scottish specialties from Her Majesty the Queen.
• Drambuie -is a sweet, golden colored 40% ABV (80-proof) liqueur made from malt whisky, honey, herbs and spices. Produced in Broxburn, West Lothian, Scotland, it is served straight, on the rocks, or added to mixed drinks such as the Rusty Nail.
• Edrington Groupis a Scotch whisky company, involved in blending, bottling, distributing and marketing. It produces several well-known blended brands, including The Famous Grouse and Cutty Sark, and premium single malts The Macallan and Highland Park. The spirits portfolio also includes Brugal, the leading golden rum in the Caribbean. Based in Glasgow, it is the most profitable privately held company in Scotland.
• Johnnie Walker - is a brand of Scotch Whisky owned by Diageo and originated in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland. It is the most widely distributed brand of blended Scotch whisky in the world; it's sold in almost every country, with yearly sales of over 130 million bottles. In 2011, the brand sold over 1 million cases in the USA, Brazil and Thailand. It sold more than 500,000 cases in Mexico and Australia.
• Robert Wiseman Dairies - Major milk supplier throughout the United KingdomMüller-Wiseman Dairies (formerly Robert Wiseman Dairies) is a large Scottish milk supplier and distributor, owned by Müller. They are now one of the largest dairy businesses in Great Britain, with six major dairies (in Aberdeen, East Kilbride, Glasgow, Manchester, Droitwich Spa and Bridgwater). Wiseman also distribute cream and orange juice. It was delisted from theLondon Stock Exchange after the Müller takeover.
  It supplies over 30 per cent of the United Kingdom's fresh milk.^[2] Müller-Wiseman Dairies supply several large grocery companies, such as Tesco, Sainsbury's and Cooperative Food
• Tennent's - Major brewing companyWellpark Brewery is a brewery situated in Duke Street in the East End of Glasgow, Scotland. It was founded in 1740 on the bank of the Molendinar Burn by Hugh and Robert Tennent.^[1] It is currently owned by C&C Group plc, which purchased the Tennent Caledonian Breweries subsidiary in late August 2009^[2] from Belgian brewing company Anheuser-Busch InBev (formerly known as InBev).^[3]
  The company is most noted for the production of Tennent's Lager, Scotland's market leading brand of pale lager since it was first produced at the Wellpark Brewery in 1885.
• Caledonian Brewing CompanyCaledonian Brewery is a Scottish brewery founded in 1869 in the Shandon area of Edinburgh, Scotland. The Caley, as it is known locally, is the only survivor of over 40 breweries that operated in Edinburgh during the 19th century, although some breweries have opened in recent years.
• Tunnock's - Biscuit & confectionery producerThomas Tunnock Limited, commonly known as Tunnock's, is a family baker in Uddingston, Scotland.
  The company was formed by Thomas Tunnock as Tunnock's in 1890, when he purchased a baker's shop in Uddingston. The company expanded in the 1950s, and it was at this time that the core products were introduced to the lines. It was headed by Boyd Tunnock CBE, grandson of Thomas.^[1] until the company recently announced new management, following a hostile takeover by the venerable Lord Douglas.
• Walkers Shortbread - Renowned shortbread, biscuit and cracker companyWalkers Shortbread is a Scottish manufacturer of shortbread, biscuits, cookies and crackers. The company is Scotland's biggest exporter of food. The company's signature pure butter shortbread is baked in the Moray village of Aberlour, Speyside, to an original family recipe perfected by Joseph Walker in 1898. Walkers continued adding to its line of recipes, producing more than 80 products by the mid-1990s. By then, the next generation of Walkers had taken the leadership following the senior James Walker's death in 1987. The younger Walkers took up positions as co-managing directors, with each assigned specific responsibilities in the company. As such Joseph Walker directed the group's production, purchasing, and distribution operations, while Marjorie Walker handled the company's administration and finance. James Walker provided the company's public face, responsible for marketing and sales.
• William Grant & Sons - Whisky producersWilliam Grant & Sons Ltd. is an independent, family-owned Scottish company which distills Scotch whisky and other selected categories of spirits. It was established in 1887^[1] by William Grant, and is now run by the descendants of the founder. It is the largest of the handful of Scotch whisky distillers remaining in family ownership. "William Grant & Sons" is often abbreviated to "W. Grant & Sons" or just "Grant's", after their blended whisky of the same name.
  The company is the 3rd largest producer of Scotch whisky (10.4% market share) after Diageo (34.4%), and Pernod Ricard. The company's central headquarters are in Strathclyde Business Park, North Lanarkshire. Sales and marketing headquarters are in Richmond, London. The company is a member of the Scotch Whisky Association.
  The master blender of Grant's is Brian Kinsman, who succeeded David Stewart who had been in his post for 47 years, the longest serving master blender with one distiller in the industry.
• Whyte and Mackay -  is a Scottish company producing alcoholic beverages. It was founded in 1844 and is based in Glasgow. Since May 2007, Whyte and Mackay has been owned byUnited Breweries Group, a large Indian conglomerate. Whyte & Mackay's self-branded whisky holds about 3 per cent of the UK whisky market.

