Aberdeen City & Shire has been through a shock, these past three years. While the 4th industrial revolution is high on the agenda at this morning’s Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce (AGCC) SPE Offshore Europe 2017 business breakfast, we asked CEO Russell Borthwick what of the broader region, it’s health and outlook?
“Since the 1960s, the regional economy has been driven by North Sea oil and the establishment of Aberdeen as a leading global hub,” he says. “This has been both a good and a bad thing, delivering significant wealth but also creating a bubble which created a sense of complacency, leading to inertia, and inhibited the growth of other potentially strong sectors such as food, drink and agriculture, tourism and life sciences.
“The oil price reduction and the resultant restructuring of the sector has had significant impact on both oil and gas operators and their direct supply chain but also on the wider support economy. Our local economy suffered a shock, but it is still fundamentally strong.
“We are at a key crossroads and businesses of all shapes and sizes are adjusting to a ‘new norm’, but it is one that is still the envy of many places in the UK today and there is a clear plan in place for the future.
“There are currently over £8 billion of live infrastructure projects underway and progress with plans to re-invigorate our key sectors, while seeking to maximise the remaining reserves of North Sea oil and gas and anchoring the supply chain here; selling our expertise to other world energy nations long after the operational phase is over.
“To enable our economic renaissance vision to be realised, we need people and organisations to bring investment, innovation, skills and jobs here; and to retain those we already have.”