Business News Round Up (17/09/2026)
Manchester is an ‘emerging start of the global economy’, says Oxford Economics
Strong GDP growth, high-quality universities, and appeal to younger professionals were highlighted as key strengths of the city in the group’s latest report. Manchester was chosen as one of five European cities to watch by Oxford Economics in the firm’s 2026 Global Cities Index, alongside Eindhoven, Tallinn, Toulouse, and Warsaw. For Oxford Economics’ purposes, this part of the report used the term “Manchester” to mean the city as well as Trafford and Salford. When discussing Manchester’s selection, Oxford Economics’ lead economist for Europe, Dmitriy Gruzinov, said: “My final city is Manchester, which in recent years has seen the strongest GDP and productivity growth among the UK’s cities, as well as some of the largest employment gains in Europe. This has been partly achieved through the city’s rich cultural offering and lower costs attracting many younger workers, while being supported by substantial infrastructure investment and its excellent university.”
Scotland’s scaling opportunity revealed in new research
The Royal Bank of Scotland has published a major report into Scotland and the UK’s innovation economy and access to public funding for high growth businesses – From Innovation to Impact: Translating the UK’s Untapped Innovation Cohort into Regional Growth. The report, produced by the Royal Bank of Scotland using data from Beauhurst, found that Scotland was home to 1,737 innovative businesses, 59% (1,027) of whom are recipients of public funding and 367 were university spinouts. Only London had a higher number of university spinouts than Scotland of the UK’s regions and nations. Scottish firms also punched above the UK average on commercialisation. 31% of Scottish grant-backed firms have secured follow-on equity investment, compared with 26% across the UK. Scotland’s grant-backed firms also secured one of the highest levels of follow-on investment outside London and the South East. In total, Scotland’s innovative firms attracted £6.4 billion in equity investment since 2011.
https://www.agcc.co.uk/news-article/scotlands-scaling-opportunity-revealed-in-new-research
Greater Manchester has two of the UK’s ten most entrepreneurial cities
Salford is officially the UK’s most entrepreneurial city, with its concentration of small businesses increasing by 15.4% in the last twelve months. The figures come from GoDaddy’s new Most Entrepreneurial City rankings, informed by data from the company’s Small Business Research Lab. Each place with city status in the UK is given a microbusiness density growth count, based on the number of new start-ups for each 100 people. Salford’s emergence as a small business powerhouse has not come around by accident. The city has invested deliberately in becoming a digital and innovation-led enterprise hub, anchored by HOST Salford at MediaCity. Backed by Salford City Council and public funding, including £846,900 from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, it has supported over 300 businesses and upskilled over 5,000 individuals.
Innovation activity of Scottish businesses falls behind UK average
The innovation activity of businesses across Scotland has fallen, continuing a general decline in the rate of innovation happening in the country. Between 2022 and 2024, Scotland fell from an innovation rate of 32.4 per cent to 29.4 per cent, while UK-wide innovation rates fell from 36.3 per cent to 34 per cent. The findings were published in a report by the Scottish Government detailing the Scotland-specific results from the UK Innovation Survey 2025. Innovation activities are classified as the introduction of new or improved products, engagement in innovation projects, new or improved business processes and investment activities in areas such as research, development and training. In the report, Scotland was ranked in the bottom quartile of UK regions and countries in terms of its share of businesses that were innovation active, only ranking above Wales, which sits at 27.7 per cent.