International network: annual report 2023-2024

Scotland’s International Network

Note of Thanks

I once again want to express, on my own behalf and on behalf of Scottish Ministers, my gratitude to colleagues working in the service of Scotland in our international network. This includes civil servants posted from Scotland to diplomatic roles in our Scottish Government offices, country-based staff working alongside them, our growing network of GlobalScots, and trade and investment experts in SDI in teams across the world. Each of you makes a vital contribution to supporting our businesses, universities, cultural organisations and others who bring the best of what Scotland has to offer, helping them present it to the world and securing sales, investment and international connections. I am hugely grateful for your hard work and dedication in this reporting year, and in all the time I have had the pleasure of working with you.

Rt Hon Angus Robertson MSP

Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture

Network Overview

Scotland’s international network comprises:

• two Scotland House offices, in Brussels and London.
• seven Scottish Government international offices in North America, Europe and Asia.
• over thirty SDI offices across the world.

Scotland House Brussels and Scotland House London are both standalone sites operated by the Scottish Government in conjunction with key partners including SDI in London, Scotland Europa in Brussels, and others. They provide a platform for businesses and organisations to develop networks, work, do business and stage events to drive their growth. Both Scotland Houses generate income from events and membership services.

There are seven further Scottish Government international offices. All these offices are based in British Embassies or High Commissions and are a joint presence with SDI. Like the other devolved governments, as well as UK departments with an overseas presence, the Scottish Government pays an annual platform charge to the FCDO for access to facilities and local support in the Embassy or High Commission. In 2023-24, the Scottish Government paid FCDO £557,843 in accommodation and platform costs in connection with our offices based in British Embassies and High Commissions.

SDI is the international arm of Scottish Enterprise, Scotland’s national economic development agency, and has over 30 international offices staffed by over 100 officials based in 23 countries. These local trade and investment specialists provide support to companies and ensure that business relationships formed, or investment created, helps to build Scotland’s international connections, positively impacts Scotland’s economy, and SDI’s aim to grow Scotland’s exports, increase inward investment to Scotland and secure new capital investment to fund a just transition to net zero.

SDI delivers international business support in collaboration with the Scottish Government and other public sector entities, including Highlands and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise.

Brand Scotland^[11] is the cross-organisational partnership which brings together the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise, VisitScotland, Universities Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Creative Scotland and Scotland Food and Drink.

Its purpose is to join up all marketing and communications output that reaches an international audience, delivering a collaborative, audience-first nation brand strategy that tells a consistent and unified story about who we are as a nation. Brand Scotland delivers a multi-channel marketing programme which works to show our values, outlook and global ambition by bringing to life through storytelling how it feels to live, work, study, visit and do business in Scotland, seeking to create an emotional connection with our international audiences that increases understanding and stimulates further action.

Brand Scotland works in close collaboration with our network of international offices to develop creative materials that bring our brand story to life as well as providing marketing support around key calendar moments and events, to enable the activity programmes of offices to stay consistent with our brand values and the positive, unified vision of Scotland that we display to the world. This cohesive approach amplifies the collective reach and impact of all of our international activity and ultimately helps build Scotland’s reputation abroad in support of economic growth.

Managed by Scottish Enterprise, the GlobalScot^[12] network consists of dynamic business leaders based in international markets around the work, who support Scotland’s economic vision. They provide insight and thought leadership on key priority areas for Scotland’s enterprise agencies and for Government. With over 1,200 GlobalScots worldwide across 64 countries, and around 1,700 Scottish business users registered for GlobalScot support, this network helps achieve our ambitious economic vision for Scotland’s future.

Monitoring and evaluation

This report uses findings from the joint monitoring and evaluation process for Scotland’s international network for the financial year 2023-24. Each office returns data using a template designed by Scottish

Government analysts to provide a consistent monitoring and evaluation approach across the offices and contains guidelines to help facilitate the robustness of the process.

While all offices have reported on the work undertaken in respective locations, it is important to note that the differing sizes and scale of the offices, the varying levels of co-location of Scottish Government and SDI staff (and Scotland Europa within Brussels) as well as the length of time in which they have been in operation makes it difficult to draw comparisons between the offices. For example, Scotland House Brussels and the USA office in Washington DC have been operating for more than twenty years, whilst the Nordic region office in Copenhagen was opened in August 2022, complementing the existing SDI presence there. Additionally, the Nordic office is the only office in the international network to cover multiple countries (Denmark, Norway and Sweden primarily, with additional work in Finland and Iceland).

2023-24 in review

2023-24 was a particularly busy year for Scotland’s international network, with offices delivering a wide- ranging programme of Ministerial visits, cultural and networking events. Scotland House London and Scotland House Brussels, for example, delivered 98 and 70 events during the year, respectively. This increased activity reflects a renewed focus on face-to-face engagements post-Covid-19, and the importance of these to diplomatic relationship-building and knowledge- sharing. In particular, the Scottish Government China office emphasised the importance of face-to-face meetings for rebuilding relationships coming out of China’s No-Covid policy.

However, 2023-24 was also a challenging year for the international network in terms of resource (Table 1). Most of the offices had reduced delivery budgets from 2022-23, and many of the offices underwent changes in staffing during the year. Activities such as onboarding new staff was time-intensive for these offices, and ensuring a smooth handover was considered key to the continuation of diplomatic relationships. However, the addition of new members of staff in some cases allowed the offices access to new markets and opportunities. For example, for Scottish Government France, a new SDI lead allowed them to showcase Scotland’s offering in the textiles sector to the French market.

