Part of the Edinburgh & South East Scotland City Region Deal Development Opportunities in the Scottish Borders Evolving Data-Driven Innovation and the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Preliminary Analysis Report Doing data right ddi.ac.uk Development Opportunities in the Scottish Borders Development Opportunities in the Scottish Borders Caroline Parkinson, Chris Speed, Melissa Terras and Ritchie Somerville Edinburgh, September 2020 Lead author: Caroline Parkinson ([email protected]) Cite this paper as: Parkinson, C., Speed,AMEND C., Terras, M. and Somerville, R. (2020). Developing Data-Driven Innovation in Creative Industries: White Paper Data Driven Innovation Programme, University of Edinburgh http://dx.doi.org/10.7488/era/507 ddi.ac.uk 2 Development Opportunities in the Scottish Borders Contents Foreword 4 Jarmo Eskelinen, Executive Director, Data-Driven Innovation, University of Edinburgh/City Region Deal Shona Haslam, Leader, Scottish Borders Council Executive Summary 5 Scottish Borders Innovation and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems 5 Proposed DDI Opportunity Areas 6 Introduction 8 The Geographic and Demographic Profile of the Scottish Borders 9 Scottish Borders’ Economy 10 Imperatives for Inclusive Growth in the Scottish Borders 14 Economic Development Policies and Landscapes in South of Scotland 16 Data-Driven Innovation and the University of Edinburgh 18 Investigating Entrepreneurial and Innovation Ecosystem in the Scottish Borders 19 Opportunity Areas for Data-Driven Innovation in the Scottish Borders 23 Digital Up-Skilling 26 Building Infrastructure for Entrepreneurship and Businesses 27 Recommendations for Next Steps 32 Appendix A: Sources of Data and Analysis 35 Data sources 35 Primary Data Sources and Informants 35 Interviewees in Scottish Borders 35 Others 35 University of Edinburgh 35 Study team 35 Acknowledgements 35 ddi.ac.uk 3 Foreword For decades, the natural resources in the Scottish Borders fuelled the area’s economy, from the waters of the River Tweed and its tributaries powering textile mills through to the fertile soils underpinning its farming. People continue to flock to the area for its rural beauty, either as tourists to enjoy its mountain biking and fishing, or as residents, drawn by its restored railway line and road links to Edinburgh. Yet that same attractive countryside brings with it Scottish Borders Council, South of Scotland Enterprise, challenges. Small communities, separated by many and other partners in the area have an opportunity miles, make it more difficult for businesses to find to harness the city region’s DDI programme to boost customers and for public services to be delivered – economic growth across sectors including food and a growing issue as an ageing population requires drink, renewable energy, and tourism, and to deliver greater access to health and care services. public services, from remote healthcare through to demand-led public transport. The city region deal That same rural isolation poses problems for allows the Scottish Borders to tap into expertise entrepreneurs too. Innovators who love living in the at the University of Edinburgh and link in with Scottish Borders find it hard to connect with like- other universities and further education colleges minded people who can support them and help to throughout the region. grow their businesses. Harnessing DDI also presents opportunities to create However, the fragmented nature of the area’s the entrepreneurial infrastructure needed to boost population also creates an opportunity. Data- the Scottish Borders’ innovation ecosystem. Creating driven innovation (DDI) can help to connect these incubator and accelerator services, combining online communities, not only by bridging the gaps created and in-person support, will offer entrepreneurs the by geography but also by bringing together diverse boost they need to create the jobs and wealth that sectors to share ideas and experiences that will help to will fund the delivery of public services. grow the area’s digital economy. DDI gives the Scottish Borders many of the tools it will The Scottish Borders is in a unique position to access need to fulfil its wider economic development goals, the help it needs to capitalise on this opportunity. The including through its green energy objectives and area is part of both the South East of Scotland City workforce mobility plans. Experts at the University of Region Deal and the Borderlands Inclusive Growth Edinburgh and in the wider entrepreneurial ecosystem Deal, enabling it to access funding from multiple stand ready to help the area achieve these objectives. sources and – just as important – to forge links with partners either side of the border. Jarmo Eskelinen Executive Director, Data-Driven Innovation, The coronavirus pandemic