Increased involvement in global markets:
Taking knowledge to the world and bringing the world's knowledge to the Highlands and Islands
A high-performance Highlands and Islands economy hinges on carving out global markets and relationships. That means internationalising our perspectives and multiplying the number and range of international business activities. These include exporting of products and services, through research, development and commercialisation, to joint-venturing, licensing, and co-operative manufacturing.
Priorities for action
- Revolutionising access to international market information for our widely-scattered businesses.
- Providing expert advice and support, harnessing the global reach and resources of Scottish Development International.
- Encouraging businesses of scale and smaller niche players to compete individually and in international supply chain, research and other alliances.
- Developing innovation in business leadership, marketing and product development to improve productivity, competitiveness and value-adding.
- Stimulating specialist groupings of business, academic and other interests to help devise and deliver improvements through collaborative networks.
- Sharing best practice with other regions and countries.
The Highlands and Islands to be a globally-attractive location
People, businesses and capital are increasingly mobile, influenced by factors including earnings, lifestyle, skills or communications standards. Modern amenities, from visitor attractions to business premises, and high living standards must complement distinctive natural and built environments.
Priorities for action
- Developing high-wealth business sectors to attract and retain able people, while boosting community confidence.
- Attracting mobile businesses, capital and expertise, through extensive global intelligence and networking.
- Harnessing our natural and cultural heritage to enable sensitive development of quality industries, including tourism, aquaculture and food and drink, within communities which welcome new faces and fresh ideas.
- Strengthening business and social infrastructure - foremost is transport, but also including business premises and telecoms, affordable housing, education, recreation and healthcare - through advocacy and partnerships with others.
Connecting to the rest of the world
Eliminating economic and social remoteness requires intelligent solutions to geographic and market-failure challenges. Our population is widely scattered and short of scale-economies to acquire higher bandwidth telecoms, capital-intensive infrastructure and efficient transport networks. EU funding has made a vital contribution to development and we will continue to make effective use of HISTP funding, as well as pressing the case for further Structural Funds post-2006.
Priorities for action
- Working in partnership on a regional scale to address the area's quality and range of physical communications, including a strong air services network together with improved road, sea and rail transport facilities.
- Ensuring the area is equipped with the most advanced telecoms services, through anticipation of change, influence and implementation of solutions with partners.
- Stimulating businesses to develop competitive online business processes, e-marketing and other skills, to win contracts, develop supply chains and cut business costs.
- Developing 'softer' global connections mechanisms, such as linking into the globalscot business network.
- Playing an active role in the development of regional policy within the European Union, including the attraction of additional EU Structural Funds.
More people choosing to live, study and work in the Highlands and Islands
The scale of our long-term ambition for population growth across the Highlands and Islands is set out at the beginning of this document. Localised losses need to be addressed as part of that overall growth, including age-balance and skills availability. Challenges include increasing the range and accessibility of high-quality employment, educational and social amenities.
Priorities for action
- Generating high-quality employment by raising business competitiveness and development of wealth-creating business sectors.
- Dispersing new commercial and public-sector employment across the area, through communications technology and innovative delivery solutions.
- Providing strategic support to ensure successful evolution of primary sector activities in the face of major change, e.g. CAP reform.
- Recruiting incoming businesses and people to fill competitiveness and skills gaps.
- Harnessing the University of the Highlands and Islands as a 'global magnet', enriching the region's academic, cultural and creative mix and providing a driver for knowledge transfer and commercialisation.
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