Jim Porter was appointed Director, Scottish Business in October 98, with responsibilities for Developmetn Finance, Commerce, Product Development, Commercialization, Entrepreneurship, Scottish Design and E-commerce/ICT. Prior to this, he was Head of the Information Industries Group (IIG) within Scottish Enterprise. Launched inn loate 1994, IIG addresses the convergence of key Industries as they create opportunities for Scotland in the Knowledge Economy. Jim has responsibility for the development of Software, Multimedia, Electronics, Optoelectronics and Semiconductor Clusters along with Electronic Commerce and Information Society Business related activity.

Jim's background prior to joining Scottish Enterprise was in the Manufacturing Design sector, working for both Multinational OEMs and Suppliers. For 3 years he was Executive Engineer with Lansing Bagnall, a UK Company, and was responsible for new product design and implementation of Total Quality in the manufacture or Materials Handling equipment. This was preceded by heading a multi-discipline project team on the design and development of Hyster's (now NACCO, a U.S. Multinational company based in Scotland) first European designed Electric Fork Lift Truck.

Jim is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Board Member of the Scottish Electronics Forum and the Scottish Software Federation.