CONTENTS

politics first | Features
September / October 2016 | www.politicsfirst.org.uk
106
Scotland: an enduring global
brand with added spirit
Malcolm
Roughead
OBE,
Chief Executive,
VisitScotland
Tourism is more than a holiday experience – it creates jobs,
sustains communities and provides an international shop
window for Scotland.
Our industry also supports other important business sectors,
including food and drink, textiles, retail and construction. We
provide a ripple effect that is helping those, and many other
sectors, flourish, and this is why VisitScotland strives to keep
Scotland, as a destination, out in front of our competitors.
VisitScotland’s first ever global campaign, “The Spirit of
Scotland”, was launched by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon this
February, at Edinburgh Castle.
The campaign is part of a series of initiatives that is
fundamentally changing the way in which we market and
present Scotland around the world, designed to deliver benefits
way beyond traditional tourism sectors. It is about building
on the strong image Scotland already has and the reputation
for the success we built in 2014, when we delivered The
Commonwealth Games and The Ryder Cup.
By engaging more than 130,000 people through #ScotSpirit,
the social media element of our campaign, VisitScotland is taking
Scotland to the world in a way not seen before, encouraging
people from around the world to post digital content that shows
their #ScotSpirit and, in doing so, help us excite people about
Scotland and encourage them to visit.
We have now extended that with a new online community
platform, which is creating opportunities for more people
- Scots and visitors, alike - to share their experiences of our
country, exchanging knowledge in a way not possible before.
Through their phones, tablets and laptops, they are working with
us to help promote Scotland to millions of people around the
world.
Our ultimate aim is to create as many advocates for Scotland
as we can in order to broaden our reach and sphere of influence
in a world where the way that visitors are researching and
booking their trips is changing at an ever-increasing pace.
The confidence and faith in Scotland as a brand and as a
leading visitor destination is highlighted by the international
partners we are working with. TripAdvisor, Google, NBC, The
New York Times - to name but a few - all see the potential of the
country and the draw it has for millions of visitors who come
here each year.
The tourism industry has undoubted potential as an engine
of economic growth. The industry in Scotland continues to
outperform the rest of the economy and our neighbours in the
UK but if we are to realise our full potential, we must pull our
collective assets in the public sector, the private sector and our
globally recognised point of difference, our own people, if we
are to succeed.
By bringing people and digital media together, we are doing
just that.
Spending by tourists in Scotland generates around £12
billion of economic activity in the wider Scottish supply chain,
while the industry supports almost 200,000 jobs. VisitScotland
is committed to extending that success story and ensuring our
industry goes from strength-to-strength. By working closely
with partners, we are delivering for Scotland.
Accelerating growth
in the UK economy
Don Spalinger, Director, Research
and Innovation Services, University
of Southampton, tells Marcus
Papadopoulos about the groundbreaking
achievements which he has overseen in
the field of entrepreneurism
Q Congratulations on having been selected as one of the “100 Faces of the
UK’s Vibrant Economy”! How do you feel about that?
Yes, I am really honoured to be recognised for creating innovative and entrepreneurial
ways for shaping the vibrant UK economy. The amazing accomplishments of the
SETsquared Partnership (a partnership of the commercialisation activities at the
universities of Southampton, Surrey, Bristol, Bath and Exeter) over the past decade,
and its future promise, in driving the growth of the UK economy, provide evidence that
universities working collaboratively with industry are an engine for economic growth.
So I want to thank Grant Thornton for highlighting activities which are shaping the
vibrant economy.
Q What are some of the SETsquared Partnership’s accomplishments?
Entrepreneurism and enterprise are at the heart of what SETsquared is all about.
University research labs are great at creating new knowledge. SETsquared is
committed to exploiting that knowledge to the betterment of society and the economy.
One way of doing that is the creation of new companies, and SETsquared’s incubation
and business acceleration activities have incubated over 1,000 companies – having
assisted these companies in raising over £1 billion of investment - and contributed to
over £4 billion in GVA to the UK economy. That has led to SETsquared ranking as the
number one university business incubator in the world by UBI Global.
And we are continuing to embed entrepreneurism and enterprise in universities with
our new ICURe program. We have been piloting the Innovation and Commercialisation
of University Research (ICURe) program for only 18 months, but the outcomes are
already amazing us. Teams from 78 research groups at 15 universities across the UK
have completed the programme which gets the teams out of the research labs and into
the marketplace - talking to potential users, customers, partners, and competitors; and
validating that there are commercial uses of their research outputs. Already, 28 new
spin-out companies have been formed. Over 30 licenses are in process or granted.
And the ICURe teams have raised over £15 million of funding to either finance the
company creation or fund further research, usually in collaboration with commercial
partners found through the ICURe process. The ICURe pilot has received funding
from HEFCE and InnovateUK, and we are endeavouring to raise additional funding to
continue the pilot, expanding ICURe to additional universities, research activities and
validation processes.
Q Can you cite me some companies which are coming out of ICURe?
Accelercomm is spinning out from Southampton, having created a turbo-decoder
capable of 10 times improvement to data rates and latency, which will enable smart
devices to operate at the forthcoming 5G technology level.
Ziylo is a spin-out from Bristol, based on technology for continuously monitoring
sugars in solution. The technology was initially developed to monitor blood sugar
levels in diabetics, but during the ICURe market validation, a near term and burning
market need was identified in the brewing and winemaking industry. Prototypes are
being fabricated for deployment, and sales will be generated very soon.
SETsquared and ICURe won the THELMA (Times Higher Education Leadership and
Management Award) for Knowledge Exchange/Transfer in 2016, also recognizing the
rapid impact being realized across the UK.
ICURe and SETsquared are accelerating the commercialisation of university
research that will generate billions of pounds for the UK economy.
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