• Aberdeen Asset Management is an international investment management group, managing assets for both institutions and private investors from offices around the world. Its head office is in Aberdeen, Scotland. The company is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.The company operates mainly in the United Kingdom but has a growing presence worldwide, particularly Asia, Oceania and the Americas, with over 2,000 staff, across 31 offices in 23 countries. Its headquarters are in the city of Aberdeen, where Group functions including legal, group information and human resources are located, and has its major investment desks in London, Philadelphia and Singapore. As of 29 March 2013, it had funds under management of US$322.3B. 
• Airdrie Savings Bank is a small commercial bank operation in the Lanarkshire and Glasgow areas of Scotland. It runs 8 branches throughout this area, with its head office in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire. Total assets of the bank at 31 October 2006 were £126 million with reported profits of £0.555 million.Airdrie Savings Bank is the only remaining independent Savings Bank in the UK. It operates on mutual principles, has no shareholders and is instead governed by a Board of Trustees, appointed to represent the interests of depositors and to ensure that the Bank is managed properly. In addition to Airdrie, there are branches in Baillieston, Bellshill, Coatbridge, Motherwell, Muirhead, Shotts and Falkirk.
• Alliance TrustAlliance Trust plc is a publicly traded investment and financial services company, headquartered in Dundee, Scotland. Established in 1888, the firm operates the largest investment trust in the UK. Alliance Trust is the tenth-largest company based in Scotland. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and has been a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index since March 2011.The company has four main business segments: quoted equity, property, private equity and financial services, the latter of which comprises its asset management and savings units. As of the end of March 2009, the company managed approximately £2,067.6m worth of assets. 50% of the trust's equity holdings are in UK institutions, with its five largest investments being in BP, Royal Dutch Shell, GlaxoSmithKline, Vodafone and BHP Billiton. Alliance Trust also continues to hold some oil and gas properties in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma which remain from the original U.S. mortgage business of its founding companies and continue to generate considerable income.
  Alliance Trust is led by CEO Katherine Garrett-Cox who took up the post on 29 August 2008. Garrett-Cox is paid an annual salary of £425,250 for her role as chief executive. She received a bonus of £527,850 for 2012.
• Century Building SocietyThe Century Building Society was a building society based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Century Building Society merged with its local rival Scottish Building Society on 1 February 2013.^[1]
  Prior to its merger with the Scottish Building Society, the Century Building Society was the smallest building society in Scotland and the United Kingdom, based on total assets of £22 million at 31 December 2007.^[2] It had only one branch, at its head office in Albany Street, Edinburgh. It was a member of the Building Societies Association.
• Clydesdale BankClydesdale Bank is a commercial bank in Scotland. Formed in Glasgow in 1838, it is the smallest of the three Scottish banks. Independent until it was purchased by the Midland Bank in 1920 it was sold to its present owners, the National Australia Bank (NAB) in 1987. It shares a banking licence with another British NAB subsidiary, the Yorkshire Bank, although the licence is held by the Clydesdale.
  As with the two other Scottish banks, the Bank of Scotland and Royal Bank of Scotland, it retains the right to issue its own banknotes.
• Dunfermline Building SocietyThe Dunfermline Building Society is a trading division of Nationwide Building Society based in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. Before its 2009 merger with Nationwide, it was the largest building society in Scotland and the 12th largest in the United Kingdom based on total assets of £3.3 billion at 31 December 2007.^[1] It was a member of the Building Societies Association.
  On 28 March 2009, reports indicated the Society was no longer viable, and would be put up for public sale, to be managed by the Bank of England.^[2] This process led to acquisition of the Society's branches, good loans and deposits by the Nationwide Building Society with the Bank of England assuming control of £1bn in commercial lending and the Society's poorer-quality and shared ownership mortgages.
• Lloyds Banking GroupLloyds Banking Group plc is a major British financial institution, formed through the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB in 2009. As of March 2012, HM Treasury held a 40% shareholding through UK Financial Investments Limited. The Group headquarters is located at 25 Gresham Street in the City of London, with its registered office on The Mound in Edinburgh. Lloyds Banking Group's activities are organised into Retail Banking (including Mortgages), Wholesale, Life, Pensions & Insurance, and Wealth & International. Lloyds' extensive operations include the US, Europe, Middle East and Asia. It traces its origins to Lloyds Bank, founded in 1765 and the fourth oldest bank in the United Kingdom.
  Following the takeover, the HBOS name ceased to be used publicly. The Halifax brand, products and pricing was discontinued in Scotland, where only the Bank of Scotland brand remains of the former HBOS businesses. This resulted in a number of Halifax customers transferring to Bank of Scotland. The Halifax and Lloyds Bank brands are used in England and Wales, each offering different products and pricing. In his first interview as Lloyds Banking Group's CEO António Horta-Osório told The Banker, "We will keep the different brands because the customers are very different in terms of attitude".^[3]
  Lloyds Banking Group is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It had a market capitalisation of approximately £43.1 billion as of 6 June 2013, the 11th-largest of any LSE company. It has a secondary listing on the New York Stock Exchange, where it has a market capitalisation value of $34.45bn.
• Royal Bank of Scotland Group is a British banking and insurance holding company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The group operates a wide variety of banking brands offering personal and business banking, private banking, insurance and corporate finance throughout its operations located in Europe, North America and Asia. In the UK and Ireland, its main subsidiary companies are The Royal Bank of Scotland,^[4] National Westminster Bank, Ulster Bank, Drummonds Bank, and Coutts.^[5] The group issuesbanknotes in Scotland and Northern Ireland and, as of 2012, The Royal Bank of Scotland is the only bank in the UK still to print a £1 note.
  Outside the UK, it owns Citizens Financial Group, the 8th largest bank in the United States, and from 2004 to 2009 it was the second largest shareholder in the Bank of China, itself the world's fifth largest bank by market capitalisation in February 2008.^[7] The company created Direct Line Group in 2012 to spin-off its insurance companies and began to sell shares in the new business from October 2012.^[8]
  Before the 2008 collapse and the general financial crisis, RBS Group was very briefly the largest bank in the world and for some time was the second largest bank in the UK and Europe (fifth in stock market value), and the fifth largest in the world by market capitalisation. Subsequently, with a slumping share price and major loss of confidence, the bank fell sharply in the rankings, although in 2009 it was briefly the world's largest company by both assets (£1.9 trillion) and liabilities (£1.8 trillion).^[9] It received significant support from the UK government, which, as of 31 March 2012, holds and manages an 82% stake through UK Financial Investments Limited (UKFI),^[10][11] although its voting rights are limited to 75% in order for the bank to retain its listing on the London Stock Exchange.
  The Group had a market capitalisation of approximately £12.2 billion as of 23 December 2011, making the 32nd largest company on the London Stock Exchange.^[12] In addition to its primary share listing on the LSE, the company is also listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
• Scottish Building SocietyThe Scottish Building Society is a building society based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the oldest building society in the world, the only building society based in Scotland and the 42nd largest in the United Kingdom based on total assets of £259 million at 31 January 2008.^[1] It is a member of the Building Societies Association.
• Scottish FriendlyScottish Friendly Assurance Society Limited (Scottish Friendly) is a British friendly society and financial services group, providing financial products and services. The largest mutual lifeoffice in Scotland, Scottish Friendly is based in Glasgow, United Kingdom, and operates throughout the UK and Ireland. It has over 450,000 members and over 1 million policyholders.^[1] As of 31 December 2011, the society looked after assets worth more than £800 million.
• Standard Life - Formerly Europe's largest mutual life assurance companyStandard Life plc is a long term savings and investment business, with headquarters in Edinburgh and operations across the globe. It has 1.5 million shareholders in more than 50 countries and over 6 million customers.^[

Hotels[edit]

• Gleneagles HotelThe Gleneagles Hotel is a luxury hotel near Auchterarder, Perth and Kinross, Scotland.
• Apex HotelsApex Hotels Ltd is an operator of four star hotels, owned by former accountant Norman Springford and his family.^[1] Based in Edinburgh, the company operates eight hotels in the United Kingdom. 

IT[edit]

• Cupid plc - Owner and operator of online mainstream and niche dating websites.
• Real Time Worlds Ltd - Games and entertainment company founded by David Jones
• Rockstar North (Formerly DMA Design) - A computer games developer, who are famous for their Grand Theft Auto series An autonomous division of Rockstar Games,
• MindGenius - Software developer who produce an application of the same name.

Manufacturing[edit]

Aggreko plc- Aggreko plc is the world's largest temporary power generation company,[2] and a major supplier of temperature control equipment. It is headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

Weir Group plc- The Weir Group plc is an engineering company headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The company operates in over 70 countries employing approximately 14,000 people focused on mining, oil and gas and power markets.

Doosan Babcock

Doosan Babcock Ltd is part of Doosan Power Systems S.A., a subsidiary of Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction. It is a power sector OEM, construction, upgrade and after-market services company that offers specialist services and technologies to the fossil-fired power generation, nuclear power generation, and oil, gas and petrochemical industries.

Doosan Babcock's main headquarters are in Crawley, England. European headquarters are in Renfrew, Scotland. The company has manufacturing facilities in the UK, Germany, India, Vietnam and South Korea, and 17 offices around the world.

Spirit AeroSystems (Europe) Ltd

Spirit AeroSystems, Inc. ("Spirit"), based in Wichita, Kansas, is the world's largest first-tier aerostructures manufacturer. The company builds several important pieces of Boeing aircraft, including the fuselage of the 737, portions of the 787 fuselage, and the cockpit (referred to as "Flight Deck" by Boeing) of nearly all of its airliners. Spirit also produces fuselage sections and front wing spars for the Airbus A350.[1] Spirit's main competition comes from Vought Aircraft Industries, Goodrich, Alenia, and Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

Linn Products

Linn Products is an influential engineering company that manufactures hi-fi and audio equipment. Founded by Ivor Tiefenbrun in Glasgow, Scotland in 1973, the company is best known as the manufacturer of the iconic Linn Sondek LP12 turntable.

Wolfson Microelectronics- Wolfson Microelectronics plc is a multinational microelectronics and fabless semiconductor company headquartered in Edinburgh, United Kingdom. It specialises in signal processing and mixed-signal chips for the consumer electronics market and has engineering and sales offices throughout Asia-Pacific, Europe and the United States.

BVT Surface Fleet, part of BAE Systems and VT Group- BAE Systems Maritime – Naval Ships is a wholly owned subsidiary company of BAE Systems plc, specialising in naval surface shipbuilding and combat systems integration.

Kelvin Diesels- Kelvin Diesels is a manufacturer of marine diesel engines based in Glasgow, Scotland. The company's engines are used in a variety of vessels such as fishing boats and small tugs.

