Pulling on the Scotland jersey

In a pre-dinner speech to a mixed audience of business leaders and rugby enthusiasts, including three current internationals and the national defence coach, I found some common ground with a light hearted comparison between the characteristics of the Scottish economy and the positions that each player takes on the rugby pitch.

The context, of course, is winning. With Scotland currently ranked 5th in world of rugby the team have reached incredible heights. Similarly Scotland’s outperformance of every region in the UK (outside of London) in attracting inward investment demonstrates a similar type of winning mindset.

And so to the positions on the park. The front row is the foundation of any successful rugby team and Scotland’s Financial Services industry remains just that. With the three giants of Banking, Pensions and Asset Management, we have the bedrock of success that draws in investors from across the world: JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Blackrock and recently a 300 job project from the Indian player Genpact. (They say that if you haven’t played in the front row you don’t really know what goes on there. That’s simply not true for Scotland’s financial services with its tradition of prudence and integrity).

The second row is the engine room of the rugby team and for the Scottish economy one sector, whisky, perhaps deserves two positions. Our traditional strengths have maximised the contribution to the Scottish economy, with both new investors and an outstanding export performance.  The global growth in single malt whisky is a driving maul that continues this impact. One of the line-out jumpers should also be the more contemporary whisky industry. We are seeing a raft of new distilleries emerging and, often as part of this, Scotland’s craft gin industry is taking the world by storm. Wm Grant may have paved the way with Hendricks but craft producers from the far North to the Borders are creating a sub-culture that can been experienced in the bars of New York, Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai and Sydney. Johnny Gray was happy to take this comparison.

The Back Row completes the Forwards line up - the powerhouse of the team - epitomised by energy and guile. So, we could celebrate our world leading energy industry through these three positions. Hamish Watson certainly didn’t disagree. The Number 8 role has to go to oil and gas. Despite the challenging times, we are starting to see confidence and investment levels return and just like the player jackling for the ball, Scottish companies are successfully seeking new markets across the globe. The two flankers could be compared with our renewables industry. On the one hand Wind power is starting to see commercial success, with new off-shore fields coming in to operation. On the other, our marine and tidal energy is showing genuine promise with the world’s largest tidal array now deployed off our shores. Taking all forms of renewables, the target of 100% of our electricity being produced from renewable sources by 2020 looks within reach.

The rugby scrum half has plenty of personality. Not always the biggest player on the pitch but certainly one who is in your face. It is tempting to align that position with the Creative Industries sector which continues to build on the success of Grand Theft Auto (the world’s largest selling media product), with new stars like the Unicorn “Fan Duel”. However, this is a player - more than any other - who needs to be all over the pitch, all of the time, linking up the power of the forwards with the art and craft of the backs, so Scottish engineering – the basis of so much of our success – fills those boots.

Stand-offs have a reputation for the being the most glamorous member of the team, perhaps as interested in their hair as much as their performance. Maybe the link here should be with the tourism sector, based on the natural beauty of our country side.  However, modern number 10s are as intelligent as they are skilful. Surely, with 5 of the world’s top 200 universities in Scotland it is our education sector that plays this role the best. (I think I saved myself from being tackled to the floor by Ruaridh Jackson who forgave me the initial remark).

On the wing we are seeing an incredible turn of speed with up to 90 craft beer breweries emerging in recent years. Brew Dog is a near-ubiquitous global brand and specialists like Innes and Gunn finding key customers through their innovation.

The two centres could easily be seafood and salmon (the healthiest in the world) or perhaps our bakery and shortbread sector, combined with snack manufacturers such as Mackies Crisps and Stoats bars. Regardless, as the Land of Food and Drink, there is plenty to choose from to fill the midfield.

The other wing should be reserved for Scotland’s life science sector. The history is undoubted but modern successes in drug discovery, translational medicine and medical devices prove that Scotland remains on the front foot globally. The Edinburgh Bio Quarter is a location to rival Murrayfield bringing together the national health service, university and leading industrialists, which is attracting investment from all over the world.

Back to tourism… employing more people in Scotland than most other industries - based on our outstanding natural beauty AND city assets that rival any across the globe - the tourism sector has both the attacking and defensive qualities of a Lions’ full back.

The success of the modern rugby team is as much about its bench as its starting line up and three “replacements” making a real impact are:

• Subsea (where nearly half of all investment across the world comes out of Scotland);
• FinTech (a sector where many locations claim global leadership – but we do in areas such as A.I. and Cyber security); and,
• Data (the School for Informatics at Edinburgh University is a genuine global giant in this area).

That still leaves a few spaces on the bench – for new investors. Many new companies are starting to make a real contribution to the team - it’s not just the pro players that have the chance to pull on the Scotland jersey.