has shone a light on the University of Edinburgh/City Region Deal importance of data. Entrepreneurs have harnessed digital technology to connect with peers throughout Shona Haslam Scotland and further afield; the challenge now is Leader, Scottish Borders Council to use those same tools and techniques to connect businesses and customers within the Scottish Borders and to plug the area into the wider national and international economy. ddi.ac.uk 4 Development Opportunities in the Scottish Borders Executive Summary This report was commissioned to identify opportunities in the Scottish Borders for the development of Data-Driven Innovation (DDI) activities,1 partnering with the Data-Driven Innovation Programme. The Scottish Borders is part of both the Edinburgh Scottish Borders innovation and entrepreneurial and South East of Scotland City Region Deal (ESES ecosystems CRD), and the Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal. The Scottish Borders is characterised by diverse In addition, since April 2020, the newly founded geography and industry sectors. Its large rural economic development agency, South of Scotland geography with distributed infrastructure and aging Enterprise (SoSE), is working with Scottish Borders population pose challenges in terms of economic Council (SBC) and Dumfries and Galloway Council to development and welfare (health and social care). The develop a regional economic strategy. economy is dominated by farming and tourism with some strengths in light manufacturing. The study’s objectives were to: In 2013, the SBC published the Scottish Borders 2023 Economic Development Strategy, identifying • Understand current innovation and “textiles, tourism, food and drink, renewables and entrepreneurial ecosystems in the Scottish creative” as key target industries. Approaches to Borders to evaluate options and identify economic development focused on: “creating the opportunities and gaps; and conditions for businesses to compete; building on assets; developing the workforce of the future and providing leadership”. In recent years, given the growing visitor economy, there has been a renaissance • Outline the alignment of existing and emerging in tourism, combined with new entrepreneurial and interests and perceived gaps between the DDI innovative opportunities such as mountain biking programme and key private and public sector and increasing awareness of opportunities to support organisations in the Scottish Borders. the sustainability agenda (e.g. energy, resources management). The work was conducted between July and October 2020 at a time of uncertainties and challenges related Within the Scottish Borders, there are already existing to Covid-19. First, the study team conducted a series of innovation support capabilities. For example, in gap analyses relating to innovation, entrepreneurship textiles, existing capabilities include the Centre of and skills needs in the Scottish Borders by interviewing Excellence in Textiles in Hawick and School of Textiles 30 representatives from the public and private sectors, and Design, Heriot-Watt University in Galashiels. The including entrepreneurs and businesses’ managers Mountain Bike Centre of Scotland (MTBCOS) has encompassing different industries. Second, we supported innovation in cycling since 2014. Under consulted key actors and partners engaged in DDI the Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal, a new MTB activities at the University of Edinburgh (UoE) and Innovation Centre in Innerleithen has been planned identified specific opportunities for DDI activities in partnership with Scottish Cycling, Edinburgh Napier across the key sectors in the Scottish Borders. University, Borders College, Scottish Enterprise, SoSE and SBC. Furthermore, Borders College has also To realise the DDI-related development for the developed hubs for upskilling and reskilling: the STEM inclusive growth agenda, SBC, SoSE and the partners Hub at Hawick, the Tweedbank Construction Hub, and need to agree on what they prioritise by fine-tuning the Borders Technology Enhanced Care (BTEC) Hub in the connections and building on existing initiatives. Galashiels. 1 https://ddi.ac.uk/about-us-data-innovation/ The University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University are delivering DDI activities. ddi.ac.uk 5 Development Opportunities in the Scottish Borders There are many existing innovative firms and We present the following five opportunities with entrepreneurial start-ups in the Borders. Our specific clusters of expertise that the DDI and CRD interviews, however, indicate that many businesses partners can deploy in the Scottish Borders. Our first feel disconnected from each other and that business recommendation is for SBC, SoSE, and other partners support needs better coordination. In particular, to