Albion Motors- the company is a subsidiary of American Axle & Manufacturing, and manufactures axles, driveline systems, chassis systems, crankshafts and chassis components. It is Scotland's best known name in the motor industry. Albions were renowned for their slogan "Sure as the Sunrise"Alexander 

Dennis- Dennis Specialist Vehicles Limited was a major British coachbuilder and manufacturer of specialised commercial vehicles based in Guildford, England. The company was best known as the manufacturer of fire engines, although its other major product lines were buses, dustcarts and airport service vehicles.

Pringle of Scotland- Pringle of Scotland is a luxury knitwear manufacturer and importer. The brand is worn by the likes of Madonna, David Beckham, Nicole Kidman, Sophie Dahl, Claudia Schiffer, the television character Alan Partridge and British bands such as The Kooks, Dirty Pretty Things and The Twang.[1] The company has stores in London's Bond Street, Sloane Street and Bluewater Shopping Centre as well as in Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan and is sold by retailers in New York and Milan.

Pelamis Wave Power-  Pelamis Wave Power designs and manufactures the Pelamis Wave Energy Converter – a technology that uses the motion of ocean surface waves to create electricity. The company was established in 1998 and has offices and fabrication facilities in Leith Docks, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Wavegen- Voith Hydro Wavegen Limited is a wave energy company based in Inverness, Scotland. It was founded in 1990 by Allan Thomson. In 2000, Wavegen became the first company in the world to connect a commercial scale wave energy device (LIMPET) to the grid on the Scottish island of Islay.[2] The LIMPET (Land Installed Marine Powered Energy Transformer) is a shoreline device which produces power from an oscillating water column.

Media

• BBC Scotland - National public broadcaster
• D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd - Publisher of the Sunday Post, the Beano etc.
• Johnston Press - Owner of The Scotsman
• STV Group plc (formerly SMG plc, or Scottish Media Group plc) - Owner of STV
• The Comedy Unit
• Deep Fried Film

Energy and Utilities

• Scottish and Southern Energy plc - electricity and natural gas supplier
• Scottish Gas - Gas and electricity supplier, Scottish arm of Centrica plc
• Scottish Power - Gas and electricity supplier, Scottish arm of Iberdrola
• Scottish Water
• SgurrEnergy - Engineering consultancy specialising in renewable energy
• British Energy
• Scotia Gas Networks

Retail

• Arnold Clark - Car dealerships, with over 145 locations throughout the UK
• Edinburgh Woolen Mill - Clothing, knitwear
• Farmfoods - Frozen food supermarkets
• Jenners - Now a subsidiary of House of Fraser
• Kwik Fit - Car repairs, mechanics
• Scotmid - Scotland-wide supermarket chain
• Schuh - Footwear, stores throughout UK and Ireland
• Semi Chem - Nationwide pharmacy chain, owned by the Scotmid group

Restaurants

• The Ashvale - Fish and chip restaurants / take-aways
• Jimmy Chung's - Scottish chain of Chinese restaurants

Semiconductors

• 4i2i Communications

Telecommunications

• Thus - Formerly known as Scottish Telecom

Domiciliary Care

• Visioncall - Domiciliary eye care company, branches throughout UK

Transport

Air and sea[

• BMI regional - Airline based at Aberdeen Airport; subsidiary of BMI
• Caledonian MacBrayne - Ferry company operating mainly on the west coast of Scotland

• Forth Ports plc - Port operator
• Highlands and Islands Airports Limited - Owned by the Scottish Government
• Loganair - Operates flights between Scottish airports under the FlyBE franchise
• NorthLink Ferries - Operator of ferries to the Northern Isles
• ScotAirways - Operates flights from Edinburgh Airport and Dundee Airport to London City Airport
• Western Ferries (Clyde) Ltd. - A Dunoon based operator of car and passenger ferry services on the River Clyde

Road and rail[edit]

• Arriva Scotland West - Regional bus operator
• Christian Salvesen - International Transport & Logistics company with its HQ in Edinburgh, founded there in 1846, now part of Norbert Dentressangle
• FirstGroup - Owner of the FirstBus brand, and First ScotRail, based in Aberdeen
• John Menzies - International logistics and distribution company based in Edinburgh
• Lothian Buses - Regional bus operator owned by Edinburgh City Council
• Megabus - Low-cost inter-city bus operator. Part of the Stagecoach Group PLC
• Parks of Hamilton - Large Scottish coach operator. Along with StarRiders of Plymouth, part of the Parks Motor Group
• Scottish Citylink - Inter-city coach operator
• First ScotRail - National Rail Operator
• Stagecoach Group - International bus and train operator, based in Perth, Perthshire

Miscellaneous

• Simclar Group
• Wood Mackenzie
• Wood Group

Film/Entertainment

Other major films partially shot in Scotland include-

• Aria 
• Black Angel 
• Blooded 
• Cape Karma
• Carla's Song
• The Greyness of Autumn
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
• A Honeymoon Adventure
• In Search of La Che
• The Jacket
• Kick 
• Late Night Shopping
• Local Hero
• A Lonely Place to Die
• Lord of Tears
• Love Bite
• Macbeth 
• The Magdalene Sisters
• The Match 
• Merlin: The Quest Begins
• Monster Butler
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail
• Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
• Native Son 
• Not Another Happy Ending
• One Day 
• Perfect Sense
• Quest for Fire 
• The Railway Man 
• Ride, Rise, Roar
• Rob Roy 
• Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue
• Running in Traffic
• Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
• Salt on Our Skin
• Sarah... Ang Munting Prinsesa
• Shallow Grave
• Skyfall
• Slow West
• The Spy Who Loved Me 
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (TV miniseries)
• Trainspotting 
• Under the Skin 
• Valhalla Rising 
• Venus Peter
• When Eight Bells Toll 
• Whisky Galore! 
• The Wicker Man 
• World War Z 

Natural Resources

The mountainous atm-

Fife Coal Mine

Aberllyn Zinc Mine-

Metro's of Scotland

Scotland's economy, like most of the worlds, is derived mainly from its metros and their division of labor that allows highly productive work. Scotland is lucky to have 2 of these metros in good shape and size. The economy of the 21st century will demna da strong urban core. The competition into the more pioneering fields with the highest profit margins and value adding services and manufacturing. 

The mix of high education centers, research facilities and corporations is a good system to build a modern city on. The gorwing center of tourism fueld by growth in the Eastern luxury income classes has fuled growth in the lower income residents and gives Ediniburugh a unemployemtn rate of 

Edinburugh fills the role, in my mind, as the finanical capital of Europe for cities amongst its size. Frankfurt, a city I prifiled in my report on the eocnomy of Germany, is somewhat comparable, but has a much larger metro population. It is important to remembr the size of Scotland. It has a population of only 5.3 Million residents. This does not leave a lot to be allocated around. Ediniburugh is operating a small country, but it is highly connected already to the world markets. Its field so f strength are all growing. Scotland, through Edinibrugh can give the market waht they need in a smaller city like it is. 

With the packed streets, low vacancy rates and a high income relative to 90% of the world Ediniburugh is positioned to lead the world. The pedestal of the mix of business in the cities core and in the intellectual power is astonishing. The energy inside the city feels like the Renaissance in Italy in the early 16th century. Scotland has always been resistant of any kind of rule or attacthment and Ediniburugh is an enabler of that. When you have cities that are so productive and low on liabilties then you can really distance yourself from compettion. In the sense of city to cty competition, Ediniburugh is similar to many cities in Italy that I have studied that have history and architecture presereved, yet the Scotland tourist market seems to be much less mature than King Italy of tourism. Ediniburugh however, does not have the lazy feel of Venice or Florence, 2 cities involved in the most exquisite tourism. Ediniburugh is a small slice of Manhattan in one mans description and this is interesting to think of in another sense. Ediniburugh is quite far away from many large cities. London is further south and that attratcs, like the magent of capitla it is, all of the resources that would naturally find its way to Ediniburugh due to geographical reasons. 

Ediniburugh can move much more flexibily to world downturns and such with its good shape right now. The world is going into a city-state kind of structure that we seen in Ancient Greece, but on world scale. Many speeches and papers released by the brooking institute show that the world is driven by metros and not by nations economies. 

