The Scottish Parliament's think-tank

Scotland 2030: Our Economy

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Having explored the challenges provided by the technological revolution and climate change in its first two events in 2017, the Futures Forum heard from Dr Jamie Coleman, chair and co-founder of Codebase, and Dr Katherine Trebeck, senior researcher at Oxfam, on how we could and should make our living in 2030, as individuals and as a country.

Watch Dr Jamie Coleman’s presentation on YouTube

Watch Dr Katherine Trebeck’s presentation on YouTube

Read Our Economy in 2030: Event Report

“Why, despite decades of economic growth, has Scotland’s poverty not been addressed and why have inequalities deepened?”

The discussion was introduced and chaired by Futures Forum director Adam Tomkins MSP.


Dr Jamie Coleman (Chair and Co-Founder, Codebase)

Based in Edinburgh, Codebase is the largest tech company incubator in the United Kingdom. It helped companies like Skyscanner and Fan Duel grow into worldwide successes and is currently home to more than 90 businesses.

With a background in life sciences, after a first job as a librarian, Jamie Coleman was in an excellent position to provide his view on our strengths, weaknesses and potential future economy.

Watch Dr Coleman’s presentation

Dr Katherine Trebeck (Senior Researcher, Oxfam)

At Oxfam, Katherine Trebeck is exploring an economy that delivers social justice,  good lives, vibrant communities and protects the planet.

Previously, Katherine led research and policy for Oxfam’s Scotland office, where she developed Oxfam’s Humankind Index — a measure of Scotland’s real prosperity developed through wide ranging community consultation.

Katherine also managed Oxfam’s “Whose Economy?” project, which asked why, despite decades of economic growth, Scotland’s poverty has not been addressed and why inequalities have deepened — relevant questions for the debate.

Watch Dr Trebeck’s presentation