Starting a Business in Edinburgh

If you’re inspired to start up a new business after graduating, there’s lots of support and advice available. Visit the Business Gateway website to find out about the loans, grants and advice available to help set you off in the right direction.

Why start a business in the Edinburgh City Region?

• Edinburgh has been named the fourth "Best Place To Do Business in Britain" by the UK-wide "Growing Business" magazine
• Edinburgh is increasingly identified as a knowledge city and as an ‘ideopolis’. Factors such as Edinburgh’s highly educated workforce and the concentration of knowledge intensive industries have placed Edinburgh alongside London as one of only two ideopolises in the UK
• Edinburgh workers are Scotland’s most productive. The Capital's hard-working employees each generate £25,900-a-year, the third highest figure in the UK
• The Edinburgh city region received the Award of Excellence for Innovative Regions from the European Commission in 2002. This accolade recognises outstanding research undertaken, as well as acknowledging the support available in the city region to commercialise research and develop small companies with high-growth potential
• East Lothian is known for the strength of the small business sector where small businesses employ a greater proportion of all workers compared to Scotland as a whole
• In the wider city region, fast-growing Stirling has the highest level of business start-ups and a business survival rate ahead of the national average