Lord Smith of Kelvin serves as Chancellor of the University of Strathclyde[4] and Chair of the British Business Bank.

On 19 September 2014, he was appointed as Chair of the newly formed Scotland Devolution Commission by Prime Minister David Cameron, following the "No" result in the Scottish independence referendum; his role being to oversee devolution commitments spelt out by the Westminster parliamentary leaders, with initial proposals drawn up by November 2014.

As Chairman of the FRC Group on Audit Committees Combined Code Guidance, he was responsible for The Smith Report (2003).

[13] On 19 September 2014, Smith was appointed as Chair of the newly formed Scotland Devolution Commission, following the "No vote" in the Scottish independence referendum.

[2] Smith has been conferred honorary degrees by the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Strathclyde and also Paisley, where he was installed as Chancellor in 2003 serving for 10 years.

In 2014 he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, allowing him to use the Post Nominal Letters "FRSGS".

Lord Smith was a guest speaker along with Sir James MacMillan for the World Leaders Forum at Judson University recognizing the 100th anniversary of Christian missionary Eric Liddell's historic gold medal in the 1924 Paris Olympics.