IC Aberdeen_Mar21

IC Aberdeen_Mar21

ABERDEEN TRANSFORMATION THROUGH INNOVATION

World’s most powerful offshore wind turbines – Aberdeen

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Economy

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A CITY OF ENTERPRISE Entrepreneurial, dynamic and innovative, a global leader in the oil and gas sector for over half a decade, Aberdeen is building on its extraordinary base of skills and research strengths to see other key sectors of the economy flourish and grow

From renewables and low carbon to life sciences, hospitality, food and drink and digital, Aberdeen has big plans. With around £10 billion of investment in infrastructure due for completion, the region is repositioning as a world-class business events destination, confident of its winning combination of international cosmopolitan outlook, impressive infrastructure and venues, ease of access and the jewel in the crown of the events offering: P&J Live, the new £33 8 million unique events centre. More than 33 of Scotland’s top 100 businesses are headquartered or host major operations in Aberdeen, including Balmoral Group, Chivas Brothers, Enquest, FirstGroup, Standard Life Aberdeen and Wood. The thriving commercial sector has seen more than £200 million of recent investment in new, Grade A office space making it the ideal place for both corporate HQs and start-ups, and with £67 million being invested in new digital infrastructure, Aberdeen is set to become Scotland’s first gigabit city and one of the best connected cities.

“We are a very enterprising city, I’d say one of the foremost in the UK, and thanks to oil and gas, one of the most cosmopolitan. We are a very high tech city, and with several huge investment projects and developments underway, we will remain a very exciting city in which to live and work.” > £1 billion investment in new transport infrastructure > £67 million investment in digital infrastructure > £800 million in retail and leisure projects > £40 million has been allocated for a Life Sciences Innovation Hub > £10 million Agri-Food and Nutrition Hub for Innovation > Aberdeen Harbour is Scotland’s largest ‘Trust’ Port and is embarking on a £350 million expansion > £50m is being invested in Aberdeen FC’s new football facilities > Aberdeen residents enjoy the highest level of disposable income per head in Scotland Aberdeen has the highest concentration of health and life scientists anywhere in Europe and through collaboration with local industry, and business leaders, continues to be a pioneering centre and driving force within Marine, Environment and Agriculture, Health and Nutrition, Medical Science, and Oil & Gas and Renewables.

Sir Ian Wood Chair ONE

TRANSFORMATION THROUGH INNOVATION

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Energy

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A WORLD LEADER IN ENERGY Aberdeen is on its way to becoming a world-class all-energy hub utilising the expertise, transferable skills and supply chain in the region and working towards a low carbon economy operating at the forefront of hydrogen technology in Europe

“The oil and gas industry has amazing diverse and high value skills and a broader set of capabilities applicable to renewable, tidal and marine energies. We encourage innovation, invest in small companies, partner them with larger ones and bring them on. In just two years, we have approved more than 160 projects and have more than 50 field trials in the North Sea. Over the next two years we plan to be even more active, looking at the necessary technologies to allow companies to grow, develop and export, and also to diversify. We help to accelerate businesses with competition: this year we had 180 applications from 35 countries. Our Tier I visa status is key in attracting the best companies that stay and grow in Aberdeen.”

> 75 per cent of the world’s sub-sea engineering capability is rooted in Aberdeen > A £360 million global technology hub for the oil and gas industry is bringing together industry-led research and knowledge, developing innovative projects to unlock the remaining potential of the North Sea and to connect Scottish and UK technology developers to wider global opportunities > Up to 20 billion barrels of oil and gas are still in the North Sea and a sector deal with UK government seeks to unlock £920 billion by 2035 with much of the activity focused on Aberdeen > The world’s first floating windfarm by Equinor > Vattenfall’s offshore wind test and research centre is in Aberdeen Bay > NorthConnect, a £1.5bn project providing an electrical link between Scotland and Norway to increase the use of renewable energy > Plans for a world leading carbon capture and storage project based in Peterhead PARTNERSHIPS > Strong partnerships between the public and private sector are a key driver in Aberdeen’s developing sector strengths > The National Decommissioning Centre > The Oil and Gas Tech Centre working with Aberdeen University: focused on helping industry develop best practice in new ways of decommissioning, vital for both the North Sea, and exportable globally > The Innovation Hub in Underwater Engineering > The Oil and Gas Tech Centre is working with Robert Gordons University to develop real underwater engineering skills as well as capitalising on the existing.

