An Open Letter To Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes MSP and Business Minister Richard Lochhead MSP
The Scottish Games Network is celebrating the success and ambition of last week’s National Innovation Summit. The event you created – bringing together innovators, pioneers, business leaders, academia, and government – is hugely beneficial for Scotland’s future.
We were inspired by the Deputy First Minister’s clear and urgent call for “greater collaboration to support innovation at scale” and her vision for empowering people with the tools and freedom they need to succeed. We particularly welcome the focus on maximising the impact of existing support mechanisms and recognising the vital role of the private sector in driving innovation.
This vision is built on a strong foundation, and we recognise the success driven by initiatives including the Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review (STER), the Techscaler network, the National Innovation Strategy and the government’s unwavering support for entrepreneurship.
The Scottish games community has been working hard to deliver upon this shared vision for our future: Scotland’s Games Action Plan.
The Action Plan: A Proven Solution for Innovation
The Games Action Plan is the result of two years of intensive consultation, drawing input from over 350 individuals and dozens of companies.
It is a de-risked pilot designed to deliver your goals for Innovation at Scale and Collaboration by providing:
- A Unified Leadership Model: A structure designed to break down government silos and ensure strategic alignment with the Chief Entrepreneur and the STER agenda.
- Targeted High-ROI Investment: A funding strategy based on the proven success of existing models like the InGAME R&D centre and the UK Games Fund, ensuring public investment is leveraged for maximum private capital return.
- Integrated Business Support: A complete system to strategically link our high-value talent pipeline with existing infrastructure and specialist enterprise support, ensuring our incredibly productive sector delivers scale and sustainability.
- Cross-Sectoral Collaboration: A mechanism to foster the “unlikely alliances” of collaboration by systematically connecting the games ecosystem with key Innovation Centres like The Data Lab, CENSIS, the Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre and others.
The community has completed the work. The plan is a ready-to-implement strategic blueprint that requires no new bureaucracy, only political will to support an existing, proven engine of growth.
We look forward to formally presenting the complete plan, including detailed operational models and business case, at the Cross-Party Group on Scotland’s Games Ecosystem on Tuesday, November 18th, at the Scottish Parliament, and securing a commitment to this vital piece of national economic and creative policy.
Let’s make games a key sector for Scotland’s innovation agenda.