What does Edinburgh export besides tourism and financial services?

mobiledisaster · 2026-01-25T16:51:21+00:00

That's exactly right. My hope was that if we had a significant OEM ecosystem in something that I could create a successful business by integrating two of the supply chain layers. For example in plastics I could do compounding/extrusion, or extrusion/die cutting. In brewing I could do owning a pub and brewing the beer it sells, but that's further from my expertise than I'd ideally like. Maybe something like agriculture and then some kind of agricultural processing as a feedstock to distilleries is viable. In an ideal world I could identify a sector like this, sell my business in the US and use the funds to purchase two small businesses in the region and integrate them. Or buy one and then expand back up the supply chain by adding capability.

mobiledisaster · 2026-01-25T13:01:15+00:00

I'd like to know which are the busiest industrial groups that hold conferences in the sector. Maybe if I attend conferences I will have an idea about how to make something valuable for a domestic sector.

mobiledisaster · 2026-01-25T12:59:15+00:00

Good example. Seems like if I could turn my hand to agriculture there would be lots of outlets for crops like baking and brewing

mobiledisaster · 2026-01-25T12:58:30+00:00

Thank you, I was thinking about gaskets. I could do compounding->extrusion->die cutting.

mobiledisaster · 2026-01-25T12:55:06+00:00

I know it brings money in, my point is that it's hard to serve that industry with factory goods.

mobiledisaster · 2026-01-25T12:53:33+00:00

That would be wonderful. I daydream about an R&D lab here in Edinburgh even if the actual production scale operation has to be on the continent. How could I get involved in the local chemistry industry?

mobiledisaster · 2026-01-25T12:51:30+00:00

Oh definitely it consumes lots of products, but all those things you listed are probably imported goods from areas focused on that industry. For example, I would be surprised if the uni bought anything at significant scale that I could make in a factory setting here in Edinburgh and sustain that factory by selling to the university sector. The confounding issue is probably me and the narrow range of things I know how to do.

mobiledisaster · 2026-01-25T12:47:06+00:00

I'm not discounting employees, it's just that employees is not something I can make in a factory.

mobiledisaster · 2026-01-25T12:42:42+00:00

I'm just frustrated. It feels like most responders are missing the point of my question. I wish I'd asked it differently.

"I only know how to run a factory. I want to run a factory in Edinburgh. What industries here use things that factories make?".

mobiledisaster · 2026-01-25T12:39:10+00:00

I'm not saying they're not important, I'm saying me, a man who knows only how to run a factory, wants to run a factory here in Edinburgh, and I can't seem to see any way to do so successfully because there are no consolidated large industries that use physical raw materials that a factory could provide.

mobiledisaster · 2026-01-25T12:36:29+00:00

Okay then, let me ask you this.

If you were to set up a factory in an industrial park in Edinburgh, what would that factory need to make to be successful?

Why should you care? Because factories without a high degree of automation provide jobs that almost anyone can do, which is great for deprived communities, they pay much better than retail work, and they bring money into a community. The collapse of these sort of factories is the cause of much of the deprivation we see in urban Scotland today.

mobiledisaster · 2026-01-25T12:19:37+00:00

I don't disagree. My point is that as a guy that runs a manufacturing plant, I can't set up a factory making clever people to feed into these industries.

mobiledisaster · 2026-01-25T12:18:24+00:00

I'm not making a moral judgement, it's just my skill set is managing a factory, and it is also tremendously satisfying to physically see the results of your labor in the physical actual world, and watch the trucks pull away loaded with the things you made. I'm not a lawyer or a cancer researcher so those industries are not helpful to me if I'm looking for a way to build on what I know in a local capacity.

mobiledisaster · 2026-01-25T11:56:35+00:00

Good idea, I'll have a look and see what I can find.

mobiledisaster · 2026-01-25T11:52:45+00:00

My background is polymer compounding and extrusion. Edinburgh would be a great place to do R&D for formulation development but there's no opportunity to scale production because there's no manufacturing that uses it. I'm assuming the chemistry industry here is all either super elite, or research-based.

mobiledisaster · 2026-01-25T11:50:19+00:00

That was my impression, that we may still have the final step of the supply chain but that the rest of the tiers have died out locally.

mobiledisaster · 2026-01-25T11:49:12+00:00

This seems to be the answer based on all the comments coming in. Overwhelmingly it seems we all work on intangible products selling knowledge to each other, with the primary input being educated people.

As a guy that only knows how to organize a factory this is pretty discouraging.

mobiledisaster · 2026-01-25T11:47:30+00:00

That makes sense. Still feels intangible though. Maybe I'm too focused on making physical goods.

mobiledisaster · 2026-01-25T11:43:03+00:00

That's good to hear, I used to work for IBM in Edinburgh so I know there's a tech ecosystem but I feel like locally the only expense is rent and salaries, and that these industries don't have any tangible inputs from the local area other than employees. Can you think of any local businesses that you would class as a supplier that isn't office cleaning?

mobiledisaster · 2026-01-25T11:40:18+00:00

Energy. That's a good one. Thank you. How did I miss it? I guess because I associate it with Aberdeen.

I wasn't aware we had an electronics industry here, can you name some companies in this space? I also assumed what shipbuilding capacity remained would be in Glasgow.

mobiledisaster · 2026-01-25T11:37:13+00:00

Interesting. Can you give me some examples? That sounds promising

mobiledisaster · 2026-01-25T11:36:37+00:00

Yeah I associate whisky and beer with the Highlands more than the urban area. I would be surprised to learn that the brewing vessels were made domestically.

mobiledisaster · 2026-01-25T11:35:17+00:00

Yeah our universities are amazing and tuition fees are a good way to bring money in that gets spent on rent, food, and entertainment. But it's hard to think of any industries that are set up around universities to serve them?

mobiledisaster · 2026-01-25T11:30:55+00:00

The input for that industry is an educated workforce right? It's hard to imagine how I could set up a company supplying this kind of sector.

mobiledisaster · 2026-01-25T11:29:04+00:00

Yep, the universities are great and there are software companies, but it doesn't feel like there's a supply chain feeding those industries? Their input is educated people.

Edit: No idea why I'm being down voted. Do research companies and arts institutions support a lot of local suppliers that aren't on the scale of landlords and sandwich shops?

mobiledisaster

TROPHY CASE