Michael O’Brien
Project lead – space and digital, Ayrshire Growth Deal
The Ayrshire Growth Deal is a partnership being driven forward by the Scottish government, the UK government and East, North and South Ayrshire councils. The deal secured £251.5m of funding to help realise Ayrshire’s potential as a world-class business region for the aerospace and space, energy, tourism, manufacturing and engineering industries, and reaffirms its commitment to strengthen the Ayrshire, Scottish and UK economies. Targeted co-ordinated investment throughout the region will act as a powerful catalyst to stimulate growth, resulting in increased job opportunities and prosperity for Ayrshire, Scotland and the UK as a whole. Its vision is for Ayrshire to be “a vibrant, outward-looking, confident region, attractive to investors and visitors, making a major contribution to Scotland’s growth and local well-being, and leading the implementation of digital technologies and the next generation of manufacturing”.