the times business insight

Business Insight

Tuesday March 27 2012

Big playerChris van der Kuyl on creating a bright future

On the waterfrontDundee gains a 21st century reputation for fresh discovery

Tuesday March 27 2012 | the times

Business Insight2

Welcome

If your business had a very large customer with very modest growth prospects, another biggish customer whose prospects looked rocky, and a lot of small custom-ers whose chances of growing fast looked very good what would you do? Of course, you would pray hard for the big fellows but you would be doing a lot of talking to

the small guys. This, essentially, is the position that

Scotland PLC finds itself in with exports. According to the Scottish government’s Global Connections survey, 67 per cent of Scottish exports go to the rest of the UK, 14 per cent to the EU, and 5 per cent to North America. That leaves just 14 per

cent going to the entire rest of the world. Put this in population terms, and the

concentration of exports in a few small markets becomes even more striking: Scotland sells 86 per cent of its exports to just 12 per cent of the world’s 7 billion people. You might reasonably argue that this is misleading, as that one-eighth of the world’s people produce about half of the world’s GDP and are therefore the world’s wealthiest folk.

That’s true, but for how much longer? Ask what are the world’s largest econo-mies and most folk would probably list the US, Japan, Germany, France and the UK as the big five. That was true just over a decade ago, but it ain’t so any more.

In 2010, China rose to become the world’s second largest economy from sixth place just five years previously, while last year Brazil elbowed past us Brits to become the fifth largest economy. Russia and India are shooting up the rankings and, predicts the IMF, will by 2015 be in eighth and ninth place respectively, just behind the UK in seventh place.

Indeed, the IMF predicts that Brazil, Russia, India, and China (the four BRIC countries) will account for half of world economic growth between now and 2020. Its predictions for growth in this and next year make it pretty clear

With the Eurozone sickly, Scottish companies should be cashing in on increased trade with the world’s fastest expanding economies

City of recovery finds a new sense of optimismWelcome to the latest issue of The Times Business Insight, this time focused on the City of Dundee, where a new sense of optimism can be detected. In last week’s Budget, covered in our special wraparound which looks at its more general impact on Scotland, the Chancellor selected Dundee as one of three enterprise centres here, making it immediately more attractive to potential investors. But as our Business Forum — held on board Captain Scott’s Discovery — quickly established, there is already

a great deal to recommend the city as a centre of excel-lence, with its emphasis on life sciences, the computer games industry, renewable energy, and, most recently the announcement that the V&A is to establish an iconic new museum on the Dundee waterfront. On these pages, Peter Jones questions why Scotland’s exports do not go further afield and Ben Thomson looks at the power of art in stimulating economies — an argument that brings us firmly back to Dundee.

Welcome

Peter Jonesat large

Building BRICS of export potential

Cover image by james glossop for the times

We are a country of innovators. A list of Scottish inventors and entrepreneurs is readily available on the internet, from

technology to medicine; aeronautics to sport. Some of the biggest names in his-tory have been Scottish inventors – Bell, Watt, Baird, Fleming.

So where are our modern day scientists and what is their world-changing idea?

That’s the question set out by Con-verge Challenge, an opportunity for would-be entrepreneurs in Scottish Universities and Research Institutes to emerge from under the bushel and develop a business plan into a fully incorporated company. People commonly express their dream to be their own boss, or that they have a great new business idea but they just don’t know where to take it. Well, the chance is here to take one step towards that dream.

Now in its third year, the 2012 Con-verge Challenge continues to inspire, promote and develop Scotland’s entre-preneurial spirit. Applications are now welcome from final year undergraduates, postgraduates and staff from every Scot-tish university, as well as all the Research Institutes. These hotbeds of innovative research are where many of the ideas of tomorrow are gestating. What Converge Challenge does is offer an opportunity not readily available elsewhere to develop business acumen. It trains scientists how to become more commercially focused and guides them on how to become suc-

cessful entrepreneurs. Ultimately, it offers them the chance to change the way we live through innovation and inspiration.

Converge Challenge offers participants an opportunity to get a taste of what it means to run your own business. Through the support of competition organiser, Dr. Olga Kozlova and the Converge Chal-lenge sponsors, like patent attorneys Murgitroyd & Company, participants develop a range of business and employ-ability skills which will stay with them throughout their life.

2011 participant, Dundee University PhD student Nart Daghestani, undertook this training when he submitted his pro-posal surrounding new ways of generat-ing radiation. Nart undertook training in pitching to ensure he could express his business idea concisely and clearly, under pressure. He also found great value in legal advice meetings set up for him by Converge Challenge. “I learned more about patents at one meeting than I did while co-authoring the ones submitted during my PhD,” he said after he col-lected £1,000 as a winner of the Princi-pal’s Enterprise Award, which encourages companies not ready to incorporate to continue to develop their business idea. “If you have an idea, and you have the guts to strike out and begin your own research-led company, then entering Converge Challenge is absolutely the best thing you can do.”

Other success stories are readily avail-able. 2010 prizewinners, BryoActives, are now an incorporated company who design novel antibiotics to overcome

the dangers poised by hospital acquired infections, such as MRSA. 2011 winners, Bellrock Technology, are also incorporat-ed, and are developing solutions for utility companies to ensure our power networks remain fit for purpose well into the future. Both companies have the potential to become a world-leading business in their field, and we are looking for others to fol-low in their footsteps.

Converge Challenge is more than just a competition, but the prize fund is cer-tainly something worth considering. The top selected business idea will receive £25,000 in cash to start their business – a huge cash injection at a vital stage in a young company’s development. Through the SMART Scotland scheme, this amount could be quadrupled, allowing for even greater potential in the com-pany’s growth. Also included is a further £20,000 in business support. This is where the help and assistance for the selected company lies, as they will have access to marketing support, intellectual property advice, and a whole host of other vital business contacts.

It’s easy to say you have a great business idea in you – now’s the chance to prove it. Applications are now open and can be downloaded from www.hw.ac.uk/con-vergechallenge. Support is welcomed from all corners of academia, business and the general public to encourage those who are eligible to ap-ply and take their idea to the next stage. If you would like to keep up with what is happening, you can follow us on Twitter at @ConvergeC.

Where have all the entrepreneurs gone?commercial report: Heriot Watt

Dr olga Kozlova, enterprise creation manager

›

Business Insightthe times | Tuesday March 27 2012 3

further. If we could introduce a US-style system of tax reliefs with greater poten-tial for lifetime giving then we could encourage even more philanthropists to gift and bequeath works of art.

The second is that we have recog-nised the value of doing things in true partnership with other galleries around the world. Three good examples of this are ARTIST ROOMS (the contemporary art collection generously donated by Anthony d’Offay), the sculpture of the Three Graces by Canova, and now the two Titians, which are owned jointly with the Tate, the V&A and the National Gallery, London, respectively. These partnerships then expand far beyond the initial acquisition, with greater oppor-tunities for sharing exhibitions, loans of works and curatorial skills.

Last and most important is simply the wonderful generosity of individuals, trusts and corporations who recognise the huge importance that culture has in shaping our society. People will put their time, their money and their support into doing what they believe benefits everyone. Museums and galleries across the country have been successful in attracting significant donations in recent years and, from our experience at the National Galleries of Scotland, sellers have been prepared to reduce prices or in many cases gift us works of art. It is all these people who are the stars.

Why do they do it? For most it is a recognition that art and culture are vital in shaping our society. In the words of the great opera singer Beverley Sills, “Art is the signature of civilization.”

The passion and commitment of people who really care will ensure that future generations of Scots and the visitors who come to our galleries will have access to some of the best art in the world. It is their involvement in our community that makes miracles happen.Ben Thomson is Chairman of the National Galleries of Scotland

Recently I was standing on the steps of Modern Two at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art looking at the large sculpture by Nathan

Coley which declares ”There Will Be No Miracles Here.” It immediately made me think about the acquisition of the paint-ing Diana and Callisto by Titian, which was purchased earlier this month by the National Galleries of Scotland together with the National Gallery, London, for the sum of £45 million.

This not only completes the acquisi-tion for the public of a pair of Titians that have been together since 1559 but also secures on loan to Scotland the rest of the world-famous Bridgewater Collection of Old Master paintings. It is an amazing result.

The purchase of the two Titians counts among the most significant acqui-sitions ever made by either gallery and it is remarkable that the most recent pur-chase was achieved without any direct funding from Holyrood or Westminster, and in a dire economic climate.

So how does this magic work? How in five years has the National Galleries of Scotland managed to acquire more than 1000 works of art for the national collec-tions, with a market value in the region of £350 million to £500 million, but at a cost to the Scottish government of less than 10% in direct acquisition grants? If only all public sector procurement could work in this way.

There are many ingredients in this mix but here I will name three. First is that, although the government’s direct grants for acquisitions are relatively small, its ability to encourage philan-thropic giving through tax reliefs from donations and legacies is enormously important. At present there are good schemes in place to provide tax benefits to donors of works of art — when they are dead. Obviously we would like to extend such reliefs to the living.

The UK Government is currently consulting on its ‘Cultural Gifts Scheme’ which will provide tax benefits for individuals and corporations that wish to donate important objects for the public good. However, while the scheme is promising, there is potential to go even

Miracles do happen but there’s an art to achieving them

BenThomson

an agreement is one way to quickly acquire know-how of the local market and surrounding political and regulatory environment.