Ediniburuhg is among one of the best prepared cities for this, they can benefit off of mny sectors that boom in many situtaions. It is like ownign a highly diversified portfolio of securities, you have diversification in revenue and costd

the history of Ediniburugh is very long and voluminous. The modern history is much more releveant ot he economy, beyond the marketing of products, which do incorporate a underastanding of the Scottish culture. 

Edinburgh

Edinburgh City Center

     Recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, Edinburgh’s city center features high quality office accommodation, acclaimed visitor attractions, award-winning hotels and stunning residential properties, complemented by a strong retail vision.

     Investment continues to improve transport infrastructure and transform public spaces. No wonder investors have been attracted to the £850 million redevelopment of the St. James Quarter commencing in early 2012, which once complete will include two new hotels, cafés, restaurants and 15,000m² of office space.

     The £85 million expansion of the Edinburgh International Conference Centre will deliver a technologically-advanced events space and provide 18,000m² of new Grade A office accommodation.

(Princes Street from the Castle)

     Edinburgh aims to be the most successful and sustainable city region in Northern Europe by 2020 and already has many success stories to tell.

     The Inspiring Capital leads the UK for quality of life and is second only to London for investment attractiveness, financial services competitiveness, commerce and conference hosting.

     It is an international creative and cultural centre, home to the world's biggest arts festival, the first UNESCO City of Literature and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, putting Edinburgh alongside the world's most famous places, such as The Great Wall of China and the Pyramids of Giza. Edinburgh was also crownedEuropean City of the Year in 2006 by the Academy of Urbanism, representing a group of leading British architects and planners.

     Edinburgh City Region is a national transport hub, with the best transport mix outside London and road, rail, air and sea links connecting the capital to the rest of the UK, Europe and beyond. 

Levels of e-connectivity in Edinburgh are among the highest in the UK, with a wide choice of digital communication networks and services, including wireless broadband on bus and train routes between Edinburgh and Glasgow.

     The Inspiring Capital is the world's first UNESCO City of Literature, home to famous authors including Harry Potter creator JK Rowling and birth place of the world's biggest arts festival.

The city region's creative industries sector employs more than 20,000 people in knowledge-rich jobs such as digital media, film and television, computer games, publishing, architecture and music.

Leading players include Rockstar North, developers of the fastest selling global entertainment product of all time, the video game Grand Theft Auto IV.

     The city also hosts the Edinburgh Interactive Festival and the new Screen Academy Scotland, a government-backed collaboration to deliver professionally oriented, project-based and practice-led film education and training.

What are the key highlights for Edinburgh?

Edinburgh’s record over the past year tells a largely positive story, as occupier sentiment bucks the regional trend. We’ve seen deals in the city covering 520,000 square feet and displaying the strongest lettings performance in four years, with rental demand increasing by seven per cent in the past 12 months. What’s more, rent has remained at a healthy level with headline properties such as Edinburgh’s Atria under offer at £32.50 per sq ft.

What does this mean?

Although demand for rental space is healthy, the low delivery of Grade A stock means that rents will increase. Those willing to build speculatively, and in the right location, could be well rewarded as they deliver into a relatively under-supplied market. However unless more developers are willing to take this risk, the rent, particularly on Grade A property, will be driven ever higher – with a four per cent increase forecast for Edinburgh by the end of 2013.

What are the strengths of Edinburgh's commercial property market versus other cities including London?

Despite the significant difference in population and size, Edinburgh does have certain strengths in its favour. The Scottish capital has a readily available supply of skilled labour, particularly in the financial services sector. This makes the city an attractive prospect for any business looking to expand its operation into Scotland or the UK. This is supported by Edinburgh’s growing reputation as the second key financial centre outside of London. The city’s strong cultural heritage together with its attractive and historic setting also make it a desirable city and appealing to top commercial talent.

What are your predictions for the Edinburgh market?

Together with the predicted increase in rents, yields will harden to 6.25% for real estate in the right location. There will be opportunities in Edinburgh but they are likely to be limited to specific sectors, for example, there should be scope for hotel and student housing conversions. However, the large number of historic buildings in the city centre could potentially limit new builds so developers may need to look to the Edinburgh fringes for good development opportunities.

What is Edinburgh's ‘city centre vision’?

It’s about making a series of improvements across a number of areas to make Edinburgh the world-class destination that it should be. That’s for residents, visitors, people who study here and people who work and do business here. This is an ideal opportunity to relaunch the city centre. The vision involves delivering improvements to the development, management and promotion of the City Centre.

What key changes or developments will it entail?

Some of the day-to-day improvements will focus on cleaner streets and better management of waste. We’re also looking at improving our signs and way-finding, so there are connected routes around the city centre. We’re looking at public realm – that’s really about what’s on the streets and pavements and how we can make a much more enjoyable and relaxing environment. For example there’s the potential for more outdoor cafes, but also market stalls, art and entertainment. It’s about activating that space and making much better use of it rather than having empty or unused pavements. We’re looking at how we can use changes in planning policy to attract different types of businesses, certainly to Princes Street, which is predominantly retail. What can the city centre offer over and above retail, for example dining, events and entertainment? And we’re looking at how we can help energise the upper floors of retail outlets, so these can be brought back into use rather than being used for storage. It’s really just about making better use of our premiere streets.

How can people get involved?

Information about the project and how to get involved is available on the Council's websitewww.edinburgh.gov.uk/citycentrevision.

Why is this project important for the city?

The city centre is one of Edinburgh’s main attractions so this is a key project for us to get right. It’s not just about making it better for people that visit; it’s about improving the city centre for the people that live and work here every day. It’s also important that we’re in a position to compete with other similar European cities in terms of what we have to offer, and the City Centre Vision will help us achieve that.

What are your plans for the 'Caltongate' site and what investment will be involved?

Artisan Real Estate Investors has agreed a multi-million pound deal to transform the Caltongate area, which remains one of Edinburgh’s most significant city-centre development opportunities. We are currently developing detailed designs for the site based on existing 640,000 sqft mixed-use consents, which were approved in 2008 by the City of Edinburgh Council.

These consents include a modern 195,000 sqft five-star hotel, with space for 211 bedrooms and an 18,000 sqft conference centre, around 160,000 sqft of premium office space, 30 new shops and cafes and 165 new homes.

We’ve also begun the process of public consultation in order to improve the planning consents on the site, and ensure the project not only regenerates the area but does so in a manner sensitive to both its historic context and the community that live in it.

What's your motivation for investing in Edinburgh, and in this particular site? How do you feel about this opportunity?

Artisan brings together a powerful consortium of South African investors, and this is our most significant European investment to date. As a key European capital city, and a world heritage site, we want to use it as a high-profile platform to kick start other prestigious investment projects across the northern hemisphere.

We want to create a vibrant mixed-use destination and this location provides a unique opportunity to do so. This is an excellent time to be investing in a quality city centre development for Edinburgh. We have enjoyed high levels of interest from international hotel chains in the city centre, and there is now in addition a subtle shift in the city’s commercial property market indicating a growing demand for high quality office accommodation, with very little Grade A stock in the pipeline. From the interest received so far, we are confident that this will be an exciting new destination for people to live, work and visit.

What's the current public consultation about and how is it going?

We have just completed a three-day public exhibition which marked the start of our formal consultation process. Around 125 people attended the exhibition, which demonstrates high levels of local interest in the site. We also facilitated an interactive workshop bringing together a wide range of stakeholders and interested parties - including The Old Town Community Council, the City of Edinburgh Council, Historic Scotland and local residents.

Both the exhibition and workshop focused on the existing context of the site and we had wide ranging and positive discussions about the scope for future development. We are very pleased with both the level of interest and informed opinion that is currently out there and will continue to work very closely with these stakeholders and local residents.

What happens next and what's the rough timetable?

All attendees at the exhibition and workshop held this month were encouraged to complete a feedback questionnaire detailing their views on any future plans.

This feedback will now be carefully considered before future planning applications are submitted. To date, around 40 forms have been completed before the deadline for responses closes on 16 November.

