Business and economy editor, Scotland
But he said only by growing those start-ups will Scotland tackle its weakness in productivity growth. Ministers are funding the investment bank with £2bn over ten years, to invest in projects where private sector investors are reluctant to commit funds without a public sector partner taking a leading role.
The North Sea oil and gas service sector have successfully done that, said Mr Watt, winning contracts in offshore drilling around the world. "The ScotWind developers needed to make significant commitments to local content in their submissions for the ScotWind funding round," the SNIB chief told BBC Scotland.
He said the challenge of growing companies was not so much about ambition or a lack of funding, as it was about confidence: "We think that scale-up is one of the biggest challenges that the sector faces.