“I believe from the analysis we have done that Scottish companies perform best in fast-growing markets where we are able to identify very specific sub-sector opportunities that match our companies’ strengths with niches in that market as it grows,” she contends.

Thus, she argues that Scottish games firms have big opportunities in the Chinese digital media market, oil and gas equipment suppliers have a doorway into Brazil’s offshore oil business, textile firms have a ready audience in Russia, and educational institutions have an open field in India.

Some have already acted. Hydrasun, an Aberdeen-based energy equipment-maker has bought a Brazilian firm which has a three-year contract with Petrobras, Strathclyde University has established a campus in India, and about 40 Scottish companies from distillers to oil and gas workforce trainers are active in China.

Where a few lead, many more can follow. And potential customers in the BRICs are growing faster than you can count them.

Some think there may be an over-estimation of risk in undertaking business with burgeoning economies such as China

where world growth action is happening and where it isn’t with the Eurozone in particular looking sickly (see chart).

And if Scotland, whether as part of the UK or not, is to export its way to prosperity, it is also clear what markets we should be looking at. Indeed, this is not just about selling things like power equipment to meet the demands of a developing economy but also about selling consumer goods to a ballooning market place.

A 2010 paper published by the OECD estimated that in 2009, Asia-Pacific countries had 525 million middle class people with 23 per cent of the world’s middle class spending power. It projected that by 2020, the number of Asia-Pacific middle class consumers will have more than trebled to 1.7 billion and their share of world spending power will have doubled. In contrast, middle class numbers in Europe and North America will be static and their share of world spending power will halve.

This portends the biggest and fastest switch in global consumption patterns ever seen, with dramatic effects on company fortunes. Seven years ago only 10 per cent of cars produced by America’s General Motors were sold to China. Now more than 50 per cent are.

Some Scottish companies, notably in the food and drinks sector, are cashing in. But many more are not. Some may be put off by general perceptions that China has an incomprehensible language and impenetrable political controls; India at least speaks English but is mired in corruption; Russia crawls with gangsters; and Brazil, well, what do we know of it apart from Pele and the nuts.

“I think that there is an over-estima-tion of risk and an under-estimation of opportunity,” says Anne McColl, chief executive of Scottish Development International (SDI). Partnering with an established local business, whether by acquisition, joint venture or simply

Building BRICS of export potential(ap/eugene hoshiko

A TV camera man filming at the recent joint acquisition of Diana and Callisto

reuters/paul haCkett

We are a country of innovators. A list of Scottish inventors and entrepreneurs is readily available on the internet, from

technology to medicine; aeronautics to sport. Some of the biggest names in his-tory have been Scottish inventors – Bell, Watt, Baird, Fleming.

So where are our modern day scientists and what is their world-changing idea?

That’s the question set out by Con-verge Challenge, an opportunity for would-be entrepreneurs in Scottish Universities and Research Institutes to emerge from under the bushel and develop a business plan into a fully incorporated company. People commonly express their dream to be their own boss, or that they have a great new business idea but they just don’t know where to take it. Well, the chance is here to take one step towards that dream.

Now in its third year, the 2012 Con-verge Challenge continues to inspire, promote and develop Scotland’s entre-preneurial spirit. Applications are now welcome from final year undergraduates, postgraduates and staff from every Scot-tish university, as well as all the Research Institutes. These hotbeds of innovative research are where many of the ideas of tomorrow are gestating. What Converge Challenge does is offer an opportunity not readily available elsewhere to develop business acumen. It trains scientists how to become more commercially focused and guides them on how to become suc-

cessful entrepreneurs. Ultimately, it offers them the chance to change the way we live through innovation and inspiration.

Converge Challenge offers participants an opportunity to get a taste of what it means to run your own business. Through the support of competition organiser, Dr. Olga Kozlova and the Converge Chal-lenge sponsors, like patent attorneys Murgitroyd & Company, participants develop a range of business and employ-ability skills which will stay with them throughout their life.

2011 participant, Dundee University PhD student Nart Daghestani, undertook this training when he submitted his pro-posal surrounding new ways of generat-ing radiation. Nart undertook training in pitching to ensure he could express his business idea concisely and clearly, under pressure. He also found great value in legal advice meetings set up for him by Converge Challenge. “I learned more about patents at one meeting than I did while co-authoring the ones submitted during my PhD,” he said after he col-lected £1,000 as a winner of the Princi-pal’s Enterprise Award, which encourages companies not ready to incorporate to continue to develop their business idea. “If you have an idea, and you have the guts to strike out and begin your own research-led company, then entering Converge Challenge is absolutely the best thing you can do.”

Other success stories are readily avail-able. 2010 prizewinners, BryoActives, are now an incorporated company who design novel antibiotics to overcome

the dangers poised by hospital acquired infections, such as MRSA. 2011 winners, Bellrock Technology, are also incorporat-ed, and are developing solutions for utility companies to ensure our power networks remain fit for purpose well into the future. Both companies have the potential to become a world-leading business in their field, and we are looking for others to fol-low in their footsteps.

Converge Challenge is more than just a competition, but the prize fund is cer-tainly something worth considering. The top selected business idea will receive £25,000 in cash to start their business – a huge cash injection at a vital stage in a young company’s development. Through the SMART Scotland scheme, this amount could be quadrupled, allowing for even greater potential in the com-pany’s growth. Also included is a further £20,000 in business support. This is where the help and assistance for the selected company lies, as they will have access to marketing support, intellectual property advice, and a whole host of other vital business contacts.

It’s easy to say you have a great business idea in you – now’s the chance to prove it. Applications are now open and can be downloaded from www.hw.ac.uk/con-vergechallenge. Support is welcomed from all corners of academia, business and the general public to encourage those who are eligible to ap-ply and take their idea to the next stage. If you would like to keep up with what is happening, you can follow us on Twitter at @ConvergeC.

Where have all the entrepreneurs gone?commercial report: Heriot Watt

Dr olga Kozlova, enterprise creation manager

14.3

7.0

17.0

6.8

4.02.6

5.7

0.30

5

10

15

WorldEurozoneUKUSARussiaBrazilIndiaChina

IMF predictions of economic growth rates 2012-13 (%)

Source: IMF. WEO January 2012


Business Insight4

Business Forum

In the same boat and with high hopes for the voyage

Aboard the Royal Research Ship Discovery, the a t m o s p h e r e seemed almost as expectant as it might have been before Captain Scott set out on one of his great

polar adventures. Gathered in the ship’s dining room for The Times Scotland Business Forum, Dundee’s senior civic and business leaders assessed the eco-nomic prospects of the city — and found that the future looked a good deal warmer than on any of Scott’s chilly destinations.

The new lexicon of urban regeneration insists we attribute this optimism to “the Bilbao effect” — after the seismic im-pact that an outpost of the Guggenheim Museum is said to have had on the econ-omy of a once-failing Basque city. But the phenomenon has been observed before in Britain: the 1990 City of Culture award catapulted Glasgow to worldwide atten-tion, while the Opera House in Cardiff and a succession of investments in Man-chester and Liverpool gave all three cities renewed international reach.

Now, its supporters believe, a £45 mil-lion cultural investment in the V&A at Dundee points a route out of the economic downturn, raising the profile of this city, enthusing its people and pro-viding both a focus and a generator for renewed growth.

“The support for the project is extraor-dinary,” Philip Long, director of the V&A at Dundee, told the gathering. “When you put the two brands together, the V&A and Dundee, people see the change in the city’s ambition. We want to take people

on a journey, so they feel they can con-tribute, and we want to tackle inequalities in the city and build support in Scotland and also internationally.”

These are large ambitions, but, as Mr Long pointed out, over the past three decades, cultural investment has raised morale in the city, and boosted Dundee’s profile. It began in the 1980s with the reviv-al of Dundee Rep in a new building, contin-ued on this ship, Discovery, which brought some sparkle to the Waterfront when it opened as a heritage attraction in 1993, and was consolidated when Dundee Contem-porary Arts was established in 2000.

The universal hope here, among the businessmen and civic leaders, is that the

V&A at Dundee will finally give the city the pulling power to draw in large-scale investment and tourism, promoting a new age of prosperity.

For Chris van der Kuyl, the chief executive of Brightsolid, and one of the first serious players in Dundee’s com-puter and gaming technology industries “everything comes at a critical pace”. He said: “It has taken 15 years to embed digi-tal industries, to reach the point where the confidence is growing, where Dundee can step up and challenge on an inter-national basis. The catalytic effect of the V&A has already generated interest.”

Dundee stands on the brink of a new age of prosperity, insisted Mr van der Kuyl. The city was a wealth creator in the 19th century, he argued, but its finan-cial institutions, such as Alliance Trust

and Flemings (the merchant bank was founded in Dundee in 1873) invested their money primarily in overseas projects, rather than in their own city.

“Our own culture had become parochi-al and we tended to look to government for help,” said Mr van der Kuyl. “We are turning entrepreneurial again. We stand at the cusp; we are not going back to the 19th century model, but are looking for-ward to a knowledge-based economy ... We need to create a jewel on the Tay and to sparkle. Then all talk of parochialism will have gone.”

There is widespread agreement that the city has arrived at a key moment in its history. For Allan Watt, project co-ordinator for Dundee Waterfront, decisions made five years ago have already put the city on the right road.

