Attracting Investment
Supported a Scottish presence at the inaugural UK Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF)
Scottish Cities Week
Delivered the inaugural Scottish Cities Week programme in London to an audience of over 130 investors, developers, agents and other built environment professionals.
Transition to Net Zero
Supported the development of the a Climate Delivery Framework and Scottish Climate Intelligence Service for local and Scottish Government. Worked with 3Ci to publish a pipeline of 117 net zero projects across the Scottish cities collectively valued at £8 billion.
City Centre Recovery
Launched the City Centre Recovery Taskforce chaired by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs & Fair Work to develop a vision for the future of city centres backed by £6m from the Scottish Government.
Creativity & Innovation
Completed work on creative and cultural hubs in Inverness & Perth utilising buisness case support from the Alliance and leveraging in wider SG and EU funding. Opened over 180 new data sets across the cities, enabling innovation in service provision and economic and social value to be derived from data.
Influence
Participated in an Investor roundtable at Downing Street. Published the first Scottish Cities Outlook report with the Fraser of Allander Institute showcasing the contributions of the Scottish cities to the Scottish economy. Produced an analysis of how EU successor funding should be used to support city economies.
Smart Cities
Supported a Team Scotland pavilion at MIPIM. Secured a further £15m in European Funding to support a 2nd phase of the ERDF programme. Projects delivered include Open Data platforms for each of the cities, Intelligent Street Lighting, Smart Waste, Water and Mobility projects across the cities.
Reach and Scale
Attended Expo Real in Munich and EU World Cities in South Korea. Completed work to explore the potential to create a Scottish Cities Investment Fund to support and enhance the delivery of large scale infrastructure projects. Accessed £250k from Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme to pilot the methodology to produce city LHEES.
Crystalisation of Projects
Work on building the hydrogen economy leads to application to Fuel Cell & Hydrogen Joint Undertaking for funding to deliver fuel cell bus demonstration projects in Scottish cities. Launch of the National Entitlement card as a smart travel ticket.
Europe
Secured funding for “Scotland’s 8th City – the Smart City” ERDF Prpogramme supporting the cities to utilise data & digital technologies to drive their city economies. Built on learning from MIPIM to deliver a larger scale presence for Scotland at MIPIM 2015.
Scaling Ambition
Building on the approach taken to the Glasgow City Region Deal, commenced work on City Investment Plans with the other 6 cities. Delivered the Alliance’s first investment attraction programme at MIPIM 2014 & MIPIM UK supported by the launch of an investment prospectus.
Additional Projects Agreed
Commenced project activity to support building the hydrogen economy; building the business case for creative and cultural hubs across all 7 cities; and linking the work of the Alliance partners to research and best practice with the support of the Scottish Cities Knowledge Centre.
Strategic Projects Agreed
The Leadership Group agreed the initial programme of projects the partners would utilise the CIF to collaborate on including digital connectivity; a Green Deal retrofit programme; smart ticketing and a collaborative programme of investment promotion and attraction.
Agenda for Cities
The Leaders of 7 Scottish cities and the Deputy First Minister launch the “Agenda for Cities” together with a £7m Cities Investment Fund (CIF) setting out a vision where Scotland’s cities and their regions empower Scotland’s economy for the benefit of all.
Eight cities working together
The Scottish Cities Alliance is the unique collaboration of Scotland’s eight cities – Aberdeen, Dundee, Dunfermline, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Perth and Stirling – and the Scottish Government, working together to promote the country’s great economic potential.
The Alliance was established in 2011 to progress the Agenda for Cities. Our aim is to achieve an economically stronger future for Scotland through the joint efforts of Scotland’s eight cities and our long-term investment promotion strategy, in a bid to attract capital investment to Scotland’s cities.
Scotland’s cities are thriving and continue to create world-class offerings for potential investors. This is supported by the new EY 2022 Scotland Attractiveness Survey which revealed that Scotland achieved record-breaking levels of inward investment in 2021.
By working together, the Alliance partners are able to share knowledge and create projects of scale which offer great investment prospects across the business spectrum. To date, we have not only played a key role in the development of the Scottish Government’s refreshed Agenda for Cities and International Trade and Investment Strategy but also supported key developments with Perth and Dundee to successfully secure £70 million of investment.
Our Investment Prospectus showcases £10 billion of exciting investor-ready opportunities across the seven cities and our City Key Facts document promotes the strengths of each city and wider activity the Alliance partners are progressing collaboratively.
Scotland’s cities have made considerable progress in adopting open data and smart technologies which will drive innovation, create new business and increased employment opportunities as well as help them deliver city services in a more effective and sustainable way to attract investor and residents. The Alliance secured £10 million of European funding for our flagship Smart Cities Scotland project – Scotland’s 8th City – The Smart City, which once match-funded has created a £24 million programme to take forward co-designed technology and data opportunities to help achieve the cities’ ambitions to be global hi-tech hubs.
The Alliance also aims to drive forward the agenda for a low carbon future to help lessen the impact of climate change and ensure the future economic prosperity of Scotland. The £10 million hydrogen fuel cell project is at the forefront of this work which will allow Scotland to position itself as one of Europe’s leading adopters of hydrogen technology.
The investment opportunities in Scotland are huge and the Alliance and its partners are committed to working with potential investors to optimise growth for the benefit of the whole of Scotland.
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