Reflecting on a year of entrepreneurship, innovation, and growth

As we approach the end of an exciting year, Opportunity North East (ONE) is proud to celebrate the remarkable strides made in building the region's entrepreneurial ecosystem. This year has been all about fostering entrepreneurship and innovation and supporting founders of innovation-driven enterprises across the key sectors of digital tech, food and drink manufacturing, life sciences, and tourism.

ONE programmes and projects are designed to challenge, inspire, and empower the leaders of tomorrow. By equipping entrepreneurs with the education, insights, skills, tools, and peer-to-peer support they need, ONE enables founders to bring their ambitious visions to life and scale their businesses.

A cornerstone of ONE action and investment has been the development of vital infrastructure and sector expertise. ONE Tech Hub and ONE BioHub are established as dynamic spaces where digital tech and life sciences innovators converge. These innovation hubs have become a thriving community for sharing knowledge, learning, and growing - offering both physical space and access to essential resources for scaling businesses. In 2025, ONE will add ONE SeedPod , a dedicated space for food and drink entrepreneurs, which will include food-safe manufacturing units and a development and demonstration kitchen, to help businesses scale production and innovate new products and processes.

In the tourism sector, ONE is proud to have secured over ￡3 million of investment for low-carbon adventure tourism projects. These investments have created more opportunities for sustainable outdoor activities that attract high-value visitors and contribute to a more sustainable tourism industry.

A key highlight this year has been the ongoing partnership with the 美国麻省理工学院 (MIT) in Boston. Together, ONE and regional partners are adopting MIT’s world-class 24-step disciplined entrepreneurship process, which is helping entrepreneurs across the region build consistent, scalable businesses. So far, 55 founders and educators have completed the intensive entrepreneurial development programme, and a fourth cohort will head to MIT in January 2025. Many others are benefiting from in-region programmes delivered by ONE and partners.

ONE is also excited to expand the MIT Venture Mentoring Service model it has piloted in the region, matching founder teams with expert mentors. The mentor pool will double in size next year with even more experienced entrepreneurs and leaders joining and sharing their own time to empower businesses to grow and scale with mentoring support.

ONE is about action—taking a hands-on approach to supporting entrepreneurs as they navigate the challenges of customer discovery, innovation, investment, acceleration, and scaling. Momentum is building in economic diversification and the ￡150 million investment in growth sectors secured by ONE with partners since 2016 is making a significant impact.

The digital tech cluster has doubled in five years and now boasts more than 300 companies (and counting). This sector is on track to outpace all others over the next decade. Meanwhile, the region’s food and drink sector is the fastest growing in Scotland, and entrepreneurial life sciences businesses are transforming ground-breaking research into market-ready products. The visitor economy is worth more than ￡1 billion a year, and adventure tourism in the north east has established an international reputation.

None of this would be possible without the work of the ONE main and sector boards and the incredible partnerships ONE has built. ONE gratefully acknowledges the personal contributions and efforts of its board members and chairs and the continuing commitment and engagement of the entrepreneurs and founders, local and national business communities, government, and organisations it works with, including Scottish Enterprise , the University of Aberdeen , Robert Gordon University , Energy Transition Zone Ltd , Net Zero Technology Centre , Aberdeen City Council , and Aberdeenshire Council . These collaborations have been key in strengthening and expanding the growth sectors and entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Looking ahead, the ONE vision is clear: continue to drive the growth of high-value life sciences companies, expand the digital tech sector to 800 firms, foster innovation and automation in food and drink production, and build on the success of adventure tourism to further grow the visitor economy.

As we enter 2025, ONE is excited to continue supporting founders, mentors, partners, and investors in transforming our region’s economy. Together, we are shaping the future of entrepreneurship and creating lasting impact.

Here’s to another year of entrepreneurship, innovation, and growth!