“What we set out to do at Dundee Waterfront was to consider the wider of-fer,” said Mr Watt. “Part of the question we posed ourselves was: how do we trans-form Dundee? How do we make it punch above its weight rather than be a drag on the economy?

“We looked at our assets and the ambition for the Waterfront, for the air-port, for the country park to the west of the city. It was a powerful mix and we realised that if we could develop the Waterfront it could have that catalytic effect.”

Remarkably, there has been a total investment in Dundee Waterfront of £1 billion since 2008, from a combination of public sector agencies and private com-panies. “That is a very powerful basis for change,” added Mr Watt. “We have an incredible offer, with a guarantee of £72 million to deliver the new infrastructure. And the scale of the city enables us to move quickly.”

In these circumstances, you almost de-tect the mood of change on the Tayside air, sweeping along the public. Mr Watt added: “Public and private support for

Our latest Times Scotland Business Forum on RRS Discovery found many reasons for optimism in Dundee’s regeneration, writes Mike Wade

Around the tableThe Business Forum was chaired by Magnus Linklater, editor of The Times Scotland, who was joined by:�� Philip Long, director, V&A Dundee �� George Rennouf, head of risk and strategy, Alliance Trust�� Allan Watt, project coordinator, Dundee Waterfront�� Rebecca Trengove, head of marketing and corporate affairs, Axeon�� Allan McQuade, business infrastructure director, Scottish Enter-prise�� Craig Nicol, joint managing partner, Thorntons LLP�� John Reid, factory manager and head of operations, Michelin�� Dougy Agnew, tax partner, Henderson Loggie�� Pete Downes, principal, University of Dundee�� Chris van der Kuyl, chief executive of Brightsolid�� Tim Allen, director, Unicorn Properties.�� Mark Robertson, partner, Rydens

The panel agreed the city had reached a key moment in its history


Business Insightthe times | Tuesday September 27 2011 9

james glossop for the times

it’s such a great business that when the op-portunity arose to become chief executive, well, you just don’t turn down that down.

“There is a great team of senior man-agers and talented people across the organisation, so the opportunities to do something quite special here are very exciting. That’s what gets me: I want to realise the potential of this business. The group has come a long way in the past decade — now we’re focusing on the next stage and being passionate about what is

Innovation driven by customer demandsNorth America’s growing demand for “fracking” equip-ment used in extracting oil and gas from shale is key to Weir Group’s upbeat profit predictions announced during the summer.This half-term report detailed income up 33 per cent to £1.03 billion, orders soaring by 43 per cent to £1.2 billion and pre-tax profits boosted by 23 per cent to £178 million.At the time Keith Cochrane commented “The group will continue to invest to grow ahead of our end markets and we now expect profits for the full year to be somewhat ahead of our previous expectations.”Founded in 1871 in Glasgow as G & J Weir, the company was responsible for the invention and

manufacture of pumping equipment for the Clyde shipyards.Today, Weir Group employs around 13,000 people in more than 70 countries, working in the minerals, oil and gas, and power industries. Rapid growth continues to be been driven by expanding into emerging markets and providing services globally.Innovation driven by customer demands is central to the company’s success, and earlier this year it announced the investment of £2 million in a dedicated research facility. The Weir Advanced Research Centre

will be a central plank of Strathclyde University’s recently established Technology and Innovation Centre in Glasgow. Cochrane said the partner-ship would “continue to bring breakthrough developments to our

almost a new set of challenges.“It’s back to that passion about doing

things better, opening our minds — and our organisation’s mind. We operate in huge markets but as a player we’re rela-tively small.

“Through strategic planning we’ve identified opportunities to broaden our market and product portfolio, and our geographic footprint, partly through organic growth and partly through ac-quisition. It’s that real sense of opportu-

Keith Cochrane believes in investing in talent that will help Weir Group to build a sustainable, long-term business

nity that excites me, to see how far we’ve come, and to see how far we can go over the next ten years.

So, is he worried that global economic slowdown might blow those plans off course? “Every company has to be sensi-tive to the economic environment around it and be sure it is on top of any potential implications. Having said that, I would step back and look at our experience as we went through 2008 and 2009, where there was a significant drop-off in activ-ity impacting on markets. We were very clear in terms of the action we took: we reset the base, looked forward.

“Lots of opportunities come out of these difficult times but it doesn’t take away from the medium- to long-term fun-damentals across our markets. Mining, oil and gas resources are finite and there is a growing demand for them. That combina-tion is going to drive further investment.

He believes in taking a positive view: you can’t ignore the short-term environ-ment, but you can look at it in the context of a few years ago and the broader oppor-tunities in the longer term, he says.

Looking forward, Cochrane stress-es, also means investing in talent, and he is almost evangelical about encouraging individual potential. “It’s our people at whatever level

they contribute who make the difference, who enable us to deliver,” he says. “Look at our growth in the past couple of years, both in achieving that and moving ahead needs capability in our people.

“We are investing significant sums in this, and have just kicked off a senior management training programme. If we don’t have the people we will be held back. While investment and continued focus are very much at the forefront of my priorities, in my leadership role as CEO it is also vital to make sure we are building up the next generation of managers.

“It is back to building a sustainable long-term business. If we only wanted success for a year or two, we wouldn’t be doing a lot of things we are very focused on now.”

Despite that unrelenting focus, Cochrane agrees, having a good life bal-ance is crucial. “When I’m working I’m passionate about the business, I do thrive on it; I’m quite driven. However, I have a relatively young family, and at weekends I tend to focus on the kids — although my wife would say not always exclusively!

“I try hard to have a different sense of perspective. When you have a senior management role it can easily take over, so the ability to step back and have a dose of reality, like taking your daughter to a sports class on a Saturday, is good for everyone.”

Perhaps the most surprising discovery about Cochrane is despite his business DNA, he’s not all about the numbers. Ultimately, of course, he wants them to add up, and then to multiply. Yet there is a strong sense he is aware of his respon-sibility as part of something bigger, and wants to play his part. Cochrane, it seems, is an architect.

“With Weir, it’s that rich heritage, the tremendous track record: I want to build upon that,” he says. “This is, quite rightly, a very proud business, so I want to do my small bit to help move it forward, help sustain it for the next 100 years. You don’t do that by standing still.

“It requires initiative and ability to seek out opportunities and take advantage of those opportunities — that is the broader message that sits comfortably with what the underlying themes are for our busi-ness today, and it’s driving our teams across the world.”

Challenge of turning big ideas into reality is key

For many years, Scotland’s life science sector has been heralded as one of the nation’s rising stars.

We have a tremendous oppor-tunity to leverage our resources including the NHS, our universities and our excep-tional heritage for medical innovation, talent and infrastructure to encourage and attract big business. So why does is it that many of our young life science companies are struggling to get off the ground?

The challenge of turning ideas into reality and companies of scale still seems to elude all, but a few, and is an issue that needs to be urgently addressed.

The life science industry is truly global and Scotland, as others, has identified it

as a key sector to drive future wealth and prosperity. But aspiration isn’t enough and we need to act now to fully exploit the opportunity before we get left behind.

Lack of funding is a vociferous lament by those in the sector.

Scotland has a vibrant business angel community and the Scottish Investment Bank’s Co-investment and Venture Funds play an important role. However, there is a growing sense of foreboding that this money could be redirected at renewables. Coupled with our lack of a strong active Venture Capital community, specialis-ing in life sciences in Scotland, growth is inevitably slow.

That said, life science is fundamen-tally a long term, high-risk business. It is expensive, for instance, to take drugs through clinical trials and into the market with no guarantee of a return. But if Scot-land is serious about its life science sector, we need to find ways to get businesses to a point where venture capital money is forthcoming.

While Scotland’s life science sector remains made up of many diverse small companies, there may also be an argu-ment for consolidation. Pooling resources and collaboration to create critical mass with other indigenous companies or part-nering with organisations overseas is one route and may well prevent some compa-nies from failure in these particularly hard times. Getting investor ready is another prerequisite, especially with major foreign organisations looking on.

Scotland has an exceptional pool of talent and ideas. But in today’s global competitive economy that is not enough without the right incentives and the busi-ness infrastructure to support them.Neil McInnes, Head of Technology, Grant Thornton Scotland

PROFESSIONAL BRIEF

in association with

Neil McInnes looks to pooling resources

Dundee’s history and the de-velopment of the city have been shaped by its location and relationship with the River Tay. The city has experienced many periods

of economic turmoil but there has never been such an intensive period of change as is now being experienced in Dundee.

The Dundee Waterfront was where the ships bringing jute for the city’s mills would anchor and where the whaling ves-sels were built. It was also on this site that shipbuilding was developed into a major industry and where Captain Scott’s ship Discovery was constructed.

But as Dundee developed its city centre and its wa-terfront grew apart. The roads taking traffi c on and off the Tay Road Bridge created an unnatural barrier between the citizens and their waterfront. This will all change with the Dundee Water-front project which will reconnect the city and its people

with the river. The £1 billion transfor-mation of Dundee Waterfront, which encompasses 240 hectares of development land stretching 8km along the River Tay, is a strategic, focussed and forward-looking project that is propelling the city to international acclaim.

Work has been progressing for several years but the three year period from 2012 to 2015, will see some of the most visible changes occuring. This will involve the demolishing of Tayside House, former home to Dundee City Council, the Olym-pia Leisure Centre and the construction of a new railway station.

