The Scottish Government has published details of a drive to encourage international investment into a dozen sites under consideration for re-development as ‘green datacentres’.
The renewable energy-powered facilities would enable companies interested in support the climate agenda to relocate to Scotland as a global forerunner of sustainable technology.
Sites across the country have been earmarked for development as part of the government’s digital ambition and green economic recovery from Covid-19.
Connectivity Minister Paul Wheelhouse said: “Scotland is well placed geographically as a centre for energy efficient data storage and connectivity.
“We are all aware of the role that attracting new investment within the green datacentres market can play in helping to drive significant economic growth. This vision sets out the actions we propose to take to ensure that Scotland capitalises on the digital revolution that is underway. Achieving them is pivotal to our future prosperity and wellbeing, as more and more of our world has moved online.
“Scotland is well placed to create green datacentres with our abundance of renewable energy and we know digital companies get the need to make their businesses low carbon. We now need to turn our vision into reality and move at pace to secure the jobs, investment and benefits that are available from these technologies.”
The massive public and commercial investment in domestic digital connectivity is the catalyst for a ‘wider revolution in infrastructure and opportunity, including international connectivity, data centres, the Internet of Things, and Artificial Intelligence,’ the Scottish Government said.
The vision sets out what Scotland needs to do to optimise the potential economic and social benefit from those innovations. The starting point is to attract further investment in green datacentres and international fibre connectivity, which will also enhance data and digital resilience for the future. Datacentres enable the movement of data across the country where they’re located and international fibre connections provide the gateways to global markets.
By enhancing digital connectivity, Scotland will benefit from economic growth and improved societal integration. It is also critical in supporting the growth of other key industries, such as Fintech.
Peter Reekie, chief executive of the Scottish Futures Trust, said: “Through our Host in Scotland initiative, we have worked closely with industry and public sector bodies to identify the vital infrastructure and the joint actions now needed to deliver this exciting action plan.
“Being able to offer diverse international fibre routes will not only deliver greater data management resilience to Scotland and the whole of the UK, but secure a wide range of economic benefits as well.”
More details of the vision can be found here.