Welcome to Glasgow: A City and Region Accelerating Transformational Delivery
Glasgow City Region is one of the most investable, energetic, and future focused cities and regions in the UK — and the opportunity it offers right now is exceptional. It offers scale, talent, and momentum. It doesn’t just talk about transformation, it delivers it.
As Scotland’s largest economic region, with close to a million jobs, a third of Scotland’s business base and home to major research and innovation assets, it offers competitive and unrivalled operating environments for organisations to establish and scale at pace.
What sets Glasgow apart is its combination of affordability and ambition. You get the talent and connectivity of a major European city, but with operating costs, real estate values and partnership opportunities that stretch your investment further. And you get a city government and regional partners who are genuinely pro‑investment, pro‑development and ready to move at pace.
Why Glasgow
Our Ambition Headlines
Glasgow is aligning its strengths to become one of Europe’s most investable, connected, and ambitious economies. With the region on the threshold of an exciting and significant new phase our ambition is growing at pace.
Regional devolution
Following the announcement, in late 2025, from Scotland’s First Minister to support new legislation, Glasgow City Region is gearing up to implement a new devolution arrangement and provide a model for the rest of Scotland. This will give us further legal and administrative powers, and provide increased flexibility, enabling us to accelerate regional plans and investment.
Infrastructure and connectivity unlocking growth
Our £1.13bn City Deal, Scotland’s largest infrastructure programme, is already unlocking 10,000 new homes, attracting £2.76bn of private investment, and creating 16,000 jobs. Our DSIT-funded 5G project will improve public services while cutting costs for local authorities and the NHS. The proposed Clyde Metro mass transit system will bolster metropolitan connectivity and unlock growth potential across the region.
Our talent pipelines
Glasgow is a UNESCO Learning City. With 6 degree-granting institutions and 6 colleges, we have 185,000 students and 40,000 graduates each year and a high retention rate of 51%.
Our universities have created Scotland’s first Innovation Districts. Glasgow provides something every investor is looking for: a deep, reliable, future‑ready talent pipeline.
Net Zero embedded as a growth strategy
Glasgow is actively working towards becoming the first UK city to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2045.
Its leading pioneering climate investment models aimed at low carbon heat decarbonisation and retrofit in partnership with public and private sector partners.
The region has over 12,000 renewable energy sites producing over 4,000,000 MWh annually. Whitelee Windfarm in East Renfrewshire is Europe’s second largest onshore windfarm. GRENs £300 million South Clyde Energy Centre will be online later this year, and Glasgow’s Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre operated in partnership with Viridor produces enough energy to power the equivalent of 26,480 homes and heat the equivalent of 8,000 homes.
Innovation drives demand
The Region is leading the way in developing and applying cutting-edge technologies that drive the industries of the future. With a diverse economy that reflects the UK average, the Region has built strong capabilities in digital technology, advanced manufacturing, engineering, financial and professional services, creative industries, life sciences, and clean energy.
What truly sets Glasgow City Region apart is its ability to leverage these strengths across multiple sectors, boosting productivity and fostering innovation-led growth. By embedding advanced digital tools, automation, and AI into all sectors, the Region is proving that innovation isn’t just for tech firms — it’s a catalyst for productivity and prosperity across every sector.
This strategy is already delivering results – making businesses more competitive, attracting investment that fuels further growth and developing one of Europe’s fastest growing startup ecosystems.
Commitment to public and private delivery
The Glasgow City Region City Deal is the largest in Scotland. With over £1.1bn of funding from Scottish and UK Governments, the Region is overseeing the delivery of 22 projects which are transforming communities and driving productivity growth across the Region. To date over 750 hectares of land has been made ready for development and 65km of new roads and public realm have been created.
Strategic partnerships with the National Wealth Fund, Scottish National Investment Bank, collaborations with institutional investors, are unlocking the potential and providing new routes and models for investment.