The site vacated by the Olympia will be transformed into the V&A at Dundee, the jewel in the crown of Dundee’s Waterfront regeneration. The £45 mil-lion V&A at Dundee building, has been designed by the Japanese architects Kengo Kuma & Associates and is due to open in 2015 and will place Dundee fi rmly on the international cultural map.

Opportunities for developers, investors and a wide range of business ventures still exist in what is shaping up to be one of Western Europe’s most extensive and transformative waterfront projects.

The recent announcement that the Malmaison Hotel Group has signed a long term lease to transform the Tay Hotel into a landmark waterfront hotel, is testimony to increasing investor confi dence in the city.

The city landscape is changing. One third of the £1 billion investment has already been committed, 7,000 jobs are anticipated to be created and it is already clear that this ambitious project will sym-bolise the contribution of a generation to transform the city of Dundee- a city which has a real sense of ambition and direction, and is defi nitely changing for the future.

Dundee Waterfront’s Transformation

David K Dorward, Chief ExecutiveDundee City Council


the Waterfront peaked during the design competition for the V&A. And remember, in this city, one in eight of the population is a student. All of this gives us a tremen-dous vibrancy.

The city has reached a stage where this sense of momentum could be “self-fuel-ling” said George Rennouf, head of risk and strategy for the Alliance Trust. The Olympic Games presented an interesting parallel, he added.

“Every four years you see huge infra-structure projects rolled out, but it is the legacy that is important,” said Mr Ren-nouf. “Once the Games are finished, the leftover bit can be a disaster. It is really important for Dundee that there is a plan beyond this initial stage. There has to be a connection between the community and business: how they engage is key.”

Craig Nicol, joint managing partner, Thorntons LLP, and Allan McQuade, busi-ness infrastructure director for Scottish Enterprise, both struck optimistic notes, the latter taking inspiration from The Times meeting. “It is very significant to see the private and public sectors round the table,” said Mr McQuade. The public sector makes the investment to give the private sector confidence to make things happen. Business and community have to engage to drive the city forward.”

Mr Nicol said he had been conscious of a change in aspiration in the city over the

past eight years. “What is significant here is the very real sense of Dundee getting things done,” he said. “In 2003, I came here, and people asked: ‘Why?’ Now you just have to walk around the place. Dundee has been fleet of foot in facing the challenges. There is a massive infra-structure project going on, of such a scale that in most other cities would be seen as the sole major project in itself. But here it’s part of something bigger.”

While this optimistic spirit pervaded, some round the table sounded notes of caution. John Reid, factory manager for

Axeon’s Rebecca Trengove ponders the need for ambition in youth

Michelin in Dundee has more to crow about than most — his factory sells tyres to the Chinese — but he stressed that the city must offer something to every mem-ber of the local community.

Mr Reid is unusual, a one-company man who has lived in Dundee for 22 years. “ Throughout that period people have talked about us closing,” he recalled. “We have confounded the critics and won the investment. There are ways and means of organising a workforce. It can be done.”

Other industry figures also sound-ed warnings. Axeon, a green business manufacturing lithium batteries, finds it easier to recruit staff from overseas than from Scotland, said Rebecca Trengove, the company’s head of marketing and corporate affairs. Part of that trend was good news, she said, because it showed international staff were coming to the city without preconceptions about its past, but instead with hopes for the future.

But, she added, Dundee is still strug-gling with negative perceptions at home. “There is a danger in focusing on a narrow range of industries,” she warned. “It is more sensible to focus on skills, core skills that are applied across industries, that give the economy traction.”

Dundee, in common with most cities in Europe, still has to contend with the dark shadow of recession. Mr Rennouf said some evidence pointed to a five or ten-year downturn. “It is not a given that we will zoom out of recession,” he warned.

Tim Allen, director of Unicorn Prop-erties disagreed. “We have sold more properties in the past six months than in the previous three years,” he said.

The key to recovery in the longer term, said Ms Trengove, was to invest in educa-tion. “There remains a profound lack of ambition among some parts of the popu-lation,” she said. “You counter that in schools. You have to give kids ambition. There has to be much greater focus on kids to have that ambition.”

The economic conditions could of-fer opportunities as well as threats, said Pete Downes, the principal of the Uni-versity of Dundee. “Uncertainty creates opportunity,” he argued. “Recession looks like a mass extinction, opening the way for other creatures. The fact is, we are in a very good position to grow as the recession recedes.”

Professor Downes said working in partnership would be a crucial genera-tor of prosperity for both the university and the city. In key areas such as the biosciences, the university had found a way to move forward, working in tandem with scientists in Edinburgh, Glasgow and elsewhere.

“We can’t act alone,” he added. “We have to look to larger cities to be part-ners, to play to the strengths we’ve got.”

Opportunities existed in offshore renewables, not just for the univerisity’s engineering school, but in law and other areas. “We can influence these things,” he added. “We work across disciplines, and that is what we must continue to do.”

All agreed that if there was a threat to Dundee, it lay in a failure to be bold. Mr Reid, with two decades in manufacturing, has seen Dundee go through bad times and good. He had no doubt that the time had come for the city to be daring and take its place in the sun.

“It has been a threadbare kind of place in the past,” he said. “We have to bring confidence back to people. I’d like to see the guys in my factory looking out and taking pride in the city. We have to be bold, aggressive, forward-looking and take risks. If you don’t take risks, well, that’s a risk in itself.”

Foreground, left to right: Magnus Linklater, Philip Long, Mark Robertson. Behind, left to right: Professor Pete Downes, Rebecca Trengove, Dougy Agnew, John Reid, Allan Watt, Tim Allen, George Rennouf, Craig Nicol, Chris van der Kuyl, Allan McQuade


Business Insight6

Do you remember the summer of 1987? Those were the days when Rick Astley was Never Gonna Give You Up, The Pet Shop Boys were Always On My Mind, and Deacon Blue

had Dignity. It rained a bit. Margaret Thatcher led the Tories to a third term in government, Sylvester McCoy became the seventh actor to play Doctor Who and Chris van der Kuyl was on keyboards for Big Blue 72, about to embark on a computer science degree at the Univer-sity of Dundee.

It would be a few years before van der Kuyl founded his first company, gam-ing business VIS, ultimately going on to become CEO at Brightsolid, by way of being one of the most successful entrepre-neurs not just in Scotland but in the UK.

This week, Brightsolid launched the new and revamped Friends Reunited, the business it acquired from STV in 2010. It was a move many believed had been prompted by Brightsolid’s interest in sub-sidiary company Genes Reunited, given its domination in the who-do-we-think-we-are sector. At the time, van der Kuyl dismissed this, insisting that Friends Reu-nited itself was a good buy.

Now we can see why. This week’s announcement tags Friends Reunited as the place for ‘Remember when?’ moments, with site members encour-aged to find, collect and share everything from personal experiences to major news events. Through a partnership with PA and an archive company, a ‘keep’ button allows members to build nostalgic collec-tions that are saved in online ‘boxes’ along with personal memorabilia such as photos or scanned ticket stubs and receipts.

Viewed together with Brightsolid’s work at the British Library, this project of-fers significant scope for the imagination. Fiction as science, it conjures echoes of the 10th Dr Who incarnation in the 2008 episode Silence in the Library. Time travel is not (yet) on Brightsolid’s agenda, but as van der Kuyl remembers, in 1987, another world had seemed possible to him.

“Dundee was red hot. There were The Associates, Danny Wilson — these guys were all at school six years ahead of me,” says van der Kuyl. “I played in a number of bands but the biggest was Big Blue 72. We played locally and throughout Scot-land, and we even headlined freshers week at Dundee uni on the same billing as Texas. CBS was going through the pro-cess of signing us up when Sony bought CBS and shut down on new talent.

“By the early 1990s it was time for me to give it up — my business was taking off and I was trying to run it from a tour bus using a modem! I still love playing,

Avid entrepreneur and champion of Dundee, Chris van der Kuyl explains his inspirations to Ginny Clark

Cover story

I’ve no time to be in a band, but any time I get a chance to play I do. You’re always a musician. Who knows, I might have been moderately successful but I got into building technology businesses early on, and that’s a different kind of fun but it’s still creative and all about working with a group of people I like.

“Music and its community is one of reasons I’m still here in Dundee, and it’s one of the reasons I love this city.”

It’s intriguing that, for a businessman whose significant achievements are all about the future — whether in technol-ogy or the education of the next genera-tion — you cannot begin to measure the

success of van der Kuyl without looking back. He describes himself as a digital native, having grown up with computers, but says he is “second generation”, given the achievements of his late father, the renowned Tony van der Kuyl, an educa-tional pioneer who ensured his school, and that of his son, was the first in the country to include computer studies as a formal subject. His father’s influence as a folk musician is also a matter of great pride to van der Kuyl.

“It was amazing for me to read Lorraine Wilson’s book about Dundee’s music his-tory, Take it to the Bridge, where a folk musician talks about my dad being an

inspiration to him, because he was the first guy he heard writing about his own town. I had played with my dad but I didn’t know how much he’d influenced others. That vibrancy, the excitement around good music venues and pub bands, that’s happening again.”

There is nothing forced about the fact that van der Kuyl has assumed the role of ambassador for the place he grew up in and where he still lives with his family.

With about 150,000 people here it is not just a city, it’s a big village,” he says. “That gives you an ability to connect to people but it’s not like a clique; Dundo-nians are welcoming and open to ideas, and that includes the people who have migrated here.

