Industrial Engineer Wearing Virtual Reality Headset and Holding Controllers, She Uses VR technology for Industrial Design, Development and Prototyping in CAD Software

by Roger Mullin

“C

ULTURES and societies that are shaped by fear... will without doubt not get a grip on the future” averred Angela Merkel some years ago. Words that are worth recalling as we are amidst the Covid pandemic. However great our concerns and however great our focus on Covid19, we must also look to the future, raise our sights and be more ambitious for Scotland.

In a previous iScot article I reflected on the problems we are bequeathing to future generations. In this article, allow me to focus on one relatively narrow area where with greater ambition we can better serve both the youth of today and the future of our economy. I start at the time of the financial crisis of 2008.

The 2008 financial crisis saw the Scottish economy fall into recession. Output fell for 5 of 6 consecutive quarters. As the Fraser of Allander Institute said,

“Overall, the recession wiped 4% of  output from the Scottish economy. The decline in GDP per head was even sharper, with a fall of 4.8% from peak to trough.

There were huge consequences of this recession for young people with a scarcity of job opportunities

…it took around 5 years for output to return to its precrisis level in Scotland.”

There were huge consequences of this recession for young people with a scarcity of job opportunities.