I welcomed Scottish Enterprise's strong investment track record while making the case that we must do more to help innovative businesses scale up. I highlight LumiAIres, a Glasgow start-up in my constituency developing highly efficient neuromorphic photonic AI chips, as a brilliant example of Scotland's innovation potential, and I invite the cabinet secretary to visit the company.

I have called for a stronger investment environment so that capital, jobs, and intellectual property stay in Scotland. In doing so, I am pleased to back the Scottish Government's plans for a major projects office, a high-growth unit, and a new Scottish innovation fund to help our start-ups scale up, stay rooted here, and succeed globally while returning value to the Scottish public purse.

Full Speech

Bob Doris (Glasgow Kelvin and Maryhill) (SNP)

I was keen to speak in this afternoon’s debate to talk about how the Scottish Government, along with key partners, can do all that it can to support hugely talented individuals and businesses that are innovative and often at the cutting edge of their sectors to flourish and remain based in Scotland, while having a vibrant international reach and achieving success.

Supporting such businesses is one way in which Scotland can continue to maintain and strengthen our position as the most attractive place in the UK for inward investment outside London and the south-east. However, we can both celebrate success such as that inward investment track record and be clear that we must always strive to do much more. We can do that in a cross-party, collegiate way.

I am sure that we would all welcome the fact that Scottish Enterprise supported projects over the past five years, up to March 2025, to create or safeguard around 90,000 jobs and bring £4.6 billion of capital investment to Scotland. However, by the same token, I suggest that Scottish Enterprise can, despite its impressive performance, still do better. I am open to suggestions in the debate about what more it can do.

I want to use my speech to highlight one of Scotland’s success stories. The motion speaks of making

“Scotland the best place to invest and to do business”.

I will give a Glasgow example. I recently met my constituent David Campbell, who, along with his business partners, is a co-founder of LumiAIres. The meeting was hugely beneficial. I learned that LumiAIres is building the world’s most efficient and advanced neuromorphic photonic processor chips, so that artificial intelligence can run anywhere, in every environment, on earth and in orbit, with minimal power, no cooling and entirely on-device. That world-leading technology is in my city of Glasgow.

LumiAIres is a Scottish company working on global problems, and Scotland got it started. Scottish EDGE, which is a great example of partnership funding, Scottish Enterprise, Space Scotland and Innovate UK have all backed it. It is strong partnership funding.

David Campbell believes that our innovation ecosystem is doing its job very well. However, we must also ensure that we are equally equipped to support scale-ups. That is vital.

All the key ingredients exist in Scotland to support scale-ups. We have the universities, the scientists, the engineers and the innovative founders of many companies. Expansion and scale-up require significant capital. I am confident that our successful innovators and businesses will secure capital. However, we need to support an investment environment that enables that capital to be invested right here in Scotland. We also need capital investment that expands job numbers here in Scotland, rather than seeing investment move overseas, with intellectual property and the associated tax base going with it.

The Scottish Government’s programme for government indicates that there is to be a new major projects office

“to accelerate progress on … strategically significant investment and private capital projects … unlocking private investment across strategic sectors including housing and energy.”

On that front, LumiAIres’s neuromorphic photonic chips are 90 per cent more efficient than the silicon alternatives. With data centres and the energy that they use at play, that is strategically important not just for Scotland but for the world economy. I welcome that, and I hope that companies such as LumiAIres and other similar companies can benefit from the major projects office initiative.

It is positive that the Scottish Government will also establish a high-growth unit, as we have heard, working with senior industry leaders from the outset to accelerate support for high-potential businesses to scale, anchor themselves and grow in Scotland. That is hugely important.

It would be incredibly beneficial for the cabinet secretary to visit LumiAIres and discuss with its founders how the Government can continue to scale up such groundbreaking and innovative businesses. That would be an example of how the new high-growth unit could work with businesses to create a successful pathway not only for the company but for other businesses to continue to develop and flourish here in Scotland. I extend that invite to the cabinet secretary.

I was also pleased to hear, in the programme for government, about the development of the invest in Scotland portal and plans to work with partners to deliver a programme of investor events and summits, including a scale-up summit in 2027. We want to see positive outcomes from that. I also note that the Scottish National Investment Bank is to launch a Scottish innovation fund to promote university spin-outs and to leverage private capital.

I want to ensure that our fantastic start-ups and spin-outs are invested in so that they put down deep roots here in Scotland and have an international reach. That requires private investment, but I am also keen to know what more we can do with public sector investment and equity stakes so that, when businesses go global, we get a significant recoup of finances back in the Scottish public purse and we can invest in the next generation of business innovation. I support the Government’s motion, and I look forward to an exciting opportunity for Scottish businesses to go global.