The economy, again and geothermal heating

Economic debate

The Government's economic strategy was debated in the Parliament last week with most of the emphasis on austerity and corporation tax. The government stated it wished to borrow to invest in the economy by removing the public sector spending cuts.  The opposition commented that there had been a reversal on commitments to lower corporation tax but this was denied.

In his opening address John Swinney, the Finance Minster, said he wanted "to foster a culture of innovation and research and development to promote the development of new technologies, products and working methods."
 
On corporation tax he stated that he wished to reduce it but not across the board. In particular he stated:

We have set out our approach to reduce corporation tax in a targeted way to support investment in capital, which is entirely consistent with the remainder of our economic strategy.

During the debate it was stated that the detail of the economic strategy was still to be announced, hence there is time to influence government as we head into the general election.

Geothermal fund launched

The Scottish government announced plans to increase the use of geothermal energy via a challenge fund for feasibility studies for projects involving local communities. The plans are in response to a recommendation of the Geothermal Energy Expert Group. The deadline to apply is 30 April and the government is running workshops to help organisations through the process.

The economy, innovation and energy

The economy was the main announcement from the Scottish Government while in the Parliament energy strategy was debated.

Investing in the new economy.

The Scottish Government has set out its economic strategy which aims to build a more innovative and fairer economy.

The Economic strategy has four strands, as illustrated in the figure below:

1. Investment in in people, infrastructure and assets;
2. Innovation in products, services and workplace practices
3. Internationalisation 
4. Inclusive growth 

Source: Scottish Government

I will concentrate on the strands which is most relevant to tech companies.

Innovation

The Scottish Government will foster a culture of Innovation by:

• establishing a new Ministerial-led Innovation Forum;
• supporting the network of Innovation Centres to apply knowledge and innovation from our academic research base into business;
• piloting Innovation and Investment Hubs at key global locations.
• Promoting innovation in the public sector which can support the economy.

A graph from the document shows the lack of investment by Scottish business in R&D by international comparison.

Source: Scottish Government

Business and Enterprise spend on R&D in Scotland is 0.6% of GDP and despite this being a priority of successive governments since 1999, it has stubbornly remained at that level ever since Scottish figures were published. In some ways this is not surprising as most UK companies site their research labs in the South of England.  More importantly any government intervention is likely to be at the margins and totally masked by the large and largely static research endeavours in life sciences for example.

The Scottish government hopes that innovation centres can bridge the gap between university research and business development. Though they are funded by the SFC  they are led by industry figures and have less academic outlook than the defunct ITIs developed by the previous government.

Implementation

The third section of the strategy onimplementation runs to only 7 pages of the 84 and most of those are dedicated to the devolution of increased powers proposed by the Smith Commission.  The Government is looking to business for ideas to implement the strategy and on how to use the new powers.

When the wind doesn't blow

Right now it seems unlikely but there are times when wind farms cannot produce enough power and conventional power stations are required.  They are also the days I can fly my balloon so they seem rare to me but this was the topic behind a energy debate last week in the Scottish Parliament.

Following the announcement that the Longannet power station viability was under threat, the Conservative party called for the debate on Energy strategy.  Murdo Fraser moved their motion stating that  the closure of Longannet would not only be a blow to its workforce but also the Scotland's energy needs as it provides 20% of Scotland electricity output. The threat arises from the costs of connecting to the national grid and in the future from new EU emission rules.

He went onto to accuse the Scottish Government of relying too heavily on renewable energy, a claim immediately refuted by the energy Minister. He stated that their strategy included conventional thermally generated electricity. He went onto to state that the grid charging scheme made it economically impossible to build conventional power stations in Scotland especially if they also have to pay emission duties.

Community wind farm

On the subject of wind, Scottish Enterprise has announced a community wind farm could receive £8 million in funding for a project in South Lanarkshire.  Though the main source of the investment is form Santander, £1.63 million in funding is from Scottish Enterprise’s Renewable Energy Investment Fund (REIF).  Income from the development will be used to support community projects as according to Andrew Stewart, Director at Stewart Energy, 100% of the ownership is local.

