Nicola Sturgeon secures Â£6.3m investment at start of US trip

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is currently on a visit to the US. Picture: Jane Barlow/PA Wire

Three US companies are investing Â£6.3 million in Scotland, creating or safeguarding more than 40 jobs, the Scottish Government has announced.

The announcements from Spiritus Partners Limited, ION Geophysical Corporation (IGC) and PPS UK have been welcomed by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the start of her week visiting the United States.

Data analytics firm Spiritus is investing £3.4 million in a new programming and development centre in Scotland focused on medical safety innovation. Twenty-three jobs will be created - 20 of them highly-skilled positions.

A new £1.5 million research and development project by IGC is aimed at revolutionising the management of operations around offshore oil and gas installations, while Glasgow life sciences research facility PPS UK has announced a £1.4 million investment.

Nicola Sturgeon met Governor Edmund G Brown in Sacramento. Picture: PA

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The companies have been supported by grants from Scottish Enterprise totalling more than £1.5 million.

The First Minister met Edmund G Brown in Sacramento to discuss how the two administrations can work together to achieve the ambitions set out in the Under2 Memorandum of Understanding – which makes a number of key commitments towards reducing emissions – and provide a model for other governments to follow.

They also discussed the importance of offshore wind in tackling climate change and considered how the two governments could share knowledge and best practice in developing this technology.

Ms Sturgeon said: “Scotland is making huge progress in delivering our climate change ambitions, but we are not complacent and there is still much to achieve.

“Today’s meeting strengthened our relationship with the Government of California and I’m confident we can work together to achieve the targets set out by the Under2 MoU.”

As part of her US trip, during which time she will visit New York, as well as California, Ms Sturgeon is due to speak at Stanford University today about “Scotland’s Place in the World”, where she will touch on issues including Scottish independence and Brexit.