Colette Cohen, CEO, Oil and Gas Technology Centre

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Life sciences

SUPPORTING SUCCESS Recognising innovation as a vital driver of growth, the city region deal, a partnership of local authorities with Opportunity North East and Aberdeen and Robert Gordons universities, has secured combined investment of £769 million

“ONE is really fortunate to work in a region where collaboration and partnership is at the heart of our plan for the future. We all share in the regional strategy of growing an economy that is productive in the long term, developing and growing the industries of the future and the people that will work in them.” ONE OPPORTUNITY NORTH EAST Set up six years ago to play to the strengths of the region’s key economic sectors and the diversification from oil and gas to new energy technologies, ONE plays a strong role in offshore, wind and tidal infrastructure, and focuses on the long term economic opportunities of the key economic sectors: > Oil, gas and energy > Food, agriculture and fishing > Life sciences > Tourism > Digital entrepreneurship Aberdeen has the highest concentration of health and life scientists anywhere in Europe. A long track record of pioneering research and innovative development includes the invention of the MRI and a Nobel prize for insulin development. A particular strength of the sector is biologics, second only to Cambridge in the number of companies developing new therapies and products. The ONE Life Sciences Section is dedicated to building on the sector’s great track record in converting success into successful companies. ONE Life Sciences is based on one of the largest health campuses in Europe owned by the NHS and Aberdeen University with clinical specialties and key university research buildings on site.

Jennifer Craw, CEO ONE

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INNOVATIVE ENTERPRISES The city region deal, a partnership of local authorities with Opportunity North East and Aberdeen and Robert Gordons universities, has secured a combined investment of £769 million, including the Oil and Gas Technology Centre, the £40 million BioTherapeutic Hub for Innovation and plans for a £21 million Food Hub for Innovation, all of which will reinforce Aberdeen’s position as a thriving centre for global science, energy and technology. A £350 million harbour expansion programme: one of the largest marine infrastructure projects in the UK, providing direct to quayside access for the largest liners on the planet weighing in at 200,000 tonnes and carrying upwards of 5,000 passengers. A digital tech hub in the city centre will open this year building on the fast growing fourth revolution tech cluster and providing a focal point for digital company cluster growth, transformational technology and entrepreneurship.

“Our core strength is the relationship between our two universities, the NHS and Grampian. Clinicians, academics and scientists work together innovating and developing new treatments.”

Prof Stephen Logan, Chair ONE Life Sciences Board

The new £40 million BioTherapeutic Hub for Innovation is a key investment on the campus that will foster every stage of company development. The first phase will open in 2021 and will be integral to the aim of doubling life science companies by 2027.

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P&J Live

SUSTAINABILITY AT THE HEART OF SPECTACULAR EVENTS CENTRE P&J Live is a game-changer. With true state-of-the-art technology, an extraordinary sustainable design, on-site accommodation, a dedicated events management team and the finest Scottish cuisine, Aberdeen’s world-class events venue can host up to 5,000 delegates in its multi-purpose conference halls

> A £33 8 million investment makes P&J Live the largest single investment in a facility of its kind in the UK > The most sustainable venue in the UK with its own hydrogen plant > Largest events venue in the North of Scotland > 350 rooms on site > With 7,000 hotel rooms in the city, 2,500 are within a five -minute drive

With excellent public transport connections, P&J Live is located right next to Aberdeen International Airport, subject of a £20 million refurbishment and the best connected regional airport in the UK. A few minutes from the city’s new western peripheral route, and in prime position for the improved rail links between Aberdeen and the central belt/northern England.

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ENERGY CENTRE As part of the design, P&J Live has its own innovative energy centre. Food and garden waste from around Aberdeen is digested in an anaerobic plant to produce hydrogen gas. This is harvested and used to power the energy centre which supplies heating, cooling and power not only to P&J Live but also the on-site hotels. On course to achieve BREAAM excellent, the highest environmental standard possible, P&J Live is the most sustainable venue of its type in the UK. An extraordinary 98.8 per cent of all materials have been reused on site.

“This is an amazing facility: the first of its kind in the UK and the future for conference and events centres. Designed for maximum flexibility, it is also technologically very advanced, catering for now and looking to the future. Aberdeen is an up and coming association and conference destination.”

