John Swinney pledges to ‘intensify’ support for innovators

First Minister John Swinney has vowed to “intensify” support for innovators and entrepreneurs to make Scotland a “start-up and scale-up nation”.

Swinney argued this was a “critical” step to make Scotland “attractive to investors”, as he delivered his first programme for government to the chamber.

He told the chamber: “So this year, we will maximise the impact of our national network of startup support, our Techscaler programme.

“We will also work with organisations like Scottish Enterprise, the National Manufacturing Institute for Scotland and the National Robotarium to create new opportunities for our most promising 'deep tech' companies.”

His announcement comes as Scottish entrepreneurs say they face "the valley of death" when trying to become a mature business.

Swinney added: “We will ensure our universities can contribute to international-leading research and economic growth and support the development of business clusters in areas such as digital and AI, life sciences and the energy transition.”

His statement comes a day after finance secretary Shona Robison confirmed £500m worth of cuts in public spending, including the pause of the digital inclusion free iPad scheme.

Robison said £10m would be saved by diverting funds from the scheme.

During his address to the chamber, Swinney also said he would “tackle” the skills gap and ensure young people have the necessary skills “to succeed” in the workplace.

But he failed to mention any specific action to tackle the specific skills shortage within the tech sector, despite experts warning that if the problem isn’t fixed the economy will “stagnate”.