Strongest ever line-up for Scottish International Week sees business go global

Organisers of the seventh Scottish International Week are promising the “strongest line-up of conferences and events to date”.

Russell Dalgleish, chairman of the Scottish Business Network, which oversees the week of events, pictured at New York's Tartan Day 2022.

A series of in-person conferences and online events will take place between October 30 and November 3. Those conferences include the Scottish Black Talent Summit, Scottish Games Week, Digital DNA Conference and the Censis Tech Summit. With events taking place in Scotland, North America, the Asia-Pacific region and mainland Europe, Scottish International Week is aimed at promoting trade, export and internationalisation opportunities to Scottish companies by connecting businesses to the Scottish diaspora worldwide.

Russell Dalgleish, chairman of the Scottish Business Network, which oversees the week of events, said: “We think we have the strongest line-up of conferences and events to date, with subjects ranging from business, culture, education and government. The common theme, which is the raison d’être of Scottish Business Network, is the support and value available from a global network of Scottish diaspora that we have carefully been curating for near on a decade.”

Scottish Business Network has 48 ambassadors in 22 countries. This year, continuing expansion of the organisation’s “ambassador programme” saw ambassador appointments in Dublin, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Indonesia and Berlin. Steven Turner was appointed as partnerships lead, to identify and support more Scottish organisations by providing them with access to the diaspora community. The team is also developing a digital platform which aims to connect tens of thousands of Scots across the world.

In May, Scottish Business Network was appointed as the cluster driver organisation for Scotland’s GovTech sector, and is now working alongside Censis Technology Solutions, Scotland’s innovation centre for the internet of things (IoT), and CivTech, the GovTech accelerator programme.

Cath Strachan, Scottish Business Network’s operations director, added: “It’s the biggest International Week yet for us, in what is also our biggest year in terms of activity and outreach. What is perhaps most exciting is that we are really only at the beginning of demonstrating the potential of the diaspora for our most ambitious companies here in Scotland, companies who look beyond our borders for growth.”

Further information on Scottish International Week 2023 is available at: www.scottishinternationalweek.com