Key facts

Overall, the environmental goods sector in Scotland is worth around £2.14 billion, and includes more than 1000 companies which employ 18,500 people

The low carbon sector in Scotland is estimated to be worth £3.76 billion, with more than 1,800 companies and over 32,000 employees

8 of Europe's top cleantech companies are based in Scotland

(Source : The Guardian/Library House CleanTech 100)

Scotland accounts for 8 percent of exports of the UK's clean technologies sector – which amounts to £845 million

Relatively speaking, Scotland has a high GVA in terms of carbon capture storage technologies

The Scottish Environmental Technology Network has an ever-growing number of member-organisations, most of which are engaged in clean technologies

Recovery and recycling, water and waste water and building technologies are Scotland's strongest export sub-sectors

Scotland produces so much energy from natural sources that it exports 15% of it out of the country

Scotland’s world-class academic system produces thousands of IT graduates every year

Huge multinational companies such as IBM, JP Morgan, Oracle, Fujitsu, Dell and NCR have all located major data centres in Scotland

Scotland is home to two of Europe’s leading electricity supply companies: ScottishPower and Scottish & Southern Energy

Scotland has an unrivalled choice of leading telecoms carriers

The Scottish Government leads the rest of the UK in the development of power from renewable energy sources

Scotland is up to 30 percent cheaper to setup and run an ICT and electronic technology facility than other parts of the UK

(Source : IBM Benchmarking tool, 2008)

The ICT and electronic technology industry accounts for over £13 billion per annum, which accounts for 14 percent of Scotland’s GDP

Wage rates are competitive here when compared to other western European locations – for example, salaries are typically 15-20 percent less than in South East England

The Scottish automotive industry comprises around 200 companies, 90 percent of which work in the intelligent transport systems area

More than 45 percent of Scottish automotive electronics companies design their own products or provide specialist high value services

There is a general trend towards increasing use of software, electronics and communications technology resulting in growth rates for sensors, electronics and on board devices

Predicted growth in the Scottish sector is 15 percent per annum, predominantly in high value niche application areas

(Source : Scottish Automotive Market Value Chain Analysis, Hillington Innovation Centres Ltd)

The premier trade association for the semiconductor industry in the UK and Ireland, the National Microelectronics Institute, is based outside of Edinburgh

Looking to invest in R&D? Scotland has some of the best companies for R&D investment in the UK, including Wolfson Electronics

The global microelectronics sector indirectly contributes to 10 percent of the world’s GDP

The world’s first camera on a computer chip and the world’s smallest television screen were both invented in Scotland

Nanoelectronic company clusters in Scotland are based around the Edinburgh-Glasgow central belt, due to the strength of electronics in this area, but Dundee is also an important area with life science capabilities

The Nexxus network of life science companies in the west of Scotland has promoted a number of spin offs from universities, including Xstalbio and Glycologic

Salaries in nanotechnology are dependent on skills - companies require graduates with an engineering degree, but many staff also have a masters degree that includes a mixture of specific skills

Many of the large companies engaged in Scotland's nanotechnology sector are foreign, whilst there are many smaller indigenous companies too

Scotland’s nanotechnology strengths lie in life sciences, electronics, food and sustainable technologies

Scotland, with only 10 per cent of the UK's population, attracts 34 per cent of the UK Government's optoelectronics research budget

Over 4000 people are employed in optoelectronics in Scotland

Scotland is home to over 450 world-class optoelectronics researchers

65% of Scotland's optoelectronics revenue comes from exporting products

Scotland's optoelectronics researchers are the seventh 'most quoted' in the world

Scotland's optoelectronics industry generates £800 million annually

Scottish researchers pioneered the first optical range finders in the 19th century

Scotland accounts for 50 per cent of all optoelectronics graduates in the UK

(Source : Scottish Optoelectronics Association, 2008)

Scotland registers the third most patents in the world in relation to GDP

Over 100 companies work in the security sector in Scotland

Scotland has particular strengths in intelligence, communications and data analysis

UK expenditure on IT security products and services grew by an estimated 13.7 percent in 2008 to £3.12 billion. If companies' internal spending on IT security is included, the figure rises to £4.37 billion

(Source : Key Note, IT Security, 2009)

Scotland has ground-breaking projects taking place in universities in the area of sensor platforms and wireless sensor networks

More than 1000 companies work in Scotland's software sector

More than 105,000 people are employed in Scotland's software industry

The value of Scotland’s software industry is approximately £4 billion

Over the past two years the birth rate of new companies has grown significantly

Scotland’s software strengths lie in wireless applications, financial software, embedded software and games development

Scotland provides software solution technologies to a variety of industries, including financial services, life sciences, energy and the public sector

Scotland's academic institutes boast world-class capabilities including: low-level hardware design, networking, middleware, wetware, artificial intelligence, human computer interaction and social informatics

The sector has seen year-on-year sales grow by 10-20 percent over the last 2 years

There are active technology transfer programs between academia and industry

The WHI project team have attracted 110 clients in the first year of their three year project

The majority of companies that Wellness and Health Innovation (WHI) work with are start ups or in the ideas stage which are trying to find routes to market

The early uptake of alarm sensors in West Lothian and in north and south Lanarkshire has helped to make Scotland the focus for trials of new social care alarm devices

There is an approximate 50:50 split between the number of indigenous and foreign companies in the sector

Glasgow and Strathclyde have the largest number of wireless clients in Scotland

Embryonic organisations are expected to grow as the number of i-Phone developers increases

The wireless sector in Scotland has companies at every stage of the maturity cycle - from embryonic start ups to developed, experienced companies