How Glasgow became the UK's fastest-growing innovation hub

Words: Tim Hulse
Photographs: Antony Sojka

Glasgow’s famous Trades Hall is located in its Merchant City district, once called home by the 18th-century ‘Tobacco Lords’ who first made the city a global trading powerhouse. Designed by the architect Robert Adam and completed in 1794, it was built to be an administrative and social centre for the city’s craftsmen’s guilds, which included hammermen, fleshers, weavers and coopers.

Today, the refurbished building is an upmarket venue for weddings and other functions, and the historic guilds have morphed into independent charities that award donations to deserving causes and individuals across the West of Scotland.

Which is not to say that the local area has abandoned its business creds. On the contrary: in recent years, it has re-established its commercial standing as part of the Glasgow City Innovation District (GCID). Scotland’s first such initiative, launched in 2019, the GCID brings together academia (the campus of the University of Strathclyde is adjacent), industry and government with a focus on developing new technologies and driving growth in Scotland’s largest city. “That collaboration is our strength,” says Alisdair Gunn, Director of the GCID. “When you build a programme to focus on economic development, it’s the sum of your parts which is the bit that’s unique.”

Gunn sees the district as a natural extension of the city’s rich heritage of innovation. “Glasgow has always reimagined itself and reinvigorated itself,” he says. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was a world-leader for heavy engineering and shipbuilding, making the term ‘Clydebuilt’ a byword for quality. Today, the 1,600 businesses in the GCID come predominantly from very 21st-century high-growth sectors such as fintech, quantum, healthtech, space and digital media. The district is also home to the UK’s only Fraunhofer Centre, five UK Catapults and four Scottish Innovation Centres.

In its seven years of operation, the GCID has also attracted more than £1bn of local property development. One example is Candleriggs Square, a £350m transformation of a formerly derelict 3.6-acre site into a mixed-use quarter. It includes a 346-apartment residential building, and a Glasgow outpost of The Social Hub, a Europe-wide concept that combines short- and long-stay accommodation with student housing, and coworking and events spaces.

The combination of new businesses and new development boosts growth and creates jobs. “The city’s motto is ‘Let Glasgow Flourish’,” says Gunn. “And that’s definitely something that the Glasgow City Innovation District is doing.” And it’s not alone. In the last few years, the GCID has been joined by the Glasgow Riverside Innovation District, anchored by the University of Glasgow, and the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District. Together, all three form a corridor of cutting-edge innovation along the banks of the River Clyde, where ranks of shipyard cranes once stood.

The lifeblood of these hubs is Glasgow’s abundant supply of young talent. The city can claim one of the most highly skilled and flexible workforces in Europe, with 54 per cent educated to degree level (second only to London among the UK’s largest cities). And they stick around: more graduates (51 per cent) choose to stay in the city once they have completed their degrees than anywhere else in the UK.

One such graduate is Tom Walkinshaw, founder and CEO of local satellite company Alba Orbital. Raised in Lanark, 25 miles to the southeast of Glasgow, he attended Glasgow Caledonian University and has lived in the city ever since. He started his company from his bedroom in 2012 while still in his early twenties, having been inspired by the words of the late trade union leader Jimmy Reid.

“He was very passionate about Glasgow and about building ships on the Clyde and there was a quote where he said we shouldn’t be building ships for the 20th century but for the 21st and 22nd centuries,” says Walkinshaw. “To me, that meant spaceships. And that’s what I and a lot of other companies are now trying to do here.”

Scotland – and Glasgow in particular – has established itself as a leading player in the global space industry in recent years, with a cluster of companies now established both in satellite design, manufacture and launch, and also in downstream satellite data analysis. “Once you get a cluster going, that pulls in more people and then it becomes a self-fulfilling loop,” says Walkinshaw. “At one time, the idea of a space industry here was a bit of a joke, but nowadays the city has hundreds of people cycling to work every day to work on satellites and there are probably very few places in the world with the same level of talent who are launching satellites regularly.”

Alba Orbital specialises in PocketQubes: tiny, lightweight satellites half the size of a coffee mug. They are constructed using off-the-shelf components and can offer an economic way into space for startups, universities and schools. Alba manufactures its own PocketQubes at its Glasgow factory and also offers a launch service for others’ PocketQubes. 

