Scotland has the potential for a very bright economic future.

News that a new hi-tech Industrial Biotechology Innovation Centre at Strathclyde University could generate £130 million for the economy and create up to 1500 jobs, is a vote of confidence in Scottish talent and innovation at a time of uncertainty caused by the independence debate.

Developments of this nature, a collaboration between Scottish universities and businesses, are necessary to secure Scotland's economic future whatever the outcome of September's referendum. As the Finance Secretary John Swinney says, the centre will help diversify the country's economy, making it less reliant on fossil fuels.

The Scottish Government needs more good news stories about the economy because, in the last week, heavweights from the world of business and finance have intervened in the debate to raise concerns about the impact of independence. First Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, warned that Alex Salmond's preferred option of a currency union with the rest of the UK would require Scotland to cede some sovereignty, which did not sit well with the First Minister's insistence that independence would give the Scottish Government freedom to tax, borrow and spend as it liked.

Then Bob Dudley, the chief executive of BP, talked on Monday about the "big uncertainties" caused by doubts over the currency arrangements in an independent Scotland, adding that while at the moment investment by the company in Scotland continued at a pace, this "question mark" remained, and that he believed the UK should stay together.

One of the clearest examples of the independence debate unsettling business relates to shipbuilding on the Clyde. BAE Systems has announced plans for a £200m "frigate factory" at Scotstoun but will delay taking a final decision on it until after the referendum since the UK Government might not allow Royal Navy ships to be built in Scotland.

Business, it must be said, never likes uncertainty and uncertainty is unavoidable in a debate about constitutional change. That does not mean that companies would not adapt quickly to the new reality should Scotland vote Yes. Most certainly would.

Even so, jobs and the economy are key to winning the referendum debate and the First Minister does not currently have the upper hand. The UK Business Secretary Vince Cable weighed in yesterday to reiterate that a currency union would not work and warned that RBS would relocate to London under independence, to protect itself against the risk of collapse.

The Scottish voting public expect such salvoes from UK Government ministers who oppose independence, but they will not so lightly pass over the worries of figures like Mark Carney and Bob Dudley. It is these non-partisan interventions that are the biggest concern for the Scottish Government. With its efforts to build Scotland's industrial biotechnology sector, the SNP can at least show it has a positive long-term vision for the Scottish economy.