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Publication - Independent report

Scotland at Expo Osaka 2025: Evaluation Report

Published
30 January 2026
From
Director of International Trade and Investment, +14 more … Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy, Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic, Director for Business and Better Regulation, Director of Digital, Director of Digital Health and Care, Director of Economic Development, Director of Energy and Climate Change, Director of Offshore Wind, Director-General Economy, Director-General Health and Social Care, Director-General Net Zero, Minister for Business and Employment
Directorate
International Trade and Investment Directorate, +6 more … Culture and External Affairs Directorate, Digital Directorate, Digital Health and Care Directorate, Economic Development Directorate, Energy and Climate Change Directorate, Offshore Wind Directorate
Topic
Business, industry and innovation, Economy, Energy, +2 more … Environment and climate change, International
ISBN
9781806437122

An evaluation report detailing the work undertaken in developing and delivering Scotland's programme of activity and engagement at Expo Osaka 2025 between April and October 2025, highlighting key outcomes achieved.

View supporting documents Supporting documents

Section 3: Sponsorship and Budget

Initial engagement with DBT’s Sponsorship Team saw an offer of three levels of Sponsor package options at varying levels of cost and scale of participation. Directorate of International Trade and Investment (DITI) officials worked with DBT to negotiate a more bespoke package that provided the level of access and permissions within the UK Pavilion that better suited a Scottish presence aligned with our capacity to deliver as well as our objectives and priorities for participation. Key aspects of the agreed Sponsor Package for Scotland were:

  • Takeover of the UK Pavilion to deliver three business focused Scotland days on agreed dates across the six months;
  • Integrated promotional story content as part of the UK’s digital visitor journey;
  • Promotion of Brand Scotland digital assets looped throughout Scotland days;
  • Integrated communications and marketing content within and in tandem with UK’s marketing campaigns in the lead up to and throughout the timescale of the event;
  • Participation of Scottish speakers, panellists, companies and thought leaders to opportunities within the UK and wider Expo programmes.

Approval for this participation package and sponsorship costs was agreed by the Cabinet Secretary Economy in early 2024.

DITI had existing Expo budget set aside to cover the Sponsorship fee, the costs for development and delivery of three agreed Activation days in the UK Pavilion, event management costs and recruitment of an in-market Project and Programme manager. In addition, allocated budget was used to support costs of delivering ministerial engagement programmes and financial support for Scottish companies to be in Japan to participate at Expo and the associated SDI led trade mission programmes.

Pressures on available budget were managed by spreading costs of all aspects of development and delivery over two financial years (2024/25 – 2025/26). Overall Scotland’s programme was delivered with a modest underspend against the allocated budget:

Contact

Email: robert.logan@gov.scot

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