Introduction to Economic Development
Glasgow City Council's Economic Development team is responsible for delivering the city's Economic Strategy, which defines the actions we are taking to deliver an inclusive, sustainable and more productive economy for our city.
The division has a wide-ranging remit with teams working in collaboration with city partners to deliver our goals. More information on the various teams within the division is below.
Business Glasgow
Business Glasgow offers support to entrepreneurs, SMEs and social enterprises across the city.
The team’s objective is to help new businesses start trading, support existing businesses to grow, and to provide ongoing guidance to organisations with alternative ownership models. This is achieved principally through a dedicated advisory service, bolstered by a range of support and funding programmes.
SMEs are the lifeblood of the Glasgow economy, and the Business Glasgow team makes supporting them their number one priority.
Employability
Glasgow Futures is the city’s all-age, holistic employability programme. In 2024/25 it supported over 5,000 people using over £18m of investment blending funding from a variety of sources which includes Scottish Government No One Left Behind funding, the UK Shared Prosperity Fund from, and core Council investment.
It targets those furthest from the labour market and addresses in-work poverty by helping individuals in low-paid or insecure jobs to progress. The programme is governed by the Local Employability Partnership (LEP), chaired by Glasgow City Council and comprising public, private, and third-sector partners.
The current programme provides specialist tailored support on a 1-2-1 basis in response to the needs of the individual. Over 40 public and third sector organisations work in collaboration to deliver over 30 projects or interventions that support individuals through a no-wrong door approach. Details of support can be found in the Project Directory.
The Employability team, in collaboration with the Grants and Monitoring team, supports the design, commissioning, management and reporting of the Glasgow Futures programme. The team is responsible for delivering on agendas that have been set by the LEP in the context of the Glasgow Economic Strategy and national No Only Left Behind policy.
Other areas of focus include ensuring that the city is equipped with the skills pathways that address the current and future needs of industry in the context of the just transition.
Invest Glasgow
Invest Glasgow is the city’s inward investment team whose goal it is to attract new foreign direct investment (FDI) as well as capital investment to Glasgow to support the city economy. They act as a single point of contact to inward investors and provide a range of support including property searches to help investors find a home in the city, market intelligence via the website and most recently, new soft landing space incentive for newly arrived inward investors.
The team is dedicated to encouraging and assisting all types of inward investment especially in key sectors, while promoting the Glasgow metropolitan area as one of the most investor and business-friendly locations in both the UK and Europe.
Green Economy, Innovation & International
The Green Economy, Innovation and International team oversees these three key areas of our economic agenda:
Green Economy: Economic Development works closely with partners and businesses to support the transition to and growth of a green economy. It looks to ensure that an inclusive and sustainable economy contributes to the city’s Climate Plan and the delivery of its net zero carbon emissions target by 2030.
Innovation: Glasgow is committed to becoming one of the most innovative places in the UK by 2030. Colleagues in Economic Development work with a range of key partners from the academic and business communities to support the growth and development of the innovation ecosystem in the city.
International: Economic Development continues to lead on international links and global urban partnerships for the Council. It is ensuring a coordinated and strategic approach to our engagement through the International Strategy. This looks to deepen and enhance our city diplomacy to create prosperity in communities across the city.
Digital Economy
The purpose of the Digital Economy function is to maximise the benefits of leveraging digital technology to support a sustainable and growing economy as identified in both the Glasgow Digital Strategy and the Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review by:
- Improving the availability, capacity, and quality of digital connectivity
- Developing the pipeline of digital skills, providing opportunities for all
- Identifying opportunities and designing interventions to promote, build and enable the rapidly growing regional tech ecosystem.
Glasgow’s digital economy, digital skills, and digital infrastructure are all recognised as key enablers for addressing the grand challenges outlined in Glasgow's Strategic Plan.
Grants and Monitoring
The Grants and Monitoring Team is responsible for three workstreams:
- Delivering the end-to-end process of the Glasgow Communities Fund (GCF) which provides direct grant support to third sector organisations in support of the Council’s strategic priority of ‘reducing poverty and inequality in our communities’;
- Delivering the end-to-end process of Glasgow’s Holiday Programme which supports third sector organisations to provide programmes of activity and food to Glasgow’s young people during the school holidays; and
- Managing the recording and reporting of participant data for the Glasgow Futures Employability Programme.
Glasgow Film Office
Glasgow Film Office is the city’s dedicated film commission service, promoting Glasgow as a dynamic and versatile location for film and TV production.
The team works closely with incoming productions to support community engagement, assist with location scouting and permissions, and help navigate the logistics of filming in the city.
They also track the economic impact of production activity, highlighting the value it brings to Glasgow’s local economy.
Strategic Projects
The purpose of the Strategic Projects team is to:
- Work across Economic Development to support the delivery of strategic goals.
- Develop and deliver projects that don't naturally sit with other Economic Development teams.
- Collaborate with other Council services on cross-cutting projects.
- Identify and implement new and innovative ways of working and promote qualitative and quantitative data-driven decision making.
Shared Prosperity Fund
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) Team oversee the Glasgow programme of activities aimed at delivering key economic priorities across the city, supporting local and regional developments to facilitate economic growth.
Glasgow City Council is one of the 8 local authorities in the Glasgow City Region delivering UKSPF with the other seven local authorities across the West of Scotland, a regional collaboration, unique in Scotland, that funds a mix of capital and revenue projects.
The UKSPF team are responsible for supporting project leads with the development of projects, eligibility queries and meeting the reporting requirements for UK Government.
Marketing and Communications
The Marketing and Communications team is responsible for working across Economic Development to promote all services and programmes offered by the division, as well as supporting cross-service and city marketing initiatives.
This includes managing and updating three websites - the Economic Development content on glasgow.gov.uk, Invest Glasgow and Business Glasgow. We also help to create and distribute three e-newsletters - Invest Glasgow, Business Glasgow and Glasgow Futures - and several social media channels across LinkedIn, X and Facebook.
In addition, we help to support key events such as UKREiiF, and are also responsible for the production of a number of Economic Development's key publications.
