Having an environment that encourages start-up companies and provides assistance to early-stage enterprises is vital to any economy. Given a fair wind, some of each year’s new crop of such businesses can go on to be important FTSE 100 companies in the not-so-distant future. They introduce innovation into the economy and create jobs as they expand.
Scotland has a reasonable track record in supporting early-stage companies. The question is, can the country do better? Ian McDonald, the chief executive of Connect Scotland, believes Scotland has the right building blocks to be a fruitful generator of new businesses. He said: "As far as the depth of research carried out here and the calibre of the people is concerned, we can hold our heads up with the best.
