At the invitation of Chic Brodie MSP, a team of Strathclyde researchers from the EU funded FutureSME project presented at the Scottish Parliament on October 23.
FutureSME is an eight million Euro project to produce a sustainable business model for future manufacturing SMEs. Strathclyde leads the international consortium of 26 partners which includes 13 manufacturing SMEs, research and development organisations as well as support agencies from eight European countries.
This month’s event brought together politicians, industry leaders and academics with the aim of exploring how Scottish manufacturing firms, particularly SMEs, should be supported in their future development. Fergus Ewing, MSP, Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism, also attended the event.
It provided an opportunity to debate critical concerns of the Scottish manufacturing sector in the light of the findings and recommendations of the FutureSME project with the intention that the debate will help shape the future manufacturing support policies and programmes in Scotland.