Scottish Enterprise

The body is a successor in part to the wide-ranging Scottish Development Agency which was established in 1975.[2] The first Chairman of the SDA was Sir William Gray former Lord Provost of Glasgow.[3] and the first Chief Executive was Dr, later Sir Lewis Robertson.[4] The first year of its operation was 1977/78 with its functions described here in its first Annual Report 1978.[5]

Scottish Enterprise was created on 1 April 1991 under the Enterprise and New Towns (Scotland) Act 1990.[6] That act dissolved the Scottish Development Agency (SDA), created in 1975 and the Highlands and Islands Development Board forming Scottish Enterprise alongside Highlands and Islands Enterprise.[7]^: 62

Scottish Enterprise was created with a structure of Local Enterprise Companies (LECs). Initially these were Limited Companies with boards led by local businesspeople, but from 2000 they became wholly owned subsidiaries of Scottish Enterprise[8] and were subsequently wound up.[9]

International trade and investment arm Scottish Development International was established in 2001 by merging the export promotion agency, Scottish Trade International (STI; 1991–2001) and the foreign direct investment and inward investment agency, Locate in Scotland (LiS; 1981–2001). It is jointly operated by Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise.[10]

On 1 April 2008, the skills function of Scottish Enterprise moved out of the organisation to the newly formed Skills Development Scotland.[11]

Lena Wilson became the Chief Executive in 2009. She had previously led Scottish Development International.[12]

Lena Wilson left Scottish Enterprise in October 2017 after she was awarded a CBE for her contribution to Scotland in 2015.[13] Wilson had also lead the government's "Scottish Oil & Gas jobs taskforce" whose task was completed in 2017.[14] She had received criticism from the Scottish Parliament over taking a paid, non-executive directorship with the multinational product testing and certification company Intertek.[15] Wilson had been paid £214,000 a year and she was replaced by Steve Dunlop, Chief Executive of Scottish Canals, who was offered £168,000. Steve Dunlop was still one of the top paid civil servants in Scotland.[16] Dunlop resigned in 2020 and Linda Hanna became the interim CEO in the same month.[17]

Atrium Court in Glasgow, current headquarters of Scottish Enterprise

Scottish Enterprise has around 1,100 staff based in fourteen offices across the UK and a further 33 overseas.[18]

Organisational structure consists of a board headed by chairman, Bob Keiller to oversee fulfilment of the objectives established by the Scottish Government and an executive leadership team responsible for the day-to-day running of the organisation.[19] The leadership team consists of:

• Adrian Gillespie - Chief Executive
• Jane Martin, Managing Director of Innovation and Investment
• Carolyn Stewart, Chief People Officer
• Rhona Allison, Managing Director, Business Growth
• Neil Francis, Managing Director, Digital and Major Projects, Scottish Enterprise
• Douglas Colquhoun, Chief Financial Officer
• Reuben Aitken, Managing Director, International Operations

Scottish Enterprise is a non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government, although it also raises part of its budget from other sources such as property rental and disposal of assets. The Scottish Government's draft spending plans for 2018/2019 allocated £256 million to Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Development International.[20]

Scottish Enterprise works with a range of other local, national and international strategic partners, from industry and the public sector to help deliver its wider range of services and sector-specific support across international trade, innovation, investment and inclusive growth.

These include:

• Scottish National Investment Bank (since 2020)
• Skills Development Scotland
• VisitScotland
• Business Gateway
• Scottish Funding Council
• Department for International Trade

Scottish Enterprise's international trade services are supported by Scottish Development International, the international arm of Scotland's enterprise agencies.