How the Highlands and Islands is shaping Scotland’s future

An extraordinary new wave of economic opportunity looks set to bring a major boost to the Highlands and Islands over the next few years.

This rural region is home to about 10% of the population spread across half the country’s land mass. It’s rich in natural and renewable resources and on the brink of unprecedented growth.

This growth is linked largely to the role of renewable energy in two national priorities – the drive towards net zero and the importance of energy security, both of which are here to stay.

The sheer scale of the region’s potential far exceeds anything we’ve seen before.

There’s a strong prospect of achieving greater impact than either the post-war development of the Highlands’ hydro infrastructure or the main period of the oil and gas exploration era.

Much of Scotland’s onshore and offshore wind potential is found in the Highlands and Islands and the long-anticipated renewables revolution is reaching a tipping point. Potential has been scoped, significant investments made in port infrastructure and manufacturing, numerous developments installed, and skilled jobs created.

While the past 20 years or so have been the dawn of this new era, we’re now into the next phase, and poised for rapid exponential growth. New projects linked to both net zero transition and energy security are taking shape.

With the right collaborations and the right investments, it’s no exaggeration to say we’re set to see many tens of billions of pounds worth of projects emerge in the coming years. This will create jobs, help retain and attract population and support housebuilding across the region.

With this economic opportunity comes a stronger case for the necessary enabling investment in transport and skills. From our perspective this is very much a win-win.

At Highlands and Islands Enterprise, our research team has been busy working with specialists on a study that will detail and quantify this potential through identification of what are being called Regional Transformation Opportunities, or RTOs for short.

The study has two main purposes:

·         to better understand the breadth of economic opportunities with the greatest potential to bring transformational change to the region’s economy and society; and

·         to inform policies, planning and investment decisions around topics such as population attraction and retention, skills, housing provision and transport, so we might maximise the benefits of those opportunities.

RTO projects are generally well dispersed across the region’s local authority areas and largely private sector driven with some public sector co-investment, for example through Growth Deals.

We’ve seen great strides in onshore and offshore wind, pumped storage hydro and green hydrogen. And the region remains at the heart of our oil and gas industries.

But it’s not just about energy. There are also great advances being made in space, marine biotechnology, life sciences, natural capital and critical infrastructure developments that will enable the RTOs to become a reality.

Although outside the scope of the study, established sectors including tourism, food and drink, creative industries, aquaculture and forestry are also innovating and adding to the region’s economic strength.

Advances in communications technology, meanwhile, are enabling people to remain or move into the region with confidence, knowing there is work, investment, and solutions to many of the geographic challenges of the past.

There is of course still a huge amount of work to be done to harness the opportunities open to us. Government, public bodies and investors need to work together on joined-up, local approaches, tackling challenges such as housing and transport which are especially important to rural regions.

In doing so, we’ll secure a sustainable future for the Highlands and Islands economy. We’ll also revitalise rural communities, making them vibrant and connected hubs of innovation and growth. And this in turn will significantly enhance the contribution this region makes to Scotland’s economy.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be publishing the findings of the RTO research, sharing the report with our partners across industry and the public sector, with the message ‘let’s make it happen’.

A new journey is just beginning. Yes, it requires investment and lots of work, but the potential return on that investment will be genuinely transformational.