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Please introduce yourself
I’m Kath Darlington MBE, the CEO of global agency group The Scott Partnership (www.scottpr.com).
We’re based in the UK and work internationally to support B2B clients helping them to reach their prospects across multiple geographies.
How and why did you get into the environmental/lab industry?
I had an interesting pivot in my early career: I started out in marketing in the construction industry – working in ballistics and blast resistant products.
I used to sit on a British Standards Committee. A lot of my network was in the security industry.
I was definitely a woman in a man’s world.
One day I “met the agency” and decided that looked more interesting to me (than being in-house).
So I moved into a marketing agency that worked in the construction industry.
One of the clients we won in the early 90s was in science and I was hooked.
By the time I set up The Scott Partnership (TSP) we were leaning more towards science, and the majority of our work came from North America.
That niche became our business. We liked the globalism of the market, people working in science are very well educated and generally open minded and kind, and the language of science was a barrier to entry for other agencies!
Where do you see the industry going in the next five/10 years?
This year is an odd time to be answering this question.
I started my career with all the optimism around globalisation. The world was at our fingertips and collaboration was open to all.
That has been the case for much of my career. And like so many I have benefitted from open access to open markets overseas.
However the political situations both nationally and internationally mean that we might see constriction in these opportunities going forward.
In 2023 I was invited by the UK’s Department for Business and Trade to become an export champion to try to overcome this insular view.
Our role as export champions is to help other companies from the UK to internationalise.
Simply put, only 10% of UK businesses sell outside the UK. That means that 90% of UK businesses are only selling to each other!
The scope is huge however the challenges (think Brexit, think warzones, think tariffs, think funding) are restricting people’s willingness to look at the future as a shared endeavour.
So I look at the future as making small differences across lots of businesses.
And if you add it up, a 1% increase in exports in each country would mean many more people are working with their neighbours, collaborating and trading internationally and bringing down barriers.
What’s your strangest story since entering the industry?
Of course there are lots of chance encounters, airport encounters etc.
These come about because we work in the same markets, travel to the same conferences and events etc. So there is a small-world feel to our very large world.
A good illustration of this; in 2010 I was in Shanghai for business at the same time as the Shanghai Expo.
Our friends in the CBBC (China Britain Business Council) invited us to a VIP event at the exhibition on the Saturday, so we went.
On that day 1 million people visited the exhibition!
In the melee from the tube we saw a man who looked familiar. My husband asked the man if he had a twin in our small town in Cheshire?
Not only did he have a twin, but he was actually the man from our small town in Cheshire!
And he had even been in my house the week before picking his daughter up from our son’s birthday party.
Proving what a small world it is!
What’s your favourite professional experience?
I have been very fortunate in my career.
Since COVID however, I was invited to become an export champion for the UK government to help more businesses to export.
That led us to putting in our application for a King’s Award for International Trade, which we received in 2024, and my MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire), which was announced in the New Years Honours 2025.
I’ll be heading to Windsor Castle later this year to be presented with the award.
Why do you love working in the industry?
The industries we work in are truly inspiring.
They are filled with people who are enormously well educated and at the cutting edge of what they do.
There is nothing more rewarding than being a small cog in a big wheel that has the potential to make such a difference.
It’s not one person doing one thing. Instead everyone is working towards the greater goal.
I’ve always been fearless and loved travelling and meeting new people.
There is something enormously rewarding about being paid to work with such amazing people who do such great things!
What are your professional hopes for the future?
It’s interesting actually; I lead the company and this means we employ people starting out in their careers as well as people who are loving what they do and not ready to retire!
It’s a privilege to be able to create and share those opportunities and to influence future lives.
It’s inspiring to think that over time each individual in business can ‘touch’ so many other lives.
So now, with my role in my own business, and as an export champion working with the government, I am more conscious of how inspiring peer communication can be.
I’m exploring all the opportunities that brings; sitting on panels, helping other UK entrepreneurs, working with female founders.
What do you get up to away from your professional life?
I discovered the joys of nature at a late age (when we first lived in Massachusetts).
So now there is nothing I love more than a wild walk on Ynys Mon (Anglesey) where we have a home.
We walked the 135-mile coastal path around the island when the kids were younger. And I plan to do that again very soon.
It is wild and remote in places, and very beautiful.
Are there any equipment recommendations you can make and why?
My company provides services and does not offer equipment.
We represent and work for vendors who provide products and services.
It’s interesting to see what the trigger points are for customers. It’s usually always service, not quality.
We regularly work in consultancy with vendors. However, they definitely tend to focus on the technology performance and think less about the user challenges. Specifically space, staffing, IT support, procurement etc.
I was sitting on a panel recently and a large number of users said that no matter how good a product is, if the vendor keeps pushing additional licences for each new piece of equipment, the purchase becomes non-viable.
There will be a good showing of current equipment for the UK market at this year’s Lab Innovations event at the NEC in October 2025.
Anything else you’d like to add?
We follow the trends in the market. This year is the most opaque forecast we have seen.
Nobody can read through the macro-economic circumstances which creates uncertainty.
All the more reason for companies to take control of what they can in terms of their operations and marketing, so that they are able to pivot and outpace the market where it is possible.
We are very approachable. I would encourage anyone to contact us to chat about their challenges (business@scottpr.com).
We are happy to share our experiences and of course to help tech and scientific businesses in their journeys.
My contact details are: kd@scottprgroup.com and you can find me on LinkedIn too.
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