11 Scottish companies to exhibit at World Future Energy Summit 2013

With eleven Scottish exhibitors, WFES 2013 will be hosting the largest Scottish delegation to date. The group will be led by Scottish Development International, Scotland's economic development agency, and companies participating in the summit will be looking to develop new collaborations, strategic alliances and licensing agreements with companies and institutions in the GCC.

Mark Hallan, EMEA director at Scottish Development International, will also be attending the summit with the aim of promoting Scotland as a world-class location for low carbon technologies. He said: "The GCC represents one of our biggest investment markets both in terms of Scottish energy companies doing business in this region as well as being a source of significant investment back into Scotland. Last year our First Minister attended the Summit and we signed a Framework for Action with Masdar. This year we are again confident of developing our extensive energy contacts and promoting a wide range of new business opportunities across the energy sector, from oil and gas to renewables and clean energy."

On the broader energy front, Scotland boasts a quarter of Europe's wind and tidal power potential and aims to generate the equivalent of 100% of its own electricity demand from renewable resources by 2020. The country is continuing to take forward its Framework for Action (FFA) with Masdar, looking at developing a comprehensive renewable energy plan with the UAE.

One of the institutions from the Scottish delegation, the Scottish Institute for Solar Energy Research (SISER), will be taking part in meetings with Masdar during the course of the week. The objective of these meetings is to discuss potential knowledge-transfer to countries in the GCC region and how SISER could help start up new companies in the region, based on existing IP that could be licensed to players in this market.

The hope is that by working together, the UAE and Scotland can be pioneers in a power revolution, by combining their legacy, experience and diversified investment in alternative sources of energy.

Mr Hallan continued: "Energy forms the cornerstone of Scotland's bilateral trade and investment partnership with the GCC, and this relationship continues to mature as we combine our mutual strengths and experience in alternative energy. Our attendance at this summit will allow some of Scotland's brightest energy companies to showcase their expertise to develop, manage and integrate cost-effective energy solutions for a broad range of GCC-based customers, and we look forward to having some productive discussions with our industry counterparts this week."