Key industry sectors

HIE targets support towards the key industry sectors, as identified in the Scottish Government Economic Strategy, which have the greatest potential to boost sustainable economic growth across the Highlands and Islands;

Creative industries: HIE is pursuing work designed to address structural issues and market failure in the creative industry sectors. This focuses on creating the conditions for business growth through networking and effective distribution, as well as an aggressive internationalism strategy.

At an operational level, as well as supporting company development, HIE will focus on three key areas: idea development including finance and training for R&D, with the aim to improve the standard of idea and support better development; distribution, how to get the product to market, including marketing, attendance at trade events/showcasing; and networking and creating profile at a national and international level.

HIE is also concentrating on supply chain and sectoral development activities that are important to the development of creative industries in the region. In supporting the sector, HIE will work closely with Creative Scotland.

Energy: The Highlands and Islands of Scotland have a growing global reputation as the energy power house of Europe.

Its strong legacy in the oil and gas industry and abundance of renewable energy resources means it is ideally placed to be at the fore of the energy industry.

Working in partnership with industry, the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Funding Council, HIE delivers economic benefits through research, demonstration and deployment initiatives such as the Saltire Prize, the Energy Technology Partnership and the Scottish European Green Energy Centre.

HIE will continue to accelerate the development and deployment of renewable energy and in doing so will secure high levels of economic growth throughout the region. Real opportunities exist in developing intellectual property, securing long-term local business benefit and potential inward investment in the marine energy sector (including wave, tidal and offshore wind). For this reason, HIE will prioritise its activities around development of the marine energy sector, including further development of EMEC capability both on and off-site, taking forward appropriate development of the Pentland Firth, and exploring opportunities for communities and businesses throughout the Highlands and Islands to participate in the marine energy industry.

The HI-energy website gives comprehensive and up-to-date information on the development of the energy mix.

Find out about ground-breaking work many local companies are involved in, from research and development to full-scale test facilities. It’s also where you’ll find the latest news and analysis from the energy sector plus full coverage of the markets we work in.

Find out more about energy in the Highlands and Islands.

Renewable energy
Oil and gas
The Pentland Firth Marine Energy project


Financial and business services: HIE support a number of key companies in the region who offer growth opportunities, particularly in high value business process outsourcing and in supply chain development.

The importance of the financial and business services sector to the North economy has been identified in a report published by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE). Produced by Ekos, the report highlights the scale and importance of the sector and gives baseline information which was previously unavailable, read the full report here.

Given the current flux within the industry, there will be niche opportunities to be explored. HIE are focusing on new models of shared service centres and distributed outsourcing centres will be explored and the potential for energy intensive, green data centres will also be pursued.

Food and drink: Food and drink is intrinsically linked to the economy of the region, is a significant employer and contributes over £1bn in exports. The sector comprises over 1,900 businesses operating in the value adding processing and primary producing sectors which include aquaculture, fisheries and agriculture.

HIE is fully engaged in taking forward a national strategy for food and drink and works closely with industry bodies on business engagement and growth. However, there are emerging concerns on the effects of the global economic downturn and possible threats to employment levels in the sector. HIE will work closely to ameliorate these threats where possible.

Our efforts to support growth will focus on business leadership, collaborative supply chains, industry communication and sustainability. HIE will play a key role in taking this work forward at a national level with partners including Scotland Food and Drink. In addition, HIE will support the account management process with expert knowledge, market intelligence, advice and networks.

Life sciences: The life science sector in the region has a twin geographic focus – Inverness for medical and health sciences and Oban for marine bio-science. There are also important research nodes in Caithness and specific companies based in the Western Isles.

While the Highlands and Islands have one dominant business in this emerging sector, Inverness-based Lifescan, the region also has a growing number of small businesses and spinouts with high growth potential.

Key stakeholders active in this sector include those undertaking academic and/or commercial research and development, manufacturing organisations, contract research organisations and the NHS. HIE will support company growth and explore opportunities in marine bio-discovery, bio-infomatics, natural products, mental health, diagnostics, medical devices plus remote and rural health.

Tourism: Tourism remains a key sector for HIE and one that can make a significant contribution to a competitive region.

Working with partners, especially VisitScotland, HIE is a key player in meeting national ambitions of a 50% growth in the value of the sector equating to an additional £600m expenditure into the region.

The drivers of this growth will be developing world class destinations, accelerating targeted inward investment propositions and developing support mechanisms to enhance business leadership and productivity. HIE will also be working on a select number of larger, strategic projects that offer significant growth opportunities at the regional level, such as the development of the marine tourism product and the cruise ships market.

Universities: The growth and development of a university sector in the Highlands and Islands is critical to the long term success of the regional economy.

In addition to its high priority of developing UHI, HIE will work to attract further investment and engagement in the region with other institutions including Heriot Watt University, the University of Stirling and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.