Glasgow City Region’s Investment Zone gathers pace
Glasgow City Region’s Investment Zone (IZ) continues to take shape with formal confirmation this week in the UK Government Spending Review of the site’s focus on Advanced Manufacturing — targeting innovation in space, maritime and semiconductors.
It is expected to generate around £300 million of initial private investment and support up to 10,000 jobs in the Region.
Councillor Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council and Chair of the Glasgow City Region Cabinet, said:
“The £160 million Investment Zone is recognition by government that Glasgow City Region is a partnership that consistently delivers, one that can power local, national and UK economic success.
“It provides another opportunity for the City Region to build on that record of delivery and transformation, accelerating further growth in key sectors within our innovation economy. And I’ve no doubt, that as we’ve seen with other programmes across metropolitan Glasgow, that the Investment Zone will leverage many millions of pounds of the private sector investment to take our economy to the next level.”
Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Angela Rayner said:
“Growing the economy is the number one priority of our Plan for Change, because we want to create opportunities for communities across the UK.
“That’s why Scotland’s two Investment Zones have our full support. By building on the amazing strengths Glasgow and North East Scotland already possess, they will attract the investment and drive the growth that people deserve.”
Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said:
“Investment Zones will play a role in attracting private investment, growing Scotland’s economy and creating jobs. They will help to maximise the impact of our world-class universities and colleges, leveraging our existing research and innovation strengths, and grasping emerging opportunities to support growth in the Glasgow City Region and the North East.
“The Scottish Government is providing a package of Non-Domestic Rates Retention at the sites which can be used to further invest in the Zones and their infrastructure.
“We have worked with the UK Government to tailor the Investment Zone model to align with Scotland’s economic strategy, supporting the development of clusters and driving innovation in key sectors such as net zero, advanced manufacturing and digital technologies.”
UK Government Scotland Office Minister Kirsty McNeill said:
“The Spending Review clearly showed how Scotland is at the beating heart of the UK Government’s Plan for Change and confirmation of the focus for Scotland’s two Investment Zones is an important part of our commitment to drive an industrial transformation across the country.
“The skills and expertise in the Glasgow City Region are perfectly matched to maximising growth in advanced manufacturing, space and maritime with North East Scotland a world leader in green energy, digital and technology. Backed by £160 million UK Government investment each, these zones are part of billions of pounds we are investing to back Scottish jobs as we work with local partners to unleash a new era of growth across Scotland.”
Glasgow’s Investment Zone is set to turbo-charge the Region’ s innovation economy in sectors where the Region already has strengths — and which are seen as key growth sectors of opportunity, specifically the Space, Semiconductor and Maritime sub-sectors of the Advanced Manufacturing sector.
The programme will feature six ambitious projects; a dedicated tax site; with supporting initiatives on skills, business development and an innovation investment fund which will ensure the benefits of the Investment Zone are spread across the entire Region and provide long-term resilience of jobs and local supply-chains for people and businesses.
The Investment Zone will be shaped around three sub-sectors of the Advanced Manufacturing sector.
Space
The Region is a world-leader in satellite manufacturing. In fact, after California, Glasgow City Region is the largest supplier of small satellites in the world, with around 30 companies in the industry.
IZ project funding will strengthen GCR’s space and aerospace sectors. It will vastly enhance our capacity to manufacture satellites and boost the build of new rockets in GCR and subsequently provide additional launch capacity for more rockets to go into space, many of which carry satellites.
Advanced Semiconductor
Glasgow City Region is accelerating semiconductor innovation through three major initiatives: a world-leading laser prototyping and commercialisation centre, a National Centre for Advanced Semiconductor Packaging which will enable manufacturing at scale, and an industry-led sensor technology hub focused on magnetic sensing. These projects will support the growth of a robust local supply chain, enable manufacturing at scale, and foster collaboration across the sector. Together, they position the Region at the forefront of advanced semiconductor development.
Maritime
Building on Glasgow’s maritime heritage, the planned Maritime Supply Chain Innovation Centre emphasises advancing the rapid adoption of decarbonisation technologies among maritime SMEs, with open-access facilities and shared resources ensure these benefits will extend across the supply chain.
In the coming months, the final Investment Zone programme will continue to be shaped with business cases for each of the projects being developed for approval by Government, Tax site parameters agreed, and the scoping of the supporting Skills, Business Development and Innovation Fund initiatives.
Glasgow City Region is one of two new Investment Zones in Scotland which are joint projects between the UK and Scottish governments. The Scottish Investment Zones are two of 13 planned Investment Zones across the UK.