Our detailed plans will be presented at our next consultation event in January 2013, prior to lodging a detailed planning application. If everything goes to plan, we will be looking to start on site by mid-2013.

What is 4G?

4G is the next generation of mobile network technology, which delivers significantly faster, more consistent mobile internet speeds. It will allow people to download apps more quickly and get what they want instantly on the move, and is on average five times faster than what you get today on 3G. 4G can also help businesses be more productive, more efficient and more flexible than ever before.

How were cities selected for your roll-out?

Our roll-out plan takes several factors into consideration, including population, level of investment needed, size of our own customer base and availability of fixed broadband infrastructure for our mobile network to tap into. Edinburgh will be one of the first 16 UK cities to benefit from this technology as part of our ongoing investment in network infrastructure, which totals £11m in the Edinburgh region alone. Overall we’ve invested £1.5bn over the past three years to upgrade and update the network.

What will this launch mean for people in Edinburgh?

Our 4G customers in Edinburgh will be amongst the first in the UK to enjoy superfast speeds on their mobile when it launches on 30th October. All eight Orange and T-Mobile stores in Edinburgh will also become EE stores, offering services from Orange, T-Mobile and EE. For businesses, 4G means that employees can now work on the move via a superfast connection.

What excites you most about this technology?

What really excites me is how it can transform Edinburgh businesses. As well as being able to send big emails incredibly quickly or download presentations on the move, employees will be able to do things with 4G that they could never do before. This includes video conferencing on their phones, streaming HD clips on their tablets and collaborating on big documents online.

Why have you chosen Edinburgh Airport for the site of this new hotel?

One reason is the 'Edinburgh International' project, which aims to enhance the city’s global connectivity, via Edinburgh Airport, by developing the area as an international gateway into Scotland. We believe that the hotel will form an intrinsic part of that project. Another reason is that we are very familiar with the demand for hotel accommodation at this site as we already operate the neighbouring 95-bedroom Quality Hotel Edinburgh Airport, just five minutes by airport shuttle bus from the terminal building.

What will be your target market/unique selling point?

The target market is the luxury budget – this is the hotel’s USP. The hotel will be ideally situated for tourists and business travellers to Edinburgh.

Who/what is Chardon Management?

We're widely acknowledged as the UK’s leading independent hotel management company, providing the best in professional management for all types of hotels, restaurants and health and fitness clubs.

In 2005 we managed four hotels in Scotland. Today we manage 35 hotels and seven health and fitness clubs throughout the UK encompassing brands such as Indigo – from InterContinental Hotels Group – Doubletree by Hilton, Best Western and Choice Hotels and Holiday Inn andHoliday Inn Express.

Our own brand portfolio includes La Bonne Auberge, Limelight Bar & Grill; and Triangle Health and Fitness.

We provide hotel owners with a wide range of services, including site and brand selection; overseeing new builds and upgrades; managing brands and brand standards and recruiting and training staff.

How do you feel about the potential for this project specifically and Edinburgh in general?

This hotel expresses our confidence in the future of the hospitality sector in Edinburgh. It has tremendous potential, marking the latest stage in the development of the Edinburgh International initiative, which aims to transform a massive area of West Edinburgh into Scotland’s Global Hub by building on the existing strength and future growth of the airport under new ower Global Infrastructure Partners to establish a new city quarter.

How do you hope this will benefit the Scottish/Edinburgh start-up scene?

In my VC days, I was always stunned by the amount of innovation in Scotland and the relative lack of start-up activity and success. We invested in Atlantech (founded by Scots software entrepreneur David Sibbald and later bought by Cisco Systems for more than £100m) and were big believers in the potential for Scotland to create even larger successes.  But it hasn't quite happened that way. As the world shrinks, I think the window of opportunity for Scotland is both open but also time limited. The best entrepreneurs can now easily go wherever it best suits them – and so, many depart for places like Palo Alto or Boulder or Austin. Keeping them requires building an ecosystem and support system that is every bit as good as those other places. And Scotland doesn't have the weather like California or Colorado to lure entrepreneurs. It's got the talent, it's got the innovation. But it needs to think BIGGER and BOLDER about how to propel that into truly world-beaitng start-ups. That includes Money, yes. But it also includes a more risk-oriented way of looking at the world and a much healthier relationship to the idea of "failure" – which is inevitable if you're launching a start-up.  In a start-up culture, failure isn't really "failure" – it's just hypothesis testing.  That attitude – broadly applied – is what makes Silicon Valley what it is. And every would-be start-up hub must adopt it eventually or forever be an 'also-ran'. Not sure that answered the question – but I hope that this is the discussion we can have at the Turing Festival about Scotland's future. 

What is Atria?

Atria Edinburgh is a landmark office development in the heart of Edinburgh's prime office district, The Exchange. 

Created by The City of Edinburgh Council, the development comprises two buildings providing 200,000 sq ft of Grade A office accommodation (Atria One, 186,519 sq ft and Atria Two, 13,218 sq ft) and 4,000 sq ft of prime retail space and is the only speculative city centre office building in the UK outside London and the South East to offer more than 100,000 sq ft by early 2013. The buildings are due to complete in the first quarter of 2013. 

Atria One is the only building in Edinburgh which will achieve BREEAM 'Excellent' post completion under the current regulations (2009).

Why is it important?

This is the final undeveloped site within the Exchange district, Scotland's premier business district, and is being developed as an expansion to the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) and additional commercial office space.

Since the EICC opened in 1995 it has delivered an economic impact for Edinburgh of more than £300 million. To compete in a global conference market, the EICC needs to expand to be able to attract even greater numbers and host larger events, thereby realising an estimated £2.4 billion economic impact for Edinburgh and Scotland over a 30-year term. In order to fund this expansion, the office development is being progressed to maximise lettable floor space and the value of the office development will cross-subsidise the cost of the expansion to the EICC. The commercial elements are intentionally designed to facilitate the lettings and eventual sale of the offices and retail space on completion of the development. 

What is the project's value and how is it being funded?

The overall project cost is approximately £85m. The project is being funded predominantly by The City of Edinburgh Council with part-funding by Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh & Lothian (SEE&L).

Who are the stakeholders and what's their vision?

The key stakeholders involved in the project are The City of Edinburgh Council, Scottish Enterprise and the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. Our vision is to ensure the EICC continues to prosper in the global conference industry through this expansion and that we secure quality tenants into much needed Grade A office space in the capital.

Edinburgh's Waverley Train Station is half-way through a major renewal programme to meet the needs of passengers in the 21st century while preserving the station's rich heritage. Network Rail spokesman Nick King outlines progress so far...

Why is this work important?

We are currently delivering a four-year, £130m project to completely refurbish and renew the glass roof at Waverley, improve access to the station and enhance the main concourse area. As Scotland’s second busiest station, with over 25 million passengers a year, keeping Waverley well maintained and accessible is vital to the economic and social wellbeing of the city as a whole. The work we are carrying out is essential to the long-term future of the station, ensuring that its Victorian roof remains in good condition for decades to come.

What are the project's key features and how will station users benefit?

We’re re-glazing the entire roof with over 28,000 new glass panels and repairing and repainting the supporting Victorian steelwork and columns. The station’s southern, Market Street, entrance is also being redeveloped to create a cleaner, more welcoming, environment and step-free access. The station concourse will be resurfaced and the station building exteriors refurbished. A separate project is also being simultaneously undertaken to create a step-free entrance from Princes Street via the Waverley Steps.

How do you feel about progress so far?

The project, which is on-time and within budget, is progressing well. The work is being delivered with a minimum of disruption to the day-to-day operation of the station and no disruption to regular train services. We are confident that, once complete, the project will greatly enhance the station and its facilities for passengers.

What's next and when will the work be completed?

The re-glazing work is now at the half-way stage, while the new Market Street entrance is due to open next month. The project will be completed in its entirety in 2014.

Global wind turbine specialist Gamesa will over time invest around £125 million in a manufacturing base in Leith that could create up to 800 jobs. UK Chief Corporate Officer, Peter Pantlin explains more...