Year of light launch

The United nations has declared 2015 as the International year of light and 80 nations are celebrating light technology, the first official event was the Opening Ceremony held at UNESCO HQ in Paris over 19-20 January 2015. This week Scotland launched its programme with exhibits and talks for schools and the public in the grand surrounds of the Royal Society of Edinburgh which allowed for many exhibits.

The Public event opened with a rendition trumpet recital based on the the Big Bang followed by a word from the sponsors, Professor Paul Hagan of the SFC.

The exhibits ranged from simple experiments, with kits supplied for use at home, to Laser harps with bi-directional "strings".  The harp could be played a note at a time but some fine tuning was still required to play in both directions simultaneously.

While many of the exhibits showed properties of light in demonstrations, others show cased ideas which were either commercial or useful in other research such as biology or medicine.  The use of fluorescence microscopy allows biologists to study microbes and virus's to see how they move, grow and stick to surfaces to allow better sanitisation. While fibre optic microscopy techniques are being developed by researchers at Proteus to enable less invasive exploration of lungs and blood.

There are many laser development companies in Scotland and they were represented by M Squared Lasers who showed off one of their tunable lasers which could be used to discriminate between various white powders.  In a similar vein researchers at St Andrews University have developed a technique of using polymers in fibre optics to act as a "sniffer dog" for explosives and possibly drugs.

The Fraunhoffer stand represented the Centre for Applied Photonics based at Strathcldye University which carriers out research and development which benefits industry and acts as a conduit between the university research department and industry.  The Fraunhofer model was developed in Germany and the company now has centres across the world which allow links with local industry and other centres.

LIGHTPATH was also on display, developed by PhotoSynergy it uses fibre optics to produce a flexible and lightweight rope of light. It has been developed for subsea applications allowing long and flexible lighting for divers working from rigs. It can also be used for emergency lighting and even laid down to form a light path by emergency service crews.

A novel idea was using modulated lighting to transmit data as demonstrated by researchers from the Li-Fi Research and Development Centre. They streamed a video using a LED light as the transmitter so in future we may now longer need wifi boxes and boosters, as lighting will double as the internet carrier.

There were many other excellent examples of the strength of light technology in Scotland and hope for the future for the sector where I carried out research. Indeed I met some old friends who are now leaders in their field and regaled young researchers about the size of lasers in my days and the messy use of liquid dyes which have now been replaced by tiny solid state crystals and reduced to the size of a shoebox.

The closing event will take place on 2nd December 2015 and will be hosted by Heriot-Watt which has a rich history in laser development and light technology throughout the School of Engineering and physical sciences.

Half Term

The Parliament is now in recess for 2 weeks due to the half term holidays that take place at different times across Scotland. With a general election less than 4 months away, many MSPs (and their staff) will be helping in the campaign with a view to the Scottish elections next year.  While they are in campaign mode the Scottish parties will also be looking to develop policy for the manifestos, so a ripe time to influence the future political direction.

Creative Industries

Last week it was the turn of the The Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop to give evidence to the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee to the review of the Economic Impact of the Creative Industries.

Economic Impact of the Creative Industries

Economic Impact of the Creative Industries

Economic Impact of the Creative Industries

Economic Impact of the Creative Industries

She was accompanied by John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Economy, who had announced an extra £3 M for the screen sector the day before.  During the evidence, Hyslop said the timing of this announcement was coincidence.

Much of the session was spent defending the role of Creative Scotland using the example of World War Z and Outlander. As I have previously pointed out in these blogs, Outlander did contribute to the economy as it was produced here whereas other films such as Z just used Scotland as a back drop and contributed very little, except disruption.   The Minsters went on to point out the tension between the artistic remit of Creative Scotland and the business development of Scottish Enterprise but stated that Creative Scotland is the lead body on the creative sector. 

