The Scottish Government’s strategy on Sport –
Reaching Higher – highlights the way in which
Sport impacts on many areas of society, including Health & Wellbeing, Transport and Tourism.
Sport also benefits the Scottish economy in a wide range of ways. Sportscotland’s 2011 report, The Economic Importance of Sport in Scotland 1998-2008, places consumer sports expenditure at £1,567 million in 2008, with the industry supporting more than 50,000 jobs. Events such as the London 2012 Olympics
and Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games
not only present opportunities to increase participation and access to sport, but generate business opportunities for Scottish SMEs.Innovation
One of the key drivers of economic growth is innovation: the development of a new product, service or process. Scottish business expenditure on research and development, which fuels innovation, totalled £644 million in 2009.
Key Sectors
Scotland excels in a number of industry sectors such as Life Sciences and the Creative Industries. New technology from key sectors is widely applicable in the sports industry. For example, technical and smart forms of textiles can be used in sportswear, software expertise is utilised in the development of mobile apps for sport, and cutting edge technology from the life sciences sector can be used to monitor the performance of elite athletes.
The Sporting Chance Initiative supports Scottish SMEs wishing to take advantage of business opportunities offered by the sports industry.
Further information on specific areas of development can be viewed on the individual sector pages:
•
Food & Drink
•
Life Sciences
•
Textiles
•
Tourism
You can also read about the innovative companies that we have supported in our
case studies section.