“People settle and never leave; they love it, there is a great community with a good quality of life and they can have an impact on it. I used to play a wee game in which I could never walk through Dundee without meeting someone out of context. That’s what little villages are like.

“However, Dundonians are also out-ward facing — you can’t do everything from here, you can’t be parochial as you won’t create that way. I think it goes back to the whaling fleets: whatever challenges us can make us strong. We took on the world at jute and won.”

One thing he says that was rev-elatory in building Brightsolid was that shareholders DC Thomson, who had an aura of secrecy as a powerful pri-

vate family-owned business, are the best shareholders in any business he has had. “Part of that is a shared ambition to do something in Dundee on a global scale, and we collaborate constantly.

“I could never have approached the British Library without the heritage and gravitas of DC Thomson behind me. It’s not about money, but their standing in business, their values and ethics.

“The key thing for me is that it’s never limiting. We opened a new publishing headquarters in London in an old church in Shoreditch — we know there’s a hotbed of digital media talent there, but that doesn’t lessen our ambition for Dundee. The whole idea is that we build a stronger business.”

Still heavily involved in games, van der Kuyl is working with a business in part-nership with Microsoft to bring Minecraft to Xbox. Considering the potential of the newly announced nostalgia project, he muses: “We can use the skills and capa-bilities in both games and memory, and see what happens.”

For van der Kuyl, as for Friends Reunited — and for all of us — one thing is clear: memories are the future.

When business is pleasure

Chris van der Kuyl says he collaborates with DC Thomson as part of a shared ambition on the global stage

You’re always a musician but I got into building technology businesses early on and that’s a different kind of fun

The global outlook is brightChris van der Kuyl is the chief executive officer of Brightsolid, the online innovation company owned by Scottish publisher DC Thomson. Brightsolid is headquartered in Dundee but the burgeoning busi-ness also has offices in Edinburgh, London, Dublin, Sydney and Los Angeles. With operations divided into the two main areas of digital publishing and technology provision, the company owns Friends Reunited and several internet family history companies including findmypast, runs ScotlandsPeople and is in a ten-year partnership with the The British

Library to digitise up to 40 million pages from the national newspaper collection.

Brightsolid’s rise has been steady, growing the talented team from 50 to more than 200 in the past four years, along with the revenue, up 475 per cent over the same period to £28.5 million in 2011.

van der Kuyl, the charismatic leader of this company, is also chairman of computer games development

company 4J Studios and is visiting professor of digital entertainment at Dundee’s University of Abertay.

A great supporter of enterprise education, van der Kuyl was also

chairman of Young Enter-prise Scotland for seven

years, is a member of the Entrepreneurial Exchange, left, and is involved in the Smith Group, advising the Scottish government on education policy, enterprise and youth employment issues.




Business Insight10




































PROFESSIONAL BRIEF

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PROFESSIONAL BRIEF

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Dundee - an exciting place to do businessWith some innovative long term

planning now paying dividends, Dundee’s future is looking

hugely encouraging. Dundee is already the hot spot for video game development and a centre for excellence in the life science sector. The opening of Dundee Contemporary Arts in 1999 was a huge catalyst for Dundee’s cultural revival which, since then, has gone from strength to strength. The arrival of the V&A is the next step in that revival.

“Dundee’s current period of regenera-tion is an exciting time to be in business in the city. The improving urban land-scape will enhance the historic features of Dundee, while at the same time present new business opportunities.

Dundee has a diverse business scene with lots of signifi cant and cutting edge deals being done which would probably surprise many outwith the area. From the creative industries, born out of two successful universities, to the agricultural and renewables sector, both vital parts of Scotland’s economy, businesses locally need a specialist service. We can deliver that. Our lawyers and advisers have the skills and experience to rival many other central belt fi rm.

“We advise businesses of every size, at every stage in their evolution and in a di-verse range of sectors. One thing remains constant however - value for money. More so than ever business owners are looking for cost effective and commercial

solutions for their organisation. Clients are much more questioning of the service they are receiving therefore we need to work harder than ever to create and develop excellent relationships. Trans-parency is crucial.

“Dundee has gone through several periods of change, all hugely positive, and as the business landscape in Dundee con-tinues to change so will the requirement for professional services - we are here to meet that challenge.

Craig Nicol, Managing Partner, Thorntons (pictured)

Special report: Dundee

V&A at Dundee, the £45 million i n t e r n a t i o n a l centre of design which is antici-pated to open on Dundee Water-front in 2015 will assuredly be as emblematic as

the Guggenheim Bilbao is for the capi-tal of Spain’s Basque country. Along the eight kilometer waterfront today, the locally built RSS Discovery, Captain Scott’s Antarctic research ship, evokes a distant past to set alongside other indus-trial ghosts such as jute.

‘Discovery’ also symbolises the emer-gent Dundee, a 21st century economy with an international reputation for com-puter games, biotechnology and other clever stuff. Since 1997, employment in manufacturing has slumped while the strongest gain has been in health and social work followed by wholesale and retail, education, and transport, storage and communication combined.

Further transformation beckons. Attracted by the tourism that V&A at Dundee will generate, the Malmaison hotel chain owned by MWB Group Hold-ings is to lease a new 91-bedroom hotel in the city centre from spring 2013.

And — wonder of wonders — a revival of large scale manufacturing is tantalis-ingly within reach. The Scottish govern-

A city builds for the futureDundee’s hopes for a significant new economic transformation are well founded, hears Rob Stokes

ment has identified Dundee as the ‘ready to go’ place for fabricating turbines for wind farms planned off the east coast of Scotland, and for subsequent inspection, repair and maintenance work.

Fifteen years of public sector planning and infrastructure work, and more than £100 million of public investment, took the centre and a beautiful stretch of the River Tay to the point where the city was ‘investor ready’ to pitch to offshore wind developers and to secure the V&A at Dundee development.

Renewable Energy Enterprise Area status granted by the Scottish govern-ment to Dundee Port is the cherry on the cake, said Mike Galloway, director of city development at Dundee City Council (DCC), which partners enterprise agency Scottish Enterprise in the Dundee Water-front project.

“Enterprise Area status is a paramount part of the package,” he said. “It offers fiscal advantages and formalises our ‘open door’ consenting regime for Dundee Waterfront. We want to engage now with developers on sites to come on stream within five years.”

The scale of ambition is grand. Dundee Waterfront is a £1 billion, 30-year project (2001-2031) spanning 240 hectares of de-velopment land (dundeewaterfront.com).

Galloway promised flexibility to investors. “We are not a typical bureau-cratic local authority; we have a different approach and culture.”

Validation of Dundee’s appeal for off-shore renewables is evident in DCC’s Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with: SSE, the Perth-based utilities giant whose Seagreen Wind Energy partner-ship with Fluor is assessing wind oppor-tunities in Scottish waters; Forth Ports, owners of Dundee Port; and with Scottish Enterprise.

The MoU secures strategic capacity for SSE, which sees Dundee as a prime op-tion. “Dundee has fantastic facilities, in-cluding deep water” said Jim McPhillimy,

The city has an international reputation for computer games and biotechnology

The design for the showcase V&A at Dundee by Kengo

Kuma and Associates

main images Courtesy dundee.Com


Business Insight8 Tuesday March 27 2012 | the times

Business Insight10

With abundant natural resources, a strong company base, world-class academic expertise and

the most ambitious renewable energy targets in the world, Scotland has the potential to become a world class centre for renewable energy.

Targeted infrastructure investment in Scotland’s ports and surrounding areas, is critical if we are to take full advantage of the opportunities that exist within this potentially huge growth sector and following intensive planning work under the National Renewables Infrastructure Plan, we have joined forces with partners to ensure Dundee is ideally placed to serve the emerging renewables sector.

Thanks to the deep water berths, avail-ability of development land and proxim-ity to the wind ‘fields’ off the Forth and Tay estuaries, the Port of Dundee and the wider City of Dundee, are key for the future development of Scotland’s offshore wind industry.

Together with our partners SSE, Forth Ports and Dundee City Council, we are working to support investment in the area to ensure it is fit for purpose to sustain a thriving renewable supply chain to generate maximum economic and environmental benefit.

Already, the public sector has com-mitted to improving access to the Port at Stannergate and is working actively to create development ready sites for investment.

In addition, the Port of Dundee was recently awarded Enterprise Area status and negotiations are underway to estab-lish enhanced capital allowance benefits that, in addition to Dundee’s assisted area status, will encourage further investment in renewables.

The approach to attracting invest-ment to the Port is an extension of the existing Dundee Waterfront Partnership that is delivering improvements in the Central Waterfront area and throughout five development zones in the Dundee Waterfront. That work includes a com-mitment to sustainable development that will include not only renewable energy generation but also improve the energy performance of buildings and the creation of a Sustainable Community.

As we move into the next phase of de-velopment in offshore wind and marine energy, we are confident that employ-ment levels will grow significantly, with the Port of Dundee estimated to support in the region of 700 jobs in offshore wind manufacturing alone.

We are laying the foundations for those jobs now and as we continue to work closely with our partners, we will continue to support this growth, cre-ate jobs and encourage investment for Dundee.

Allan McQuade - business infrastructure director at Scottish Enterprise

Delivering Dundee’s business environment for renewables

managing director of group services at SSE and chairman of Scottish Enterprise’s regional advisory board for Tayside.