Walkinshaw believes that Glasgow has been underrated in the past as a business city. “There are a lot of really smart people and a lot of great universities,” he says. “There’s lots of opportunity here if you want to make it happen.”

John Galvin would agree. He arrived in Glasgow as an 18-year-old design student and is still there 28 years later. In the intervening years he has established a worldwide reputation for designing and creating bespoke luxury objects from wood, metal and leather using a combination of high-end craftsmanship and precision engineering.

“Glasgow is like a glue pot,” he says. “I thought I’d just be here for three years, but the people are brilliant. It’s the perfect size city, not too big, not too small, it doesn’t break the bank to live here and there’s a lot of interesting innovation going on.”

Galvin’s own innovative output ranges from unique, hand-crafted packaging for some of the world’s rarest and most sought-after whiskies to one-off furniture items that balance tradition with contemporary styling. Sustainability and provenance are important to him, and most of the wood he uses comes from country estates across Scotland.

“For me, luxury is about creating something that a client has an emotional connection to,” he says. “It’s important that they can understand the story of how it was made and exactly where the timber came from. That really resonates with them.”

Galvin’s business employs 40 people, most of them drawn from his alma mater, the College of Building and Printing. He is currently based in Clydebank, just along the Clyde from Glasgow, but later this year his two companies, John Galvin Design and Faolchú, will move to a new, 50,000sqft HQ in the city. A former Victorian engineering works, the redesigned space has been a self-funded labour of love for Galvin, who talks excitedly about it as “a centre of excellence for design, innovation, craftsmanship, engineering and material experimentation” – and also as a catalyst for breathing new life into a deprived area of the city.

“What’s the point of doing all this if I haven’t had a positive effect on society?” he reflects. “I’m hoping that we’ll bring people in from different parts of the world and they’ll talk about Glasgow in a new light.”

Both the UK and Scottish governments are also doing their bit to boost Glasgow’s innovation economy. The Glasgow City Region Investment Zone, first announced in 2023, aims to create up to 10,000 new jobs and attract £300m in private investment in the space, semiconductors and maritime sectors. A recently launched tax site within the zone, centred on the Advanced Manufacturing District and Glasgow airport, offers fiscal incentives for businesses to locate there. The business rates paid by companies within the zone as a whole will also be reinvested into supporting local businesses and skills across the region.

In another recent development, neighbouring North Lanarkshire has been designated as Scotland’s first AI Growth Zone, aiming to unlock more than £8bn in private investment and create up to 7,000 jobs. The initiative will include the construction of 500 MW of data centre capacity.

“That will give us another layer of capability we didn’t have across the region, which is great news for companies wanting to come and locate within Glasgow,” says Sam Barnett, Head of Invest Glasgow, a Glasgow City Council initiative that offers support and guidance for businesses and individuals considering investing, setting up or expanding in the city. “There’s a real momentum in Glasgow at the moment,” she adds. “It’s demonstrated in the success of our innovation clusters, in our universities, in our talent pipelines, and in how we’re recognised for attracting global investment.” The US and western Europe are Glasgow’s major markets for investment.

Potential foreign investors will find that the city is easily accessible from abroad via two international airports. British Airways offers daily flights to Heathrow, Gatwick and London City Airports from Glasgow Airport, where its lounge has been recently refreshed with new seating and décor, and updated dining areas.

This summer, Glasgow will welcome visitors from all over the world as it hosts the Commonwealth Games. “It’s really important for us because it’s an opportunity to showcase the city,” says Barnett, who adds that perhaps Glasgow’s greatest asset is the warmth of its people: “We’ve been named the UK’s friendliest city for the last two years. When people come to Glasgow, the way that the local people speak to them and treat them is something that you can’t quantify, but it really gives us an edge. We want others to come and enjoy the diversity and brilliance and innovation that sits at the heart of our communities.”

As the old motto says: Let Glasgow Flourish.

British Airways flies direct daily to Glasgow from Heathrow, Gatwick and London City airports. 

Take off to Glasgow