Promoting a modern Scotland

Throughout the year, the offices identified opportunities to use resources creatively to improve value for money. This included seeking partnerships or sponsorships from both Scottish organisations and those in the network countries to deliver events. For example, Scottish Government Ireland secured sponsorship to deliver their Burns Night event, the additional funds allowing Scottish artists to travel to perform at the event. Scottish Government USA similarly secured a whisky sponsorship for their Washington DC Burns Night and sold tickets at cost price to the Alumni Club to deliver a large-scale event at a low cost to the Scottish Government.

Across the international network, there was a strong focus on promoting a modern Scotland as an equal and progressive nation through Ministerial visits and events. This was evident in the considerable policy-sharing work that occurred across the network to showcase Scotland’s successful progressive policies and share best- practice. In particular, Scottish Government Canada utilised Ministerial visits as an opportunity to showcase Scotland’s Baby Box policy, and to discuss opportunities for collaboration and learning on how this could be implemented in Yukon.

Further to promoting a progressive and equal Scotland, there was also an emphasis on promoting Scotland as forward-thinking. In particular, the China, Germany and Nordic offices facilitated Ministerial visits and discussions to identify potential areas of collaboration on our shared global goals to reach net zero, and to share and learn best practice and policy in renewable energy.

Scottish Government Canada collaborated with National Museums Scotland and the indigenous Canadian Nisga’a Nation to support the rematriation of the Ni’isjoohl Memorial Pole. The Memorial Pole, belonging to the Nisga’a Nation, had been held in the National Museum of Scotland since 1929. The office attended rematriation ceremonies, and the office Head delivered opening remarks alongside the Nisga’a Nation representatives. This is the first totem pole to be returned from a British museum to an indigenous community, and so was an impactful policy decision that was not only a significant step forward in reinforcing Scotland’s influence and reputation in Canada.

The efforts of the network to promote a modern, progressive Scotland was supported by considerable growth in media presence for all of the offices. Across all social media platforms the number of followers increased since 2022-23 for most of the offices. For all offices, on all platforms, there was also a notable increase in engagement rates. This growth was often attributed to bursts of engagement following successful events, such as St Andrew’s Day receptions, Ministerial visits, and Highland Games. The reporting year 2023-24, compared to previous years, can therefore be considered particularly successful in terms of promoting modern Scottish culture and identity, and contributing to a positive international reputation.

Showcasing Scottish companies and industry

As can be seen in Table 2 below, 2023-24 was also a successful year for the international network in encouraging investment in Scotland and Scottish businesses, particularly in terms of the number of inward investment projects planned with SDI support, the number of planned Real Living Wage jobs, and increased value of planned capital investment compared to 2022-23. This was also a successful year for trade, with more international trade opportunities identified in 2023-24 and an overall increase in the forecast value of international sales as a result of SDI support, primarily from the Nordic office. However, across the offices less research and development investment was secured compared to previous years.

The international network used conferences, trade missions and Ministerial visits as opportunities to promote Scotland as a place to do business and support Scottish companies to gain access to new markets. A key area for trade and investment opportunities throughout the year was in renewable energy. Across all of the offices, considerable effort was made to promote international awareness of Scotland’s potential in the renewable energy sector, particularly as an exporter of hydrogen. Scottish Government France, for example, attended an offshore wind conference with a delegation of Scottish companies and facilitated stakeholder introductions, directly leading to 38 international trade opportunities. The team in China supported an inward investment delegation of Chinese offshore wind and hydrogen companies to visit Scotland and are currently in discussion with them to secure investment plans.

Many offices also successfully promoted Scotland food and drink to the international market and identified opportunities to promote Scottish business. This was often accomplished through partnering with Scottish suppliers of whisky for Burns Night and St Andrew’s Day events. The team in the USA worked with Scottish shortbread supplier Deans of Huntly to develop an international action plan and support them in doing business in the US and identify potential importers and buyers. Dean’s are now anticipating their expected export sales to the US to have increased to £5.6 million as a result of SDI support. The company have since invested in their facilities to produce more volume to meet the opportunities generated by the office.

Challenges

While 2023-24 was a year of considerable successes for the international network, challenges with resources meant that the offices were often unable to engage with every opportunity they would have liked to, and often had to prioritise resources. During this year the offices also faced challenges due to changes in government, changes to the geopolitical landscape and unforeseen events, all of which impacted the delivery of events and Ministerial visits. While offices generally made great efforts to engage with their local diaspora, some offices highlighted a desire in the future to further diversify these networks, encouraging increased engagement of women and children.

Key Performance Indicators

From 2019-20 through 2023-24, the Scottish Government included a contribution to Corporate Running Costs in each of these budget lines. This accounting practice changed from 2024-25. To allow for year-on-year comparability, 2023-24 budgets presented here have been re-baselined to exclude the Corporate Running Costs element and are therefore different and not comparable to figures in the equivalent table in the 2022-23 Annual Report.

* Scotland House Brussels has not had an SDI presence located there since 2021.

** The Scottish Government Nordics office covers Denmark, Norway and Sweden, with additional work covering Iceland and Finland. Table 3 presents the trade and investment data from Copenhagen which is consistent with the other offices which cover one country. Data for Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Finland can be found below. Variance from 2022/23 is not reported as this data was not collected.