Academic calls for ‘radical overhaul’ of Scotland’s enterprise agencies

Professor Ross Brown

A new report from the right-wing Reform Scotland think tank suggests that an independent Scotland could flourish as a “start-up nation” if it mimics Israel’s strategic pivot towards the high-tech sector.

The report, titled The Next Start-Up Nation?, is authored by Professor Ross Brown, professor in entrepreneurship and small business finance at the School of Management at the University of St Andrews.

Among Professor Brown’s recommendations are:

• The scrapping of Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and their replacement with a new set of institutions focused on supporting high-growth ventures.
• Abolition of the First Minister’s Council of Economic Advisors, who are “academic economists who simply don’t understand how businesses function and operate”. This should be replaced with a National Entrepreneurship Council composed of successful entrepreneurs, investors, financial institutions, key business angels, and entrepreneurship policy experts.
• Copying Israel’s “strategic and sophisticated” government intervention which has shaped shaping the massive growth and success of that country’s high-tech sector.
• Making it easier for innovators to access growth capital and advice in order to scale up their businesses.
• The targeting of women, immigrants and people with disabilities to unleash hidden entrepreneurial power in the economy.

Professor Brown said: “Entrepreneurial activity plays a pivotal role in shaping the economic success of countries, yet Scotland’s recent entrepreneurial history is one of significant underperformance.

“If Scotland is to thrive as an independent country, not least as an independent country finding its feet during the Covid pandemic recovery, it will need to embrace a revolution in entrepreneurialism.

“Ultimately, Scotland can only be transformed into a start-up nation by the entrepreneurs themselves, but government can lay the foundation to create those entrepreneurs.”

Chris Deerin, director of Reform Scotland, said: “What Professor Brown proposes is nothing less than a revolution in the way Scotland views and supports its entrepreneurs. In a competitive global economy, these are the people that can make the difference for Scotland, that create the jobs and pay the taxes that support our public services, and they deserve better support than they currently get.

“Our political culture needs to grow up and start appreciating the vital importance of the private sector in everything from fighting climate change to reforming the NHS and schools to providing the jobs that attract smart immigrants to our shores.

“While some of the measures proposed in this paper would help an independent Scotland finds its economic mojo, many of them could be adopted now by the devolved government. We might ask the First Minister: what are you waiting for?”