Studio

Hyslop said there was progress towards the private development of a film and TV studio in Scotland through a government loan and she hoped that would be delivered in the near future and maybe optimistically claiming it would be delivered by the present government. The studio has been a long running saga with witnesses saying that it was first discussed in 1940 and the lack of these facilitates had led to a decline of the screen sector in Scotland.

Video Gaming

Swinney stated that Scottish Enterprise was able to deliver diversity in its support for companies and sectors and it did not just support large firms.  He went onto to say that games producers were just as likely to be supported as any company with growth potential and were able to access funds and expertise. They also promised to consider the evidence that the Games industry is caught between the 2 stools.

Life Sciences

Last week the life sciences industry was celebrated at the annual awards ceremony organised by Scottish Enterprise.  There were 800 guests at the event which recognises the achievements in a sector worth £3 billion.

Lobbying Bill

Scottish Committee calls for register of “significant” lobbying activity which would include consultants and those employed to undertake public affairs.  

For those interested further analysis is provided by @PubAffairs.

Fracking or waves - Forty love

Fracking

The Scottish Government has announced a moratorium on fracking to further consider the issues.  Consent for fracking will be devolved to the Scottish Parliament after the general election but in the meantime the Government can refuse planning consent. The government plans to seek advice and consider the issues and will:

• Undertake a full public consultation on unconventional oil and gas extraction
• Commission a full public health impact assessment
• Conduct further wve ork into strengthen planning guidance
• Look at further tightening of environmental regulation.

The announcement was welcomed by environmental groups but INEOS, the owners of the Grangemouth oil refinery stated they would engage with the reviews.  One independent review, carried out by the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering, stated that fracking was no worse than mining - provided that strong regulations were in place. While the public consultation is likely to produce more heat than light.

Forty-love

The most interesting aspect of First Minister questions was a twitter exchange between the three leaders about watching Andy Murray's semi-final rather than preparing questions and during the questions Murray received applause as the Conservative leader, Davidson, announced he had won. She then went onto to lament the decline in STEM subjects in colleges though Sturgeon stated that there was an increase in the number of students obtaining recognised qualifications.

Wave energy

In general questions it was announced that a wave energy Scotland, WES factsheet was available but that the funding model has still to be decided by HIE.  There was also concern expressed about the Oyster project and in particular the issue of funding from the Carbon Trust,  the Minister promised to look into it and help if possible.

Science Education 

Late last year the learned society's report on Science Education was launched at the Science in Parliament event but only recently received publicity due to member's motion debate. Last week the issue was debated with the Education committee. However, the First Minister, denied that Science education was under-funded quoting OECD figures on education spending and pointing out the low sample group in the learned society's report.

Creative industries review

Creative Scotland and Scottish Enterprise gave evidence on their roles in supporting the creative industries and apologised for their handling of the sector. Creative Scotland said that its structure was initially not set-up in  a way to deal with the film and TV industries due to an emphasis on art.  However, they did point out that Outlander was a success and later in the week it was revealed this had brought in £40 million to the Scottish economy and that the Games Industry had also scored some big successes.  In case you are wondering, Outlander is an American series filmed in Scotland but as yet not shown here and was covered in previous blogs.  This week it is the turn of Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture, with a hand from John Swinney.  She may be helped by the announcement of an additional £3million funding for the screen sector.

Outlander an American series filmed in Scotland

Gaining Devolution and losing the Game of Thrones

Late last year, I found myself writing on the Smith Commission report for Week in Scotland and last week I reported on the the draft bill arising from the commission with a feeling of déjà vu.

