Following his appointment to become a member of the Glasgow Economic Leadership Board, Frank Mitchell, CEO of ScottishPower Energy Networks, addressed the 14th State of the City Economy Conference today (Friday 11th November).
In his speech, Mr Mitchell stressed the importance of the private-public leadership body, which is focused on ensuring economic development for the City of Glasgow. As well as outlining ScottishPower’s continuing investments in the City, both in its infrastructure and its commitment to innovation and employment in the City, he also stressed Glasgow’s potential to lead the UK as a major force in the ‘green economy’.
Talking of the company’s partnerships with educational establishments in the City, he discussed ScottishPower’s work with the University of Strathclyde to develop new technology to enhance and modernise electricity networks.
Together with SSE and Weirs, ScottishPower is a founder member of the University's Technology and Innovation Centre, which is a centre of excellence designed to act as a catalyst for the green energy industry in Glasgow and showcase globally how Glasgow has built on its proud engineering legacy to meet the new challenges of today.
The company also aims to inspire a future generation of engineers to join the energy industry and has joined forces with Stow College to offer teenagers the opportunity to gain valuable vocational and employability experience through a new pre-apprenticeship scheme.
Frank Mitchell said: “As we have seen from the creation of Sustainable Glasgow, bringing together public and private organisations strengthens knowledge and expertise developing a roadmap to success where private industry, academia and the public sector work collectively to deliver a better future for Glasgow.
“This strategy will set Glasgow apart from the rest of the UK in leading the way to transform it into a city of economic growth and a key sustainable city of the future.
“ScottishPower with others in the energy sector support this approach and is proud to be part of the leadership group as well as being involved directly in development of Low Carbon Industries and Engineering Design and Manufacturing sectors.
“Clearly Glasgow has a genuine opportunity to position itself in the “green economy” as centre of excellence. Glasgow knows where it’s going. It has strong private sector leadership working closely with the public sector and academia. I believe that this strategy will not only support UK energy policy, with innovation helping to drive down the costs of renewables and electricity networks, but also help stimulate economic growth in Glasgow. This will create a stable platform to allow the city to proper to its full potential.”
Media Information: Paul Ferguson, 0141 566 4515 / 07702 665 924