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Supporting

ScotlandÕs

Growing Businesses

By Jack Perry, Chief Executive, Scottish Enterprise 

Ò	Our general R&D (Research and Development) grant, for example, has invested £35m in 33 projects and stimulated 

B

uilding a strong company base in Scotland is one of our biggest challenges and will become even more important in the coming year as we continue to face uncertainty in global market conditions. 
We know that companies across Scotland are facing very specific challenges arising from the economic slow down. 
Recent changes to Scottish Enterprise mean that we are now, more than ever, able to respond quickly and effectively to the needs of our customers to help them address these challenges head on while also trying to ensure they are in the best position possible to respond when the markets The Scottish Government has given us a very clear remit as ScotlandÕs enterprise, innovation and investment agency and we are focused on supporting high value business growth and helping to build an internationally competitive business environment which helps to support the growth of ScotlandÕs key industries. 
We aim to work intensively with more than 1,900 companies over the coming year Ð a 10% increase compared to last year. This will include working closely with them to try to understand their needs and deliver tailored support and specialist expertise that will help them to improve efficiency, support new product and process development