IT is an equation that adds up, an adaptable and talented work force equals a sustainable and successful economy.
The world class quality of Scotland's workforce in many key business sectors provides us with a talent pool that is often cited as a driving force behind achieving strong economic results both domestically and internationally.
At the heart of this success are strong relationships between the business community and education at all levels, not only on short term supply opportunities but sharing ambitions and knowledge on needs and challenges beyond the next decade.
Amongst many other organisations across Scotland, Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce is no exception in collaborating with others to support and help create a world class talent pool.
We will celebrate later this year the 100 year anniversary of the first business degree in the world, an initiative between the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce and Edinburgh University to support the specific talent requirements of the finance community.
Very recently our Inspiring Talent group representing education in the city from primary school to business school met with major UK and local retailers to discuss and share the long term talent requirements as technology and innovation is transforming their industry.
Across Scotland and in our capital city, colleges and universities play a major force creating a leading edge talent pool.
This academic richness transfers from the world class research base through a track record in commercialisation and technology transfer, creating the kind of knowledge economy that governments around the world are aspiring to.
The work force in Edinburgh for example, is one of the best qualified in the UK with more than 45 per cent holding a degree or professional qualification.
This also results in Edinburgh providing a highly productive workforce, with Gross Value Added per head some £34,500 which is one of the highest in the UK and indeed Europe.
When we add the regular awards of being a city with a great quality of life, it is a very attractive place for business to invest and the opportunity of more sustainable jobs.
We must continue to build on a great foundation as international competition intensifies.
We are well placed to benefit from a world that is more connected and where technology and innovation provides us with so many new opportunities.
The close working together between business and education at all levels will be a key driving force and we must ensure that we continue to build on the many examples of success across the country.
- David Birrell is chief executive of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article