Scottish Enterprise has welcomed its "strongest performance ever" in creating and securing jobs, with inward investors a major generator of employment.
The economic development agency said it worked with more than 1,300 companies during the year to the end of March, securing 16,700 new and "safeguarded" jobs through the provision of government financial support. No breakdown was given on the number of new versus existing jobs.
The total figure included 9,000 jobs generated from inward investors to Scotland, the highest number achieved in the last five years.
READ MORE: Scotland economy attracts record investment, outpaces UK
The agency said it invested £53.4 million into 117 early-stage companies which in turn leveraged £152m of external investment. Support provided to businesses last year also unlocked £1.9 billion of capital investment spending in Scotland and £2.15bn in planned exports, representing some of the best annual results ever achieved by companies and entrepreneurs working with Scottish Enterprise.
The news was unveiled as Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes and Scottish Enterprise chief executive Adrian Gillespie visited Symbiosis’ the new drug manufacturing facility of Stirling-based Symbiosis, which is being supported by a £4.3m grant from Scottish Enterprise.
“These are outstanding results that demonstrate Scottish Enterprise is helping businesses right across Scotland drive up levels of innovation, international activity and investment to build a fairer, greener and stronger Scottish economy," Mr Gillespie said.
READ MORE: Glasgow wins major fintech inward investment, with 60 jobs
“Such a successful year requires considerable effort and huge aspiration from the companies we work with, our partners, and our own teams at home and overseas. I’m pleased that last year’s performance has also helped lay the foundations for the introduction of our new missions-based approach this year, with almost 60% of new inward investment jobs last year coming from the energy transition sector.
“Identifying energy transition opportunities, along with increasing levels of capital investment and productivity, and maximising innovation to drive up the number of scaling businesses, are our long-term areas of focus to drive economic transformation in Scotland."
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