 

What is Gamesa?

We're headquartered in Spain and employ about 8,000 people in more than 50 countries. We're a world leader and certainly in the top four in this industry. Our main activities involve research and development, manufacturing the blades and turbines, developing windfarms and carrying out the operations and maintenance.

Why did you choose Leith?

Over the last year or so we looked at about 11 ports and had shortlisted a couple. We felt that Leith was better for Gamesa mainly on cost grounds, but also for possible access to an order pipeline and proximity to our R&D centre at Strathclyde University, which is a world leader in this kind of technology. We have about 60 to 70 engineers there totally focused on developing the offshore platform. I can't stress enough the fantastic support we received from both north and south of the border, including the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise, the ports themselves and from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and others.

What will happen at Leith if your plans go ahead?

We intend to pursue a Memorandum of Understanding that we're going to be working together and developing this site as a manufacturing base going forward. The activity we'll be doing there is manufacturing the blades and the nacelles (the generator units that sit at the top of the towers). If everything goes to plan, our best estimate is that we'll have about 800 Gamesa jobs in Leith over time. When we start manufacturing there's the whole supply chain on top of that, so we're going to have suppliers from many different parts of the United Kingdom helping us put all this kit together and get it out.

How important is this project?

Very. About 18 months ago the company made three important announcements in relation to the UK. One – it was going to open an R&D centre in Glasgow, and that was opened by the First Minister last September. Secondly, the company announced that it would establish its global offshore wind division HQ in London, and we moved into the premises at the end of January. The third element was establishing a manufacturing base in the UK, hence Leith. Gamesa has histrorically focused on onshore, but its activities in the UK will also be very focused on offshore – and Leith is a crucial part of that.

Edinburgh's Rose Street is set to enjoy a major makeover in a pioneering project led by Essential Edinburgh, the Capital's central Business Improvement District. Chief Executive Any Neal tells us more...

What's the vision for Rose Street?

The issue for Rose Street at the moment is that it's in the shadow of Princes Street and George Street, both of which have a clear identity. The plan for Rose Street is to give it its own personality, which should be something a little bit quirky. When we were doing our consultation, we identified different types of streets in other cities to give us clues, and the one most people liked was Carnaby Street in London's West End. It's in very close proximity to Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street, but has its own quirky character, and that's the vision for Rose Street.

What kind of improvements are planned?

There was very clear feedback from the consultation that the number one issue in Rose Street is to sort out the traffic management issues. It is primarily pedestrianised in terms of the road surface, but lots of small delivery vans also use the street at any time of day. This is confusing for pedestrians and also causes huge damage to the road surface, buildings and street furniture. If it's to be pedestrianised, let's make it pedestrianised and restrict vehicles to a certain time - we've got one group looking at how to manage that.

The second clear priority was to attract people to come down Rose Street by making the entrances more welcoming and inviting. So we're looking at a combination of permanent signage and also permanent and temporary lighting, including the possibility of projections onto the gable ends. The idea is to create the sense of something interesting going on down the street.

The third priority is to create a marketing and promotional calendar of events to attract people into Rose Street. And if there's any money left after that, we'll be looking to improve the street lighting and street furniture.

How is the work being funded?

Essential Edinburgh is putting in £300,000. This is a levy raised from the 600 or so businesses in the Essential Edinburgh area. The City of Edinburgh Council are matching that funding. The Assembly Rooms and Primark are also providing some funding to the Council for infrastructure improvements in Rose Street as part of their recent significant building works - and this will be chipped in too.

How important is this project?

If you're a business in Rose Street it's absolutely crucial - because it's your livelihood. For Essential Edinburgh, it's one of our top two priorities in terms of an urgent need to make a difference to the city centre. We think Rose Street is a hidden gem in Edinburgh, and if we can attract more people to go down there they'll discover a whole group of interesting stores, restaurants and other outlets. So this project is about polishing that hidden gem.

More than half of total Scottish research activity is undertaken in Edinburgh and the Lothians. The city's universities are hubs of research excellence. The University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt are famed for their global five-star research institutions.

Key research and development specialisms include stem cell research and regenerative medicine, biotechnology, engineering, microelectronics,informatics, genomics, optoelectronics and renewable energy.

Edinburgh also has a strong track record in research commercialisation. In the last five years, The University of Edinburgh alone has formed more than 80 new businesses - of which 95% remain active - filed 250 patents and negotiated 180 license agreements.

Edinburgh City Region continues to make history today with innovations including:

• The world's first versatile, teachable assembly robot (1969);
• The world's first genetically engineered hepatitis B vaccine(1978);
• The world's first ‘camera-on-a-chip’ (1991);
• The world’s first mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell(1996);
• The world's smallest television screen (2001);
• The world's most gender aware robot (2003);
• The world's first pure brain stem cells (2005);
• The world's first fully portable video laryngoscope (2005);
• The world's first silent building-mountable wind turbine (2007);
• The world's first commercially available bionic hand (2007);
• The world's first commercial-scale wave energy converter (2008);
• The world's first powered bionic finger (2009);
• The world's first on demand in-train entertainment system (2010);
• The world's first hologram of a protein structure (2011);
• The world's first visual field analyser using eyetracking technology (2012);
• The world's first automatic instant 360º camera (2012);
• The world's first digital hallmark for jewellery (2012). 

Glasgow

Rank	Metropolitan area	Population (2001)
1	London metropolitan area	13,709,000
2	Birmingham metropolitan area	3,683,000
3	Manchester metropolitan area	2,556,000
4	Leeds-Bradford metropolitan area	2,302,000
5	Liverpool/Birkenhead metropolitan area	2,241,000
6	Newcastle-Sunderland metropolitan area	1,599,000
7	Sheffield metropolitan area	1,569,000
8	Portsmouth/Southampton metropolitan area	1,547,000
9	Nottingham-Derby metropolitan area	1,543,000
10	Glasgow metropolitan area	1,395,000
11	Cardiff and South Wales valleys metropolitan area	1,097,000
12	Bristol metropolitan area	1,041,000
13	Belfast metropolitan area	799,000
14	Edinburgh metropolitan area	782,000
15	Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton metropolitan area	769,000
16	Leicester metropolitan area	745,000

Scottish Independence

While Scotland may not be its own country in the entirety, but the country maintains a high amount of autonomy right now in its current condition. The Scottish people have always been rebellious to outside rule from the day s of the Romans. There is a reason that they built Adrian and Antonine walls. 

     This chart shows the % of new businesses inside the UK that is started in Scotland. This chart reflects somewhat Scotland's growth, but also the stagnation of the majority of the UK. The innovation and access to capital in Scotland blends to lower the unemployement rate. In England, which in this report is refered to as the land South of Scotland and East of Wales, is largely regulated, taxed and unproductive. London allows the rare oppurtunity of a truly bustling city. The international population, the histry and the rule of law are superior to any but Tokyo and New York. Scotland has 2 metros that are much smaller than London, but this chart shows the dynamic and versatile economic nature of Scotlad. The people can reflect fast to a shift in the world markets if everyone is entrprenurial, in Scotland that seems to be the case. 

     Competition is fierce, nonethelessn, fro all European cities right now. Paris, Milan, London, Basil, Vienna, Frankfurt, Amstermdam, Oslo and Stockholm are all competing for business. these cities are at logistical points and that will foreve sustain them, but the reach into each others competitive firleds will yield an oppurtunity to go further. The size of the city is no longer as important a factor as it once was. The eoncomic strength of the large industrial cities on the rivers and coasts of trading routes is over. The population centers of today seem to be majorly a liability for the municipalities in many cases and the smaller population cities are much quicker to adapt to economic changes. They are more close to watching over their own land, as Thomas Jefferson would have implied. the more local the rule of law seems to be to the average citizen seems to have a major impact on the economy. 