A new Scotland Act

The command paper to further devolve powers to Scotland published, by the Westminster government, sets out a timetable and a commitment to further devolution. This command paper will now be subject to consultation and will become one of the first bills for the new government in May. The Prime Minister said it will become law whatever the outcome of the general election due to the agreement all of the main Scottish Political Parties.
One of the main constitutional principles is to enshrine the permanency of the Scottish Parliament and Government in law. The paper includes draft legislation to enact the Smith Commission recommendations including the power to set income tax bands, welfare provisions, borrowing powers and air passenger duty.
Areas which will remain reserved include employment legislation, pensions and much of the benefits system.
The Scottish Government stated the proposals did not give total powers to Scotland as agreement would have to be reached with Westminster before changes on welfare could be implemented but inevitably there were complaints from MPs that too much power was being devolved without the promised changes on the English legislative process. However, that will be an argument for the new government and if the SNP hold the balance of power, they will seek to enhance devolved powers.
It therefore, was surprising and strange that at First Minsters question time, the opposition leaders continued with prepared questions on the NHS and property tax, leaving it to the Liberal Democrats to commend the draft bill.
It was also slightly farcical that the Devolved (Further Powers) committee was taking evidence from business leaders as the bill was been published. They called for caution in using devolved powers to increase taxes as companies could move headquarters south of the border. However, they did say that different economic policies were required to increase research and development and that the UK immigration system was devised for the south east whereas in Scotland they wanted graduates to be allowed to stay.

Creative Industries

The Economy committee is presently conducting a review of the economic impact of the creative industries. The Film representatives who give evidence were critical of the lack of ambition of Creative Scotland in bringing films and TV productions to Scotland. In particular the loss of Game of Thrones to Northern Ireland however, they neglected to mention that the American series Outlander was brought to Scotland and consumed much of the production resources. So what is the difference between these two series, one is specifically set in Scotland and received support from Creative Scotland whereas the other isn't and didn't.  It seems showing off our landscape to millions is less important than brand Scotland, a parochial approach that leaves our TV and film insiders dumbfounded.  Those from the TV and film industries in giving evidence lamented the lack of studio facilities and stated that Scotland has fallen behind other areas in the UK including Northern Ireland who gained Game of Thrones.

This week Creative Scotland, Scottish Enterprise and HIE will give evidence and they may need armour.

Based on my original article published by Public Affair's Network.

Happy Light Year

As this is the first blog of 2015, I wish you all a happy new year and also hope you enjoy this year of light.  The international year of light, +IYL2015  officially opened in Paris at the UNESCO headquarters. There are events across the globe and, given the propensity of optoelectronic and light based technology in Scotland, I am glad there are events here with the launch on 23 February, details at http://light2015.scot/ at the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

UNESCO illuminated for the opening of the +IYL2015 

The year is an opportunity to showcase the excellent research and development carried out on lasers, optoelectronics, optics and light technology in Scotland which should help to increase awareness of this sector and funding to develop products.

Innovation and Economic strategy

The first week in Parliament was quiet as most parliamentary committees did not meet, however there was a a plenary debate on Boosting the Economy.  In opening the debate, John Swinney, The Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy, stated that:

"One of the central features of the Government’s economic strategy will be encouragement for the development of innovation in our economy. Last year’s research excellence framework found that each of Scotland’s 18 higher education institutions undertakes research of “world-leading” quality. That will be central to developing the focus on innovation that will emerge from the Government’s economic strategy"

He also stated that he is updating the Government's economic strategy which includes boosting investment and innovation.  This will be published in the coming months so there is still time to influence the detail of the strategy.

Creative Industry Enquiry 

The Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee is undertaking a review of the Economic Impact of the Creative Industries.  It has received over 50 written submissions and the committee is holding 4 evidence sessions. Last week representatives of the video games industry gave evidence underling the importance of the games industry to Scotland and also stating that small developers are now able to develop games for the tablet and mobile market without the investment required for console games.

This week representatives of the TV and film industries will give evidence.

Constitutional powers

On Thursday the  Devolution (Further Powers) Committee will take evidence from Scottish business organisations on the Smith Agreement.

• David Watt, Executive Director, Institute of Directors 
• Ross Martin, Chief Executive, Scottish Council for Development and Industry;
• Alan Watt, Chief Executive, Civil Engineering Contractors Association;
• Stuart Patrick, Chief Executive, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce

In their written submission, the SCDI calls for the Scottish Parliament to be given the ability to offer further tax incentives for business research and development than that already available across the UK.