Scottish budget: Enterprise and innovation “at the heart” of the economic strategy

Finance secretary Shona Robison has vowed £321m to help establish Scotland as a top performing start‑up economy.

Delivering her draft budget at Holyrood, she said that a “thriving economy is not an afterthought”, adding the Scottish Government shares employers and investors “ambition”.

The funding would help enterprise agencies deliver support for businesses to start and scale up, boost productivity, access funding and attract investment.

It will also support emerging tech including artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, and programmes like the Techscaler initiative.

The funding move comes after months of criticism from Scottish entrepreneurs due to a lack of support to scale-up. In June, Dave Hughes, the founder of sensors specialist Novosound, told Holyrood start-ups faced the “valley of death” when trying to become a mature business.

Robison also pledged £15m to expand support for female entrepreneurs, boost the economic impact of universities, and fund the development of business clusters in advanced manufacturing and deeptech - a term which refers to advanced technologies such as AI and quantum.

However the total digital spending plan allocated to the deputy fist minister’s economy portfolio, which is responsible for delivering investment and economic growth across the country, has been slashed by more than £110m.

It has been cut from £210.3 in the 2024-2025 budget to £98m for the 2025-2026 budget.

This spending plan includes the money allocated for digital strategy, digital connectivity and the digital economy.

The budget also announced £114m for digital health and care, vowed to expand the Digital Evidence Sharing Capability system “to support the quicker resolution of cases” and supported the justice system’s digital transformation with around £5m.

The budget also pledged £100m for the continued rollout of digital connectivity programmes, which came under fire earlier this year.

The Scottish Government’s flagship connectivity project the R100 programme, which plans to provide broadband speed to every area in Scotland, was initially set to be concluded by 2021 but due to legal challenges with contracts in northern areas the scheme’s deadline was delayed to 2028.

However, the budget fell short of announcing support for digital inclusion programmes, despite a recent report from the auditor general showing one in six Scottish adults lack the digital skills needed for everyday life, warning it could be impacting their human rights.