     Scotland has a good mix of assets, but the best I think is its intellectual capital. The research and education departments of many companies need to find some room in Edinburgh, one in Glasgow will do as well, but the culture and vibe that I feel will predominate this city will influence and inspire much creative thought. I feel the same way for several other cities, but none with the natural advantages that Scotland has. the natural advantages Scotland has in its research and education sectors is due to 100's of years of study and emphasis on education. to this day the Scottish are very much for education in the truest sense. they have high standards to uphold to and expect to continue the innovative streak that was the Scottish enlightenment, To many the Enlightenment era is still going on to this day. 

     Scotland has a homogeneous population, a very local government and relatively a lot of room to raise or lower taxes. The government can participate in fiscal measure's to stimulate the economy much more efficiently as it will be in the direct eye of the people in many cases and if any corruption is done, at least it will stay and originate in Scotland. 

     The rule of law in Scotland is a cousin of many European countries, namely its neighbor to the South, the great power that is England. The respect and adherence is astounding. The rule of law is one of the most prevalent and un-talked of things in modern dialogue. the feel of walking in view and site of the government officials, the researchers, professors, businessman, entrepreneurs and such who are changing the world, to talk to the them and hear for ourselves their responses in so custom a manner, and to view them daily is a reassuring thing to a mind that wishes comfort from their honesty in work. 

     This has an effect on the viewpoint of the politician also. He will uphold his office as dear as he can and in the case of misuse of money or of some other odious charge, he will be immediately presentable to them and those others in power who keep such a rapid check on each other. He will do all that he can to at least appear as if he has done all possible for the good of the public. The constant interaction with any citizens in such a monitored situation and in such a small fame makes it easy to investigate his incentives and his motives. This makes a good formula for rule of law, as it is good check on each others powers. In Scotland, I think this is very much the case.

Tourism

Edinburgh City Region is a major tourism centre in the UK and gateway to the rest of Scotland. Around 4 million visitors a year inject £2 billion into the local economy.

It is the UK's favourite domestic holiday alternative to London and has an award-winning reputation as one of the most attractive destinations in the world, with an ideal mix of shopping, culture, music, heritage and leisure facilities.

Ten of the 20 most attended paid visitor attractions and eight of the 20 most attended free visitor attractions in Scotland are located in Edinburgh City Region.

The area is also home to two of Scotland’s five UNESCO World Heritage Sites - the Frontiers of the Roman Empire and the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh.

Top tourism companies by turnover trading primarily in the Edinburgh City Region include MacDonald Hotels, City Inn, Apex Hotels and Starman Piccadilly and Travelodge Hotels.

Around 4m visitors a year, a third from overseas, inject almost £2 billion into Edinburgh City Region's economy annually and account for 14m bed nights.

The city region accounts for one fifth of all expenditure by UK and overseas tourists in Scotland. In 2010, Occupancy levels in Edinburgh (77%) and average room rates, (£87.86) were among the best in the UK and internationally.

Festivals

Edinburgh is the world's festival capital, with 13 international festivals and a host of other major events throughout the year. They include the Edinburgh International Science Festival, International Film Festival, International Book Festival, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, Edinburgh's Hogmanay and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world. In 2010 5,486,354 people attended Edinburgh's festivals.

Attractions

Half of Scotland's top visitor attractions are in Edinburgh City Region. Edinburgh Castle is consistently the most popular paid-for attraction, drawing more than 1m visitors a year. The Scottish Parliament, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh Zoo, and the Royal Botanic Garden are also favourites, alongside city region attractions such as Stirling Castle, the Falkirk Wheel and East Lothian's Museum of Flight.

Business tourism

Edinburgh is the UK's most favoured city outside London for holding international conferences. Business tourism generates around £300m a year for the city region. Corporate bookings represent more than a fifth of demand across the city region compared to 14% in Scotland as a whole. Business tourism continues to be a growing market – especially for the medical, life science and technology sectors.

At a time when cost is a key factor, Edinburgh was placed first in a recent value-for-money study of world-ranked international conference destination cities, commissioned by VisitBritain, further reinforcing the city's reputation and helping provide an important edge in a very competitive market place.

Investment

Major investment in Edinburgh's cultural infrastructure is enhancing the city's international reputation as a tourism capital. Projects include the £46m expansion of the National Museums of Scotland, the £18m refurbishment of the National Portrait Gallery, the £30m redevelopment of the Usher Hall and the £12m redevelopment of the Assembly Rooms. The National Galleries of Scotland were also recently renovated and extended in a flagship £30m project.

One in ten workers in Edinburgh - more than 30,000 people – are employed in tourism. Across the wider Edinburgh City Region, the industry supports double this number of jobs.

Edinburgh's reputation as a dynamic and cosmopolitan capital attracts workers and students from around the world.

A number of higher and further education institutions across the city region including Stevenson College, Queen Margaret University, the Scottish Agricultural College and Napier University offer tourism related courses and qualifications such as HND, GNVQ, BA (Hons), MBAs and full PhD programmes.

Attracting new talent and developing skills in the industry is also a key focus of public and private sector partners such as Skills Development Scotland, VisitScotland and the Edinburgh Tourism Action Group.

Labour productivity in the Lothians tourism sector averages £24,300 per person, 10% ahead of the Scottish average.

Edinburgh is the UK’s most popular tourist destination after London, with the second highest hotel occupancy levels of any European city and some of the highest average daily room rates in the UK.

Scotland’s capital city plays a vital role in the Scottish tourism economy and has experienced growth for many years. An extensive range of accommodation already exists in the city, which supports its rich, diverse, year-round appeal to business and leisure visitors. As demand continues to grow, additional tourist accommodation will be required as Edinburgh continues to appeal to a wide range of visitor markets. The city is keen to attract developers to fulfil these additional accommodation requirements.

The Edinburgh Hotel Prospectus, produced by The City of Edinburgh Council in partnership with Scottish Development International (SDI), highlights both the current strength of the tourism market in Scotland’s capital city and the potential for future hotel development.

Advice, information, incentives and on-going support for companies seeking to expand or invest in the Edinburgh City Region is available from the City of Edinburgh Council's Investor Support Team. The IS Team provides support for businesses, property investors and developers seeking to capitalise on the opportunities presented by one of Northern Europe’s greatest cities.

Edinburgh Convention Bureau - the lead organisation for marketing Edinburgh as a conference destination

The Edinburgh Principal Hotels Association - represents leading three, four and five star Edinburgh hotels and serviced apartments

Edinburgh Restaurateurs Association - represents and promotes restaurants across Edinburgh

The Edinburgh Tourism Action Group - public and private sector partnership to co-ordinate tourism in Edinburgh

The City of Edinburgh Council - Invests around £35m a year in tourism including support for events, festivals and visitor attractions

VisitScotland Edinburgh and Lothians - the Edinburgh and Lothian pages of the national tourism organisation for Scotland

Scottish Enterprise - Scotland's main economic development agency, responsible for key sectors including tourism

EventScotland - Scotland's national events agency

East Lothian Tourism Attractions Group - an independent association of visitor attractions in the East Lothian area

Golf Tourism Alliance - promotes golf tourism on behalf of Perthshire, Angus and Dundee, Fife and East Lothian

The Green Tourism Business Scheme - the national sustainable tourism certification scheme for the UK

Edinburgh is one of the most attractive cities 

in the world. Designated as an UNESCO World 

Heritage Site and UNESCO’s first ’City of 

Literature’, it is internationally recognised 

as the world’s ‘Festival City’. 

(Skibo Castle)

(Glamis Castle)

(Kisimul Castle)

Science & Technogy in Scotland

Edinburgh's legacy for innovation derives from its rich knowledge economy.

Nearly half of the city region's workforce is employed in knowledge-intensive jobs including computing, communications, scientific research and the creative industries.

This has helped forge Edinburgh's reputation as an 'Ideopolis' - a sustainable knowledge-intensive city that drives growth in the wider city region and develops knowledge industries that will be economically successful and improve quality of life.

Research and development is a core knowledge-intensive industry and focus of activity across the city region.

More than half of total Scottish research activity is undertaken in Edinburgh and the Lothians. The city region is a top ten European location for science and technology. The University of Edinburgh is a world leader in many areas of scientific research including informatics, infectious diseases and stem cell research.

