RGU Economic Summit Supplement

Aberdeen Scotland The Next Chapter An Economic Summit Planning the future of the North East of Scotland

Summit supplement STRATEGIC PARTNER:

Aberdeen Economic Summit On the 24 and 25 November 2015 business leaders from across the North East of Scotland and beyond participated in a major event organised by Robert Gordon University, designed to stimulate an innovative discussion on the economic future of Aberdeen city region.

The event, which attracted over 150 delegates, supported the Aberdeen City Region Deal by engaging local, national and international leaders who came together to help shape a new economic direction for Aberdeen. The following represent some of the key messages from the day.

STRATEGIC PARTNER:

REGIONAL PARTNERS:

INNOVATION PARTNER:

STEPHEN BOYLE

“The future will be about doing business around the world. The challenge is to keep companies anchored in the north-east while they do that.�

ESKO AHO

“Business people should be business people and politicians should be politicians.�

SIR IAN DIAMOND

“Universities play a key role in all of this. They provide high quality research which allows us to create centres of excellence.”

FERDINAND VON PRONDYNSKI

“A re-energised Aberdeen city region represents one of the greatest social and economic opportunities for Scotland today.

Indeed, it has been said that when Aberdeen prospers, Scotland prospers.

The Aberdeen story has long been one of enterprise and innovation, and of international reach and impact. This event is creating an opportunity for us to influence and provide direction for Aberdeen’s economic future.”

A group of students were posed a question along the lines of ‘How do we create an environment where innovative people want to work to improve Aberdeen?’. I was one of those students, and it was great to be given the creative space and responsibility to put forward actual ideas alongside other innovative thinkers.

SIR IAN WOOD“

North-east Scotland is facing two scenarios. One paints a pretty bleak picture where there is a fairly fast rundown in oil and gas, failure to recover the full potential from the North Sea, an early loss of our international oil base status and no drive to broaden our economy.

The second is one of renaissance where we maximise the economic recovery of the UK’s hydrocarbon resources, extend the run-down in North Sea production, ensure we become a long-term international oil operations and technology base, and take major steps to broaden our economy.

We must all be committed to achieving this renaissance.”

MAGGIE MCGINLEY

“We have the opportunity to develop the north-east as a beacon of innovation.

There are amazing companies here who compete with the very best in the world.�

JENNY LAING

“Aberdeen City Region Deal needs us all to work together to make a difference across sectors and industries.�

DEBORAH O’NEILL

“We have the opportunity to develop the northeast as a beacon of innovation.

There are amazing companies here who compete with the very best in the world.”

GORDON MERRYLEES

“The north-east has a thriving food and drink industry. There are more than 3,000 Scottish food & drink companies which generate £1.1bn revenues.

There is a potential to double revenues to more than £2billion by 2020.”

DAN PURKIS

“To achieve a northeast Renaissance we must broaden the economy and strengthen our technology base and encourage operators to try new technology.�

MERIL MARKELY

“We must do everything we can to diversify the area for the future.”

“Tourism is a strong business sector and there is potential for growth in leisure.

There are significant gains to be made in this area.”

“Leisure, culture and tourism has a key role to play in the Aberdeen City Region Deal.”

EWAN GRANT

“This event was well-timed with Aberdeen currently addressing the new economic and geo-political realities of the global energy market and what it means for the future of the city-region.“

JOE GRIFFEN

“It is essential that Aberdeen wins a city deal. We need investment funds to make things happen.”

BOB GEOLAS

“Everything we do today is about someone else’s tomorrow – that’s our obligation and our responsibility.”

The Next Chapter A key aim of this event was to create partnerships and develop the conversations that will challenge traditional thinking. The first of these initiatives will take place in January 2016.