“It is perfect for offshore renewables development and maintenance in the east and north of Scotland. In a new in-dustry, people who take strong, control-ling positions tend to prosper. The MoU builds confidence throughout our supply chain.”

It is widely held that some commit-ments must follow soon for developments to hit an expected surge in offshore wind manufacturing around 2014 to 2015. “We would expect some later this year or in early 2013,” said Stan Ure, head of economic development at DCC.

The scale of developments proposed means many locations could benefit. Hence, East of Scotland Renewables, a promotional umbrella of ten local authorities including Dundee.

“We’re very much a Scottish player,” Mr Ure said. “Everyone with decent facilities will share the action. We promote each other because we’re complementary.”

“But Dundee’s on everybody’s radar for manufacturing sites. Our facilities are good to go. There’s land for future devel-opment at the port. The water’s as deep as most would need and we think we can do additional dredging if required. We’re relatively sheltered, not subject to big swells from the North Sea.”

A new access bridge to the port has been completed across the adjoining main East Coast rail line and to the high-est load bearing standards currently applicable. A new access road is near to completion and contingency plans for extra-long vehicles are under consideration.

“We’re also looking at the potential for rail access from the port if a future inves-tor needs it,” Ure added. “We’re putting our money where our mouth is. This could generate up to 1,000 direct jobs with another 1,500 to 2,000 indirect ones. It could be a springboard for large scale economic regeneration.”

“Manufacturers Samsung (Korea), Gamesa (Spain) and Steel Engineering (Scotland) have committed to renewables activity in Scotland and we’re confident there will also be investment at Dundee Waterfront,” said Allan McQuade, busi-ness infrastructure director at Scottish Enterprise.

“Relative to population, Dundee Waterfront will bear comparison longer term with the international financial districts in Glasgow and Edinburgh. It is a quality city location with a quality waterfront environment.”

Scottish Enterprise’s sister agency, Scottish Development International, is promoting Dundee Waterfront to potential investors in key sectors includ-ing creative industries.

Dundee is an international centre for digital games. “We’re here because of the talent pool and the forward looking city,” said Colin Anderson, managing direc-tor of Denki, the games company best known for Denki Blocks! and for Quar-rel, which just launched successfully on Xbox360 and iPhone.

Denki has started recruiting for new games projects and has no problem attracting international talent to Dundee. Said Anderson: “Projects are talent magnets that create critical mass that generates more success and spin-outs. Dundee’s had that cluster for near-ly 20 years. It attracts people who prob-ably would not have come for any other reason.”

The University of Abertay Dundee (UAD) is world class for digital media and plays a key role in addressing the UK industry’s talent, skills and finance needs.

Its £2 million Prototype Fund — sourced from UAD (£1 million), the Scot-tish and UK Governments, and the Euro-pean Regional Development Fund — is now inviting applications for grants of up to £25,000 for small UK companies developing their own games or other interactive software products. The fund backed 24 companies from 150 applicants in three previous rounds.

“Operating a UK fund reinforces Dundee’s importance in digital media,” said Paul Durrant, director of busi-ness development at UAD. “Scotland’s strengths are underlined by a third of previous applications coming from Scottish companies.”

The grants support inclusion of tal-ented graduates on funded projects to provide paid work experience and skills development. EMI, Tate, National Geo-graphic, Turbulenz and Antix are among companies working with UAD and The Technology Strategy Board — the UK’s national innovation agency — to support smaller digital firms via the fund.

“We play a key role in developing tal-ent for the UK and our investment fund also helps with working capital, an issue for companies with big up-front develop-ment costs,” Mr Durrant explained.

Dare to be Digital (daretobedigital.com), an industry-acclaimed challenge run by UAD is a video games develop-ment competition for talented students from universities and colleges of art, that

feeds in exclusively to a BAFTA award. Said Durrant: “We have entries from more than 80 institutions internationally. The industry sees it as one of the best ways to judge talent. ”

UAD’s course portfolio crosses science, technology, arts and creativity bounda-ries. It was acknowledged as the United Kingdom’s centre of excellence for computer games education in the Next Gen skills report from the independent National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts.

NESTA applauded UAD’s workplace simulation methods, where students work in interdisciplinary teams as if in a commercial games studio. Most teaching staff have direct industry experience, and UAD has the highest number of games courses accredited by Skillset, the UK Creative Industries’ Sector Skills Council.

Digital Dundee (digitaldundee.com) is a public-private partnership that works with small and medium sized enterprises to identify how they may harness tech-nology to improve business processes and increase competitive advantage. It is backed by DCC, University of Dundee (UoD), UAD, University of St Andrew’s, NHS Tayside, and IT company NCR.

Dundee is a world leader in life sciences research and development, a profile projected by BioDundee (bio-dundee.com) a partnership between DCC, Scottish Enterprise, UoD, UAD, and the private sector. Leading biosci-ence companies include Cellartis, CXR Biosciences, and Millipore (UK).

Recent news underlining its stature included UoD winning £8.6 million from Wellcome Trust to fund collaboration between the Drug Discovery Unit (DDU) at the university’s College of Life Sciences (CLS) and pharma company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to work on new drugs for neglected tropical diseases.

“It says much about the respect that GSK has for us in this area,” said Professor Mike Ferguson, dean of research at CLS.

DDU is unique among UK Universi-

The £1 billion Dundee Waterfront is now one of the UK’s top 20 regeneration projects

Dundee’s on everyone’s radar for manufacturing sites. Facilities are good to go and there’s land for future development

Mike Ferguson is dean of research at CLS




































PROFESSIONAL BRIEF

in association with


Dundee’s history and the de-velopment of the city have been shaped by its location and relationship with the River Tay. The city has experienced many periods

of economic turmoil but there has never been such an intensive period of change as is now being experienced in Dundee.

The Dundee Waterfront was where the ships bringing jute for the city’s mills would anchor and where the whaling ves-sels were built. It was also on this site that shipbuilding was developed into a major industry and where Captain Scott’s ship Discovery was constructed.

But as Dundee developed its city centre and its wa-terfront grew apart. The roads taking traffi c on and off the Tay Road Bridge created an unnatural barrier between the citizens and their waterfront. This will all change with the Dundee Water-front project which will reconnect the city and its people

with the river. The £1 billion transfor-mation of Dundee Waterfront, which encompasses 240 hectares of development land stretching 8km along the River Tay, is a strategic, focussed and forward-looking project that is propelling the city to international acclaim.

Work has been progressing for several years but the three year period from 2012 to 2015, will see some of the most visible changes occuring. This will involve the demolishing of Tayside House, former home to Dundee City Council, the Olym-pia Leisure Centre and the construction of a new railway station.

The site vacated by the Olympia will be transformed into the V&A at Dundee, the jewel in the crown of Dundee’s Waterfront regeneration. The £45 mil-lion V&A at Dundee building, has been designed by the Japanese architects Kengo Kuma & Associates and is due to open in 2015 and will place Dundee fi rmly on the international cultural map.

Opportunities for developers, investors and a wide range of business ventures still exist in what is shaping up to be one of Western Europe’s most extensive and transformative waterfront projects.

The recent announcement that the Malmaison Hotel Group has signed a long term lease to transform the Tay Hotel into a landmark waterfront hotel, is testimony to increasing investor confi dence in the city.

The city landscape is changing. One third of the £1 billion investment has already been committed, 7,000 jobs are anticipated to be created and it is already clear that this ambitious project will sym-bolise the contribution of a generation to transform the city of Dundee- a city which has a real sense of ambition and direction, and is defi nitely changing for the future.

Dundee Waterfront’s Transformation

David K Dorward, Chief ExecutiveDundee City Council


For over 800 years, the Port of Dundee has quietly gone about its business but this thriving port on the Tay is one of the largest economic generators in the City.

Not only has the port been recognised as a key player in Dundee’s renewables future but it is Scotland’s main agricultural hub with over 250,000 tonnes of agricultural products moving through the Port annually. It is the key location for the inspection, repair and maintenance of Jackup and Semisubmersible drilling rigs and sup-port vessels; and is home to Swedish giant Nynas, the world-leading manufacturer of specialty oils and Bitumen products, which annually processes 750,000 tonnes of product for the Scottish Market and wider export.

The Port is one of eight owned by Forth Ports Limited including Leith and Grangemouth on the Forth and Tilbury on the Thames. Dundee, like its sister port in Leith, has been identified by Scottish Enterprise as one of Scotland’s top locations for renewables manufacturing under the National Renewables Infrastructure Plan and is within the Scottish Government’s recently-announced Low Carbon Renewables East Enterprise Area. To further add to Dundee’s renewables credentials, a Memorandum of Understanding between the port and SSE plc, Dundee City Council and Scot-tish Enterprise was signed in 2011 with the goal of supporting SSE in establishing a competitive supply chain for its offshore wind development programme. All these opportunities strengthens Dundee’s status as a key renewables hub which will bring significant economic investment and prosper-ity to the City.

Charles Hammond, Chief Executive of Forth Ports says: “Our ports play a key role in supporting Scotland’s economy and we have had a remarkable

level of enquiries about the opportunities that the Port of Dundee presents for businesses involved in the offshore renewables industry. We are com-mitted to making Dundee a success in this sector and we are working hard to bring businesses to the City.”