Founded in 1582, the University has attracted some of the world's greatestminds to the city, including anaesthetic pioneer James Simpson and evolutionist Charles Darwin.

Biotechnology and biomanufacturing

Edinburgh is home to a cluster of biotechnology firms that compete successfully at a global level using biotechnological products and processes developed across the city region, such as antibacterial drugs for antibiotic-resistant bacteria. 

Bioinformatics

Bioinformatics is a developing discipline incorporating computer science, biology and mathematics. 

Edinburgh has a competitive international research base in this area, represented by bodies such as the Edinburgh Centre for Bioinformatics at the University of Edinburgh. 

Drug discovery and development

The drug discovery and development cluster in Edinburgh City Region encompasses the sector's entire life cycle, from discovery and development to clinical trials and drug delivery. 

Informatics

The University of Edinburgh is an internationally leading centre for informatics, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and computer science.

The School of Informatics at The University of Edinburgh is the UK's largest and highest-rated research grouping in Computer Science.

Medical devices and diagnostics

Edinburgh's international reputation in chemistry, biochemistry, electronics, mechanical engineering, optics and informatics has helped attract a large group of successful indigenous and global medical devices and diagnostics firms

Microelectronics and MEMs

Significant breakthroughs – such as the world's first 'camera on a chip' and the world's smallest television screen – have secured Edinburgh's reputation as a leading global location for microelectronics

Nanoscience and nanotechnology

Edinburgh's strengths in the disciplines driving nanotechnology, including applied physics and electronic engineering, have helped it establish a reputation for innovation in this field

Oil and gas

The knowledge and processes developed at centres of excellence including theScottish Centre for Carbon Storage and Heriot-Watt University's Institute of Petroleum Engineering will contribute significantly to global CO2 reduction.

Optoelectronics and photonics

Edinburgh City Region is home to a rich cluster of photonics and optoelectronics expertise including Heriot-Watt University, which has more than 25 years' experience in optical information processing, optoelectronics and fibre-based optoelectronic systems

Pathway medicine

Edinburgh's research community has established a strong position in this field, with recent creations including the first Division of Pathway Medicine, led byProfessor Peter Ghazal - a leading post-genomic researcher

Stem cells and regenerative medicine

The Institute of Stem Cell Reseach, the Roslin Institute and the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine are leading ground-breaking collaborative research in this area. Edinburgh is also home to a number of key commercial players in the sector.

Edinburgh has one of the highest concentrations of human stem cell scientists and researchers in the UK, with Edinburgh and Midlothian recognised internationally as centres of bioinformatics and genomics research.

The highly skilled workforce and large number of graduates are key strengths of the Scottish life sciences and electronics sectors. Scotland is home to 8.9% of the UK population, but generates 12.4% of first biological sciences degrees and 14.3% of first medicine and dentistry degrees.

Scotland also produces over 5,000 engineering, software and technology graduates each year.

In both life sciences and electronics, labour costs in Scotland are competitive compared to Europe.

The average gross annual salary of a worker in the Scottish electronics sector is £27,922.  Productivity is high in the Scottish electronics sector with gross value add (GVA) per employee of £65,424, compared to an average for manufacturing of £60,700.

Edinburgh Science Triangle is a dynamic and award-winning collaboration of seven science parks within 30 minutes of Edinburgh's city centre and close to academic hubs and research institutes.

The engine room of the city region's science and technology community, it houses more than 3,000 world-class researchers and over 100 market-leading companies across more than 370,000 sq m of flexible accommodation.

The following science parks are part of the Edinburgh Science Triangle:

Alba Innovation Centre

A business incubator to develop knowledge-based businesses in the east of Scotland. Located within Alba Campus – a major business park to the west of the city that is home to many household name technology-based companies

BioCampus

Scotland's first dedicated national biomanufacturing campus, designed to meet the needs of companies involved in the specialist manufacture of next-generation biotechnology related products.

Edinburgh BioQuarter

A landmark life sciences development set to confirm Edinburgh and Scotland as a top-ten world centre for biomedical research and commercialisation. It is unique to the UK in offering a large state-of-the-art teaching hospital, the University of Edinburgh's world-renowned medical school and bespoke biomedical research and development facilities all on one site.

Edinburgh Technopole

A joint venture owned and managed by The University of Edinburgh and Grosvenor to stimulate the growth of technology-based organisations at all stages of development

Heriot-Watt Research Park

The first science park in Europe, launched in 1971, the site promotes collaboration between academic staff and commercial companies - all on location on Heriot-Watt University's campus

Pentlands Science Park

A nine hectare hub of veterinary science expertise housing animal health research institute and welfare charity, the Moredun Group, and others including Schering-Plough

Roslin BioCentre

A centre of excellence for bioscience, with world-ranking expertise in genomics and bioinformatics. It is home to the world famous Roslin Insititute and offers ready-to-use laboratory facilities and office space for young bioscience companies.

The Easter Bush Research Consortium brings together The Roslin Instituteof the University of Edinburgh, the Moredun Research Institute and the Animal Sciences Researchers of the Scottish Agricultural College.

The Bioindustry Association Scotland is a trade association for innovative enterprises in the UK's bioscience sector.

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry Scotland is the voice of the pharmaceutical industry in Scotland.

The University of Edinburgh is Scotland's leading research university, with an international reputation for world-class research in a broad range of disciplines, including computer science, physics, medicine and veterinary science.

Heriot-Watt University's School of Engineering and Physical Sciences enjoys an international reputation for its research and its close connection with the professional and industrial world of science, engineering and technology,

Edinburgh Napier University's School of Computing is the largest computing department in Scotland. Napier also has one of the largest business schools of any university in Scotland.

Queen Margaret University's Faculty of Health Sciences Dietetics, Nutrition and Biological Sciences is heavily involved in research into issues related to nutrition and health.

Edinburgh Research and Innovation is The University of Edinburgh's commercialisation company, developing commercial opportunities arising from new and innovative developments in the university's academic research.

Edinburgh Centre for Bioinformatics is a collaboration between life scientists, computer scientists and other physical scientists to stimulate and support collaborative interdisciplinary research in bioinformatics.

Life Sciences Scotland is a government-backed initiative supporting growth, company development and collaboration across Scotland's Life Sciences sector.

The Royal Society of Edinburghis an internationally respected educational charity created in 1783 by Royal Charter for “the advancement of learning and useful knowledge”.

Higher Education

University of Saint Andrews

The University of Edinburgh

The University of Glasgow

The University of Aberndeen

University of Strathclyde

Napier Uniervsity, Merchiston Campus

University of the Highlands and Islands

(This is the library building of the University of Aberdeen  one of the tallest buildings in Aberdeen and a testament to the commitment in Scottish culture of education)

Culture

     The culture of Scotland originates from 2 main sources, the English to the south and to the pre-Anglo Celts/Picts/Gaelic and Viking tribes that laundered The island of Briton and the smaller side islands at the time.

     Scottish culture seems to be one of the more rural kinds. An emphasis on hard work is present, ut a love of relaxation.leisure and in nature is also prevalent. The attendance of national parks are strong in both Scotland. this resembles Germany in a way of its love of nature. The Germans and Scottish are both in financial position to keep their parks and such up to date. the lack of abandoned and derelict spaces in Scotland strike a civil pride in the city unseen in France, Italy, Spain, America, Japan and Australia, are just a  few examples of places with high vacancy rates and a lot of abandoned buildings.

(William Wallace, the basis of the Movie brave heart and Mel Gibson's character, he is a savage and my ancestors may have fought with him, he had troops named Dickson, my mothers side)

(Adam Smith and David Humes, the 2 leaders of the Scottish enlightenment that led to Scotland universities being as big of this report as they are)

Websites about Scotland's Economy

http://www.scottisheconomywatch.com/ This site is good for macro-economic concerns of Scotland and the Uk in general. 

http://www.edinburgh-inspiringcapital.com/invest/key_business_sectors/creative_industries.aspx