Discover what the North East Scotland region offers your business
The North East Scotland region is recognised globally as a centre of excellence in energy, always evolving and building on decades of expertise to drive the transition to a low carbon future.
The region is consistently ranked among the UK’s leading locations for foreign direct investment, supported by a highly skilled talent pool, world class research base and well connected business ecosystem.
Key sectors and opportunities
North East Scotland is a vibrant, entrepreneurial region offering a unique mix of business opportunities and specialist skills across key sectors including energy, digital tech, life sciences and food, drink and agriculture
Energy transition
Here, you'll find The Acorn Project, one of the UK’s most advanced carbon capture and storage developments, and The Energy Transition Zone (ETZ), which provides market ready development sites and is creating a globally competitive hub for offshore wind, hydrogen, carbon capture and energy transition supply chains.
This is supported by facilities such as the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC), one of Scotland’s largest offshore wind test and demonstration facilities, Hywind Scotland, the world’s first commercial scale floating offshore wind farm, and Moray East Offshore Windfarm. Scotwind leasing round represents one of the largest offshore wind development programmes globally, with a substantial proportion of projects located off the North East coast.
Digital technology
Digital tech is a key growth sector in the region and it remains one of Europe’s most significant energy technology clusters, increasingly recognised for its strengths in climate tech, AI-enabled industrial innovation, clean energy systems and digital transformation, supporting the transition to net zero.
The region’s ecosystem is anchored by the ONE Tech Hub, which supports start-ups and scaling businesses through entrepreneurial programmes, collaboration space and investor access. Alongside this, the new North East Scotland Investment Zone is accelerating growth in green industries and digital technology and aims to support projects linked to advanced digital infrastructure and clean energy innovation.
Health tech
The Foresterhill Health Campus remains one of Europe’s largest integrated clinical, research and teaching campuses, bringing together NHS Grampian, the University of Aberdeen and industry partners in precision medicine, diagnostics, biotechnology and clinical research.
ONE BioHub supports commercialisation and entrepreneurial growth in life sciences by connecting researchers, start-ups and industry with specialist facilities and business support.
The NHS Research Scotland Permissions Coordinating Centre provides streamlined approvals and coordination for Scotland-wide clinical research studies, helping position the North East Scotland region as a strong location for health innovation and multi-centre clinical trials.
Food, drink and agritech innovation
The James Hutton Institute is one of Europe’s leading research organisations for crops, soils, land use and environmental science and recent investment includes development of the Just Transition Hub, a collaborative innovation facility.
The Rowett Institute researches the relationship between food, diet and human health, in particular how food and nutrition can help prevent disease and ill health.
ONE SeedPod is a £27 million food and drink innovation hub that supports advanced manufacturing, product development and scale-up production for the sector. The Aberdeen-based facility includes commercial grade manufacturing kitchens, pilot production facilities and business incubation space designed to strengthen North East Scotland’s £2.2 billion food and drink economy.
Your support from Invest Aberdeen
Grow your business in this region with Invest Aberdeen support. It's a single point of contact for businesses and investors to establish themselves and excel in one of the UK’s most prosperous regions.
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All regional investment partners
Our regional investment partners offer tailored support, sector opportunities, and access to incentives and skilled talent.
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Energy Transition Zone (ETZ)
Scotland’s largest energy transition complex offers net zero, hydrogen, offshore wind, and carbon capture opportunities. These drive manufacturing, innovation, and skills.
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Fennex innovates Scotland’s energy transition with AI
Fennex showcases Scotland’s energy transition and technology capabilities on the world stage, using the cloud and artificial intelligence (AI).
Want to find out more about investing in the North East Scotland region?
If you'd like to hear more about why the North East Scotland region might be suitable for your business, our specialist team will be pleased to help you.