SME COLLABORATION AND ACCESS TO PUBLIC CONTRACTS
I have been a bit silent of late - mainly as we are a tad busy. So not a bad reason - however this has not stopped me being part of the joint agenda with other Scottish SME's to progress our Public collaboration agenda. Part of the group have been speaking with both Alex Sammond, Jim Mather and John Swiney to push our views and make sure they take notice. Galen Milne of Thistle Scientific met with Jim Mather and he has confirmed the Scottish Governments commitment to SME's - again stressing the innovate ideas that can originate from such companies. The current thinking is still to ensure that the Public Bodies "think constructively and flexibly about content and structure of contracts" The tender approach is to be developed to consider wider impacts which will assist SME's in being better placed to win. At least the Government is aware and are currently saying they are doing something. As a follow up John Swinney has written to Public Bodies asking them to adopt a range of simple steps to improve access and support for smaller firms.
