Highland Businesses Offered Free Support to Cut Carbon Costs and Prepare for a Low-Carbon Economy New Climate Springboard programme aims to help SMEs understand emissions, reduce costs and plan for the future Businesses across the Highlands and Islands are being offered free expert support to help them understand their carbon emissions, reduce costs and prepare for the growing demands of a low-carbon economy. The new Climate Springboard programme, supported by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), is designed to help small and medium-sized businesses, social enterprises, charities and community organisations take practical steps towards reducing their environmental impact.
Economic development organisations are often asked to perform an almost impossible task: transform regions, create jobs and encourage investment in places where the private sector may be reluctant to take risks. But when some supported projects fail, criticism quickly follows.
Economic development agencies frequently publish impressive statistics: thousands of jobs created, businesses supported and millions of pounds of investment attracted. But one question is often much harder to answer: how much of that success actually happened because of their intervention? This is one of the biggest challenges facing organisations such as Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and Scottish Enterprise.
A major piece of underground engineering at Dounreay has been completed, bringing the Orkney electricity link another step closer to reality and putting Caithness at the centre of a project designed to unlock hundreds of megawatts of renewable energy. SSEN Transmission has announced the successful completion of horizontal directional drilling (HDD) at Dounreay, describing it as a major milestone in the construction of the Orkney Link.
Oban and north Lorn is poised to become a leading location for developing drone, robotics and autonomous systems activity, attracting high-value jobs and investment. This is according to a new study, commissioned by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), which assesses the market potential in the region for these types of technologies.
The £500k project is being led by Exotopic Ltd at the Machrihanish Airbase Business Park near Campbeltown. A £500,000 project to establish a satellite management and monitoring service in Argyll has secured up to £194,000 from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).
One of Caithness's newest success stories is proving that location is no barrier to reaching customers around the world. 8 Doors Distillery in John O'Groats, Scotland's most northerly mainland whisky distillery, is expanding into international markets with support from Scottish Enterprise and Team Scotland, demonstrating how businesses from the far north can compete on the global stage.
When people talk about building wealth, the conversation often focuses on big things. Buying a house, Investing in shares, Building a pension, Receiving an inheritance.
For much of the twentieth century, saving money was not just a personal activity. It was often something communities did together.
Enterprise agencies in Scotland — Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), and the South of Scotland Enterprise regularly publish impressive sounding figures about “jobs created”, “jobs retained”, and “economic impact”. These numbers appear in annual reports, ministerial speeches, and press releases.