Forth Ports and SSE also have a joint venture project, Forth Energy, which is charged with the development of three wood-fuelled combined heat and electricity plants at the Ports of Leith, Grangemouth and Dundee representing a £1.1bil-lion investment generating a total of 300MW of electricity and 260MW of heat. The Dundee plant is currently progressing through the planning process and is expected to add £26million into the local economy, create 500 construction jobs and 70 permanent jobs. The heat and electricity output from the plant could provide the heat and power requirements for the City’s waterfront, thousands of homes and many port customers, including Nynas.

Alongside the Port’s renewables activities, the port is recognised by the North Sea Oil and Gas industry as an important base for major rig con-struction and servicing. The Rowan Norway drill-ing rig recently left the City after five months of preparations for its first contract in the Bentley Oil Fields. The deep water facilities at the port make it attractive for the large jack-up rig and support vessel activity that the port regularly sees.

Dundee is the major agricultural hub for the east coast of Scotland and handles a wide range of bulk materials including mineral salts, animal feeds and fertilizers for use across Scotland. The Port also plays its part in the whisky industry with its specialist in-port Grain Drying facility process-ing around 70,000 tonnes of local Scottish grain for the industry.

The Port also hosts a range of offshore manu-facturing businesses and is a strong player in the

provision of services for the Forest Products indus-tries who utilise woodpulp for the paper sector and construction timber products. The Port has been the base for the oil refinery operated by Nynas for 20 years although there has been a refinery on site since 1931. The deep water quays easily accom-

modate the Large Crude Oil Carriers and other tanker vessels that the refinery needs to operate, managing hundreds of vessel movements per year.

The future of the Port of Dundee looks bright and looks set to continue to play its part in the success of the City.

Port of Dundee is Quay in the Renewables Race commeRcial RePoRt: PoRt of DunDee

Dundee’s Port

Welcome to the new DundeeMany people have warm memories of Dundee as a city built on the famous trio of ‘jute, jam and journal-ism’, says Mike Galloway, City Development Director, Dundee City Council.

Today, Dundee is a very different city — one that can be defined by the ‘invest-ment, innovation and intelligence’ that is radically transforming the geography and economy of the city and the surrounding Tayside area.

In terms of investment, the £1 billion Dundee Waterfront Development project is radically changing the city, reconnect-ing it with the River Tay for the first time in decades.

Dundee Waterfront is now one of the UK’s top 20 regeneration projects, putting it into the same division as London’s Olympic Park, Greenwich

Peninsula and Wembley City. The project is attracting major inward investment, new compa-nies and new industries.

These include the flagship V&A at Dundee project which, before construction has started, is already acting as a catalyst for economic development and is expected to draw up to half a million visitors a year. Major

hotel groups are being attracted to the site, including Malmaison, which will soon open a 91-bedroom hotel in a landmark, listed building.

The regeneration project is creating new opportunities for innovation on five distinctive development zones, stretch-ing along five miles of Tay waterfront. Around the port area, international energy companies have been quick to grasp the potential for providing manu-facturing, assembly and maintenance

services to Scotland’s rapidly growing offshore wind industry.

Dundee has long been recognised as a great city for education, learning and intel-ligence and was recently listed among the top ten ‘cleverest cities on the planet’. New industries in life sciences, biotechnology and video games are setting the pace for intelligence, both artificial and applied. These are attracting highly talented people from all over the world, many of whom are keen to pursue their careers in one of the most progressive and exciting cities in the UK, if not Europe.

Dundee is a major engine of economic development and is making a dramatic and positive impact on the local and national economies. Together, our projects are predicted to generate up to 7000 jobs while creating Scotland’s first sustainable community.

Come and share in our ambition — and our success.

ties. It is akin to a fully fledged biophar-maceuticals company embedded in a uni-versity, an efficient way for establishing if basic research discoveries offer potential targets for drugs.

“Doing professional drug discovery in-house adds value to basic science and allows us to show opportunities to such as GSK at a more advanced stage than other universities may,” Mr Ferguson said.

Backed by a dedicated fund, DDU is working with Edinburgh-based TPP

Global Development to develop a port-folio of commercial opportunities based on research discoveries worldwide to put through early stage drug discovery in Dundee.

CLS has strong relationships with local biotechnology companies. “It’s part of our mission to generate and support jobs,” said Mr Ferguson.

CLS also hosts start-ups. A partnership between American biotech Stemgent and the Scottish Institute of CeLL Signalling

at UoD saw the creation of biochemical reagents company Ubiquigent, which has based itself at CLS to be near the laboratory of Professor Sir Philip Cohen, a researcher of world stature.

Said Ferguson: “We can pre-incubate companies. They pay a rental, but achieve a good return through access to technol-ogy, equipment and facilities.”

Other star draws include Professor Dario Alessi at the Medical Research

continued on page 11


Business Insight10

A new battery of ideas for trading in AfricacommerciAl report: SDi

When talking to a Dundee-based battery manu-facturer, you don’t expect the conversation to

turn to safaris in southern Africa, but then again Axeon is Europe’s largest independent designer and manufac-turer of lithium-ion battery systems – the type of batteries that power everything from power tools to Land Rover Defenders that are used to drive tourists round game reserves.

“The Land Rover was ordered by Jaguar Land Rover, South Africa, for the Londolozi game reserve in South Africa who not only wanted a vehicle with a minimal carbon footprint but also one that allowed the tourists to get close to the animals – and what better way to do that than in a vehicle that creates no engine noise,” said Rebecca Tren-gove, Axeon’s Head of Marketing and Corporate Affairs.

“Although the Defender is only a prototype it is believed that there is a market for this type of vehicle within South Africa’s growing wild-life tourism market and we are an-ticipating further orders from Jaguar Land Rover” added Trengove.

It was working with Scottish Develop-ment International (SDI) that initially helped Axeon pursue the opportunity with Jaguar Land Rover, South Africa. “We have been working closely with SDI over the years,” said Trengove. She was also quick to point out that SDI had assisted Axeon not only with exporting but also with the company’s overseas supply chain management.

SDI, which is a joint venture between the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise was formed to assist in the growth of the Scottish economy by en-couraging inward investment and aiding Scottish- companies create and develop international trade.

Tony Baker of SDI reinforced what Rebecca Trengove had said about the organisation supporting Scottish com-panies with every aspect of its overseas business. “We help companies identify overseas markets, assist them in estab-lishing contacts within these countries and stage regular trade missions for Scot-tish businesses to countries as diverse as the United States and Russia. Where we can also assist, as we did with Axeon, is support companies with their overseas supply management to help eradicate quality and other issues that can arise due to different working practices.”

He continued, “In addition to this, we offer a package of free export training support to new and existing exporters to help them break into international markets. This support is delivered as part of the Smart Exporter programme; an international trade skills development initiative designed to improve the exporting performance of Scottish businesses. The programme is created through investment by SDI, Scottish Chambers of Commerce and the European Social Fund.”

Many of the compo-nents that Axeon uses in the construction of its bat-teries are produced in the Far East and China and to ensure that issues regard-ing both the supply and quality of the components were minimised Axeon sought the assistance of SDI to allow a supply chain manager to be employed in the Far East to work with suppliers in developing their quality standards.

In addition to producing batteries that power Land Rovers in Africa,

Axeon has also established a strategic partnership with America’s A123 Sys-tems, in the production of a battery for a hybrid European super car – details of which are still firmly under wraps. “This is another partnership that was developed with the assistance of SDI,” pointed out Trengove.

In addition to exporting to the US, Axeon also has markets in Spain,

Germany, Switzerland and Scandi-navia.

“Working with SDI has certainly helped in the development of strate-gic partnerships and the creation of quality standards with our suppliers. Within our business plan we had a clear vision of what we wanted to achieve and they helped us achieve that goal,” said Trengove.

the battery powered Defender used to take tourists round a South African game reserve

Smart Exporter is an international trade skills development programme designed to increase exporting skills and knowledge amongst Scottish businesses. This initiative is funded by Scottish Development International (SDI), Scottish Chambers of Commerce (SCC) and the European Social Fund (ESF).

Open doors to overseas markets

An important regional business event will take place in Glasgow to hear how the UK Government, Scottish Government, HSBC and PwC, as well as other intermediaries and agencies can help businesses to expand and encourage exporting and growth.

You will hear fi rst-hand from businesses who have successfully exported, and how they continue to grow and succeed in the current market conditions. Export help and advice will also be available to help your business break into new international markets.

To register or for more info visit www.regionalexportforgrowth.com or contact the Event Support Team on +44 (0)115 947 5666

Closing date for registration is 24th March 2012

NATIONAL CHALLENGE: EXPORTING FOR GROWTH29th March, Radisson Blu, Glasgow (8.45-1.00pm)

the times | Tuesday March 27 2012 11

Dundee is transforming, driven by the ambitious V&A and Waterfront projects, a nimble and thriving computer games cluster, research

excellence in life sciences, and a positive attitude of collaboration right across the city.

Applied education, skills develop-ment and close links with the business community are at the heart of this pro-gress, with the University of Abertay Dundee focused on giving graduates the ability to step straight into a busi-ness and be productive from day one. Increasingly, these graduates also look to start their own companies.

One of Abertay’s core strengths is computer games education, with stu-dents travelling from across the world to study in Dundee. The university launched the world’s first Computer Games Technology degree in 1997, and today these students follow in the footsteps of the creators of Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto.

“We’ve always taken a different approach to our education,” says Professor Louis Natanson, who leads

computer games education at Abertay University. “It started with the early courses, where we listened closely to what the local games companies needed. How they work really closely guided how we teach, and as the industry has changed so have our courses.”