> Capacity for up to 5,000 conference delegates > 48,000 sqm of multi-purpose space > 4 conference suites > 16 VIP suites > Arena for up to 12,500 visitors > Spacious hospitality boxes, café bars and a high-end restaurant > Two on-site hotels: the four-star full service Hilton with 200 bedrooms and three-star Aloft Hotel with 150 bedrooms.

Nick Waight, Managing Director, P&J Live

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Education hub

ACADEMIC ABERDEEN Building on centuries of academic achievement, Aberdeen’s universities are key to the region’s continued prosperity, working closely with the

ABERDEEN ACHIEVEMENTS > Breakthrough research in Alzheimers, Cystic Fibrosis and Irritable Bowel Syndrome > Five Nobel Prizes > In 1922 John MacLeod helped to discover insulin > George Paget Thomson discovered the electron for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1937 > The role of mosquitos in spreading malaria was discovered by Aberdeenshire physician Sir Patrick Manson, known as the ‘Father of tropical medicine’ > Sir Thomas Sutherland, the founder of HSBC, was born in Aberdeen and studied at the University of Aberdeen

> The University of Aberdeen, established in 1495, is one of the oldest English-speaking universities in the world, and was named Scottish University of the year in 2019 by The Times. > Robert Gordon University, established in 1729, boasts students from 132 countries and has 90,000 global alumni. Number one in Scotland for graduate employability and industry connections. city to support cutting edge developments with research and educational programmes connected to the most important industries in the region, and developing those of the future

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“Aberdeen has a really strong identity and sense of purpose. It is very European, very attractive to students, many of whom stay on, drawn by the quality of life, education and employability. We work closely with companies, ONE, Aberdeen City Deal and the Chamber of Commerce. The National Decommissioning Centre, established with the Oil and Gas Centre and the City Deal is an example of the kind of super collaboration we undertake to ensure Aberdeen benefits from new forms of energy as we transition.”

10 GROUND-BREAKING ABERDEEN DISCOVERIES > First colour photograph, Prof James Clerk Maxwell, 1861 > Electromagnetism, Prof James Clerk Maxwell, 1865 > Staphylococcus, Sir Alexander Ogston, 1880 > Research and development into Radioactivity and Isotopes, Frederick Soddy, 1913

> Design of the first Iron Lung ( left ), Robert Henderson, 1933 > Endorphins, Profs John Hughes and Hans Kosterlitz, 1972 > Macaulayite, Dr Isaac Stephen, 1977

> The invention of the first full body MRI scanner, Prof James Hutchison, 1980

> Identification of a gene signature from tumours, which could be used to predict whether patients will respond to chemotherapy treatment, The Friends of Anchor charity, 2011 > Research on the protein GPRSS and the activity of ce11s, may have direct beneficial effects on bone cells in certain bone diseases, Ruth Ross and Mike Rogers, 2019

Prof George Boyne, Principal and Vice Chair University of Aberdeen

TRANSFORMATION THROUGH INNOVATION

FACTS AND FIGURES

Life Sciences sector in Aberdeen City Region has attracted £175 million investment in the last five years Aberdeen City Region contains 22% of Scotland’s Biotech R&D in Therapeutics £175 million

The Academic base has won £250 million in research funding in the last five years Home to the largest concentration of life scientists in the UK £250 million

FACTS AND FIGURES

Aberdeen City Region contains 75% of Scotland’s late stage Drug Development Companies

22%

Aberdeen Royal Infirmary is one of Europe’s largest single site multi-speciality hospitals

75%

5 6 % of all fish landings into Scotland in 201 9 were made into the port in the North East

Aberdeen City Region accounts for 17% of Scottish Food & Drink Sectors GVA £2 32 million worth of fish was landed in the North East of Scotland in 201 9 Aberdeen City Region has a strong and developed supply of quality local produce 47% of product ingredients are sourced locally 18 % of the total value exports from Scotland come from Aberdeen City Region 18 % 17% £2 32 million 47%

5 6 %

Aberdeen City Region accounts for 1 4 % of Food and Agriculture Employment 25% of all Scottish Fishermen are based in Aberdeenshire 25% 1 4 %

8 1 % of all direct oil & gas employment in Great Britain is in Aberdeen City Region 8 1 %

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Aberdeen Convention & Events Bureau

[email protected]

01224 900490

meetabdn.com @meetaberdeen