Key industries
Pioneering and enterprising Scottish industry
Building on a long tradition of innovation, commercialisation and entrepreneurial dynamism, Scottish industry is a worldleader in an impressive range of sectors.
Key Scottish industries
Business processing operation: The Scottish business processing operation sector is extremely fast-growing and employs 90,000 people in 400 contact centres. The highly profitable industry includes two key areas - contact centres and shared services centres.
Chemical sciences: Scotland is world-renowned as a chemicals leader and the industry represents one of our biggest exports. A host of acclaimed international chemical companies have Scottish operation bases.
Creative industries: The rapidly growing sector builds on Scotland’s proven track record in digital media innovation and creative enterprise. Supporting more than 60,000 jobs, this industry covers a broad spectrum of businesses including computer gaming, animation, film, TV, music, architecture, design and the arts.
Energy: Abundant energy resources, a commitment to the widespread adoption of renewable energy sources and more than 2,000 energy-related companies put Scotland at the forefront of the world’s energies market. Sectors include oil, gas, wave, tidal and wind.
Financial services: Scotland is immensely proud of a successful 300-year history in financial services. Today, our country is one of Europe’s leading financial centres, employing 95,000 people directly and 70,000 indirectly, and generating £7 billion for the economy.
ICT and electronic technologies: Thanks to 50 years of electronics manufacturing and an enviable academic record in research, Scotland is a world leader in the electronics field. Recently, the industry has reinvented itself as a successful producer of high-end electronic technologies.
Life sciences: Scotland is home to one of Europe’s largest life science clusters and is an acclaimed leader in research, development and manufacturing. Pioneering scientific breakthroughs include the cloning of Dolly the sheep, the development of MRI scanners and the discovery of p53 cancer suppressor gene.
Textiles: Scotland has long been credited with amazing creativity and superb production in the textile industry – and can boast of customers in more than 150 countries worldwide. Today, the sector is leading the way in luxury textile fashion and innovative technical textiles.