Abertay’s greatest claim to fame is that Dave Jones, who created global hits Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto, learned his programming skills there. Professor Natanson taught him and many of his contemporaries, who went on to change the world’s games industry from tiny offices in Dundee. Indeed, today many of those early pioneers now teach on the Abertay courses or mentor local young com-panies.

“Computer games is a fascinating in-dustry which is seeing major changes. In many ways, it’s coming back to its roots as a profession open to highly talented small teams,” Natanson adds. “Being able to build an iPhone or Fa-cebook game and sell it yourself is an incredible shift in the market, which opens up huge new opportunities for start-ups – and for investors looking to

back the next Angry Birds.”That same technology is also being

harnessed at Abertay to solve problems in cancer drug discovery, climate change and environmental science. Using high-powered games graphics lets scientists from different disciplines share their research visually, and engages policymakers by clearly com-municating very complex data.

Applied learning with a real social and economic impact doesn’t stop there. Local SMEs have been helped to cut their environmental impact through the ACE Eco-Partnerships initiative, which developed solutions to allow a company’s waste to be used for good by a neighbouring firm – such as for heat generation.

Abertay is also home to the Urban Water Technology Centre, which carries out research and consultancy work on wastewater and environ-mental management, and the Food Innovation at Abertay service for food businesses looking to analyse and test products before they go to market.

These centres are also comple-mented by the Scotland Food & Drink Skills Academy, which is hosted at Abertay. The academy was set up with the backing of the Scottish Govern-ment to provide the skills the nation’s multi-billion pound food and drink industry needs to keep growing.

“Collaboration between differ-ent subject areas, and between the university and key industries like food and drink, has to be at the core of our

approach so we continue making a difference to our students’ lives and to the local and national economy,” explains Dr Nia White, Head of the School of Contemporary Sciences. “And to solve the serious scientific problems facing the world, we need creativity and experts from different disciplines all working together.”

Although a very modern university, Abertay’s roots lie back in the 1880s, when the then Dundee Technical Institute provided applied, industry-focused training for the local textiles industry. Today that same practical focus remains, even if the world has moved from jute to computer games.www.abertay.ac.uk

Education for a global digital futurecommErcial rEport: aBErtaY UNiVErSitY

With business opportunities and scientific challenges rapidly changing, the University of Abertay Dundee is taking a different approach to education

Futuristic museum a creative showcase

V&A at Dundee is stepping up the pace of development as the dream museum moves towards reality. The

core management team is in place. The business plan is being refined. In-house and outreach education programmes are under discussion. “In recent months we’re moved to implementation,” director Philip Long said.

The futuristic museum will showcase Scottish design, creativity and innovation and generate commercial confidence and investment while underlining Dundee’s resources for develop-ing business and for lifestyle.

With £15 million committed by government, “significant progress” is being made toward achieving its £45 million target, he said. Other applications have been made to UK National Lottery and European Union funding sources.

A campaign to raise funds from private sources, individual donors, trusts and foundations is develop-ing. “Discussions are heartening,” Mr Long said. “There is real enthusiasm. Even in straitened

times, a project such as this can contribute to confidence and activity in many areas.”

With an aspiration to open in 2015, regional busi-ness — retailers and wider indus-try — are being encouraged to consider how they can optimise the benefits. 500,000 visitors are forecast in the first year.

V&A at Dundee and VisitScotland, the tourism agency, recently met local authority chief executives from neighbouring Perth & Kinross, Fife, and Angus to discuss those opportunities.

Philip Long says discussions over funds are heartening

Council’s (MRC) Protein Phosphoryla-tion Unit (PPU) where 160 staff study the molecular basis of diseases including cancer and Parkinson’s disease. This generates ideas for drug companies

“Some say we are a model for how academic research should interact with drug companies,” Prof Alessi said. “We do things more at cost. It’s an exciting way to translate our research and for recruit-ing talented people who want to work at the interface between industry and academic groups. My lab has 16 people and almost everyone comes from a different country. It’s a great strength of Dundee. We have 1,000 researchers in our building and they come from 70 nationalities.”

Under the banner of the Division of Signal Transduction Therapy (DSTT), PPU’s collaboration with CLS and drugs companies — including GSK, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Boehringer Ingelheim currently — has been running since 1998 and is about to be renewed for another four years from July with more companies coming on board.”

It is a remarkable length of time for

such a collaboration to have run. “We were concerned that it might be hard to renew the agreement,” Alessi said. “So we were pleasantly surprised to find people queuing up.”

One reason for drug company enthu-siasm could be that each pays £500,000 a year but gets access to the technology and biochemical reagents stemming from 160 researchers as well as a response to requests for information.

“It’s very good value for them,” Alessi said. “It’s a simple model. We just want to do science and help companies.”

Scientists worldwide can also con-tact the PPU for technical advice. Alessi

hopes to set up a website making its reagents and expertise more readily avail-able to not-commercial researchers world-wide if the paperwork involved in moving biological materials across relevant borders can be speeded up.

“I think it would be good for Dundee. People would find out more about the science that we are doing and it might make them think about coming to work here in the future.”

From a scientist who wants to be the Amazon.com of advanced drug research, to the prospect of offshore windmills being constructed along the waterfront, Dundee is changing for the future.

Public art on Riverside Drive exemplifies the spirit of reinvention in Dundee

Professor Dario Alessi says his team at the Medical Research Council is a diverse talent pool from many countries

continued from page 9

A new battery of ideas for trading in AfricacommerciAl report: SDi

When talking to a Dundee-based battery manu-facturer, you don’t expect the conversation to

turn to safaris in southern Africa, but then again Axeon is Europe’s largest independent designer and manufac-turer of lithium-ion battery systems – the type of batteries that power everything from power tools to Land Rover Defenders that are used to drive tourists round game reserves.

“The Land Rover was ordered by Jaguar Land Rover, South Africa, for the Londolozi game reserve in South Africa who not only wanted a vehicle with a minimal carbon footprint but also one that allowed the tourists to get close to the animals – and what better way to do that than in a vehicle that creates no engine noise,” said Rebecca Tren-gove, Axeon’s Head of Marketing and Corporate Affairs.

“Although the Defender is only a prototype it is believed that there is a market for this type of vehicle within South Africa’s growing wild-life tourism market and we are an-ticipating further orders from Jaguar Land Rover” added Trengove.

It was working with Scottish Develop-ment International (SDI) that initially helped Axeon pursue the opportunity with Jaguar Land Rover, South Africa. “We have been working closely with SDI over the years,” said Trengove. She was also quick to point out that SDI had assisted Axeon not only with exporting but also with the company’s overseas supply chain management.

SDI, which is a joint venture between the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise was formed to assist in the growth of the Scottish economy by en-couraging inward investment and aiding Scottish- companies create and develop international trade.

Tony Baker of SDI reinforced what Rebecca Trengove had said about the organisation supporting Scottish com-panies with every aspect of its overseas business. “We help companies identify overseas markets, assist them in estab-lishing contacts within these countries and stage regular trade missions for Scot-tish businesses to countries as diverse as the United States and Russia. Where we can also assist, as we did with Axeon, is support companies with their overseas supply management to help eradicate quality and other issues that can arise due to different working practices.”

He continued, “In addition to this, we offer a package of free export training support to new and existing exporters to help them break into international markets. This support is delivered as part of the Smart Exporter programme; an international trade skills development initiative designed to improve the exporting performance of Scottish businesses. The programme is created through investment by SDI, Scottish Chambers of Commerce and the European Social Fund.”

Many of the compo-nents that Axeon uses in the construction of its bat-teries are produced in the Far East and China and to ensure that issues regard-ing both the supply and quality of the components were minimised Axeon sought the assistance of SDI to allow a supply chain manager to be employed in the Far East to work with suppliers in developing their quality standards.

In addition to producing batteries that power Land Rovers in Africa,

Axeon has also established a strategic partnership with America’s A123 Sys-tems, in the production of a battery for a hybrid European super car – details of which are still firmly under wraps. “This is another partnership that was developed with the assistance of SDI,” pointed out Trengove.

In addition to exporting to the US, Axeon also has markets in Spain,

Germany, Switzerland and Scandi-navia.

“Working with SDI has certainly helped in the development of strate-gic partnerships and the creation of quality standards with our suppliers. Within our business plan we had a clear vision of what we wanted to achieve and they helped us achieve that goal,” said Trengove.

the battery powered Defender used to take tourists round a South African game reserve

Smart Exporter is an international trade skills development programme designed to increase exporting skills and knowledge amongst Scottish businesses. This initiative is funded by Scottish Development International (SDI), Scottish Chambers of Commerce (SCC) and the European Social Fund (ESF).

Open doors to overseas markets

An important regional business event will take place in Glasgow to hear how the UK Government, Scottish Government, HSBC and PwC, as well as other intermediaries and agencies can help businesses to expand and encourage exporting and growth.

You will hear fi rst-hand from businesses who have successfully exported, and how they continue to grow and succeed in the current market conditions. Export help and advice will also be available to help your business break into new international markets.

To register or for more info visit www.regionalexportforgrowth.com or contact the Event Support Team on +44 (0)115 947 5666

Closing date for registration is 24th March 2012

NATIONAL CHALLENGE: EXPORTING FOR GROWTH29th March, Radisson Blu, Glasgow (8.45-1.00pm)

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