Highlands & Islands
The Highlands and Islands region covers the mainland Scottish Highlands, Shetland, Orkney, and the Outer and Inner Hebrides. A relatively new ecosystem in terms of Tech, there are several vibrant key industries making progress here such as green energy, blue economy, food and drink, tourism, life sciences, creative industries, and space, all of which have significant or potentially significant tech aspects to them. Continuing investment in the region through the Islands Growth Deal; Inverness & Highland City - Region Deal and the newly awarded Inverness a Cromarty Firth Green Freeport Deal show a serious level of commitment by both Scottish and UK Government to encourage growth and innovation in an area that they have highlighted as one of digital opportunity.
Key industries
Techscaler we support startups in every sector, however, we’ve highlighted below some key industries that are significant in this region and have an existing foundation here.
Energy
The Highlands and Islands continue to lead the way in terms of green energy conversion in response to the global climate emergency within the UK, with large offshore and onshore investments in wind turbines and their supporting infrastructure, as well as the development of wave and hydroelectric generation. Investment in infrastructure for connectivity to the national grid has brought with it sound levels of economic reward and greater levels of broadband connectivity across the region, opening up even more economic channels for development, such as the tech sector. Recent investment into the Inverness and Cromarty port authorities in the form of a Green Freeport seeks to repurpose manufacturing yards previously utilised for oil into a just transition towards the green economy and provides a significant opportunity for local tech development to support the sector.
Blue Economy
Historically focussed around fishing and the oil and gas sectors, the Blue Economy within the Highlands and Islands has developed rapidly in recent decades to encompass a far more wide-ranging number of industry verticals such as: Aquaculture, Seafood Processing, Marine Energy and Renewables, Oil & Gas Decommissioning, Seabed Mining, Marine Biotechnology & Bioprocessing, Marine Environmental Services, Maritime Transport and Shipbuilding and Marine & Coastal Tourism. With a coastline larger than that of France, there is considerable resource that the Highlands and Islands can make use of and strategic policies from regional development organisations are seeking to capture the advantage that the region has particularly in energy and renewables; environmental services and aquaculture. The revitalisation of the former oil and gas yards in the region is allowing for considerable expansion of the green energy economy, affording many opportunities in the tech solutions required to ensure efficiency and global reach. The region holds world-leading research institutes around key industries within the economic sector such as: SAMS UHI (Scottish Association for Marine Science) in Oban, The Bryden Centre of UHI Executive Office, UHI Shetlands Marine Sciences and Technology research centre, Robert Gordon University’s Orkney Research and Innovation Campus and Heriot-Watt’s Orkney Campus, all producing world-leading research at the cutting edge of just transitions away from oil and gas within the region.
Food and Drink
A burgeoning sector of the Scottish Economy, the Highlands and Islands are well placed within this vertical, producing quality products throughout the region with a strong competitive advantage due to their provenance. With products from Distilling and Brewing, Aquaculture production, Fisheries and Farming, many of these are processed and packaged locally for distribution within worldwide markets. Emerging technologies are playing a major role within this sector, with collaborative working from academia, regional economic development agencies and national stakeholders helping to improve competitiveness and growth.
Tourism
The tourism sector has historically been - and continues to be - a large industry within the region, with pre-Covid spending of £1.5bn annually by visitors to the Highlands and Islands. The sector has been impacted significantly due to the pandemic, but now sees a strong resurgence with visitor numbers, and tourism businesses increasing dramatically. To that end, considerable investment in the sector has been made by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), not least for organisations to take advantage of innovative technological solutions to overcome the challenges presented by the pandemic, Brexit impacts on recruitment to the area and the prevailing economic conditions that have impacted the sector. Technology placement programmes from HIE are aiding organisations in their adoption of digital transition and this affords the tech sector significant possibilities in helping the sector to meet the emerging challenges that they face, as well as aiding visitors to make the most of their time within the region.
Life Sciences
With more than 80 Life Sciences operating within the Highlands and Islands, employing approximately 2500 people, this is an often hidden, but large and very productive sector for the region, which is afforded significant support from Highlands and Islands Enterprise. With recent investments in a new Life Sciences Innovation Centre within Inverness to further collaboration between industry and academia, the sector is set to continue to grow. The vertical provides, in many cases, organisations with a high growth mindset, international outlook and high-wage positions in the local economy. Often sitting at the edge of technological development in their fields, the crossovers with the tech sector are evident and with continued growth comes a continued requirement for tech solutions to aid in the development of Life Sciences solutions.
Space
Possibly the most exciting and eye-catching industry sector to have emerged within the Highlands and Islands, the unique geography of the region provides a strategic location for low earth orbits with both polar and sun-synchronous orbits possible. Of the 8 proposed Spaceports within the UK, 6 are within Scotland and 5 of those within the Highlands and Islands region. The industry is drawing attention from multinational, national and local companies alike, with the Scottish Government and local regional partners seeing this as a key strategic driver within rural Highlands Economies. Organisations such as Lockheed Martin and Orbex have been provided considerable support to facilitate the construction of launch and support sites for this new industry vertical for the region, offering definitive opportunities for local organisations to add to the more than 300 companies currently operating in Scotland’s Space sector. Across much of the sector within the region, the drive to be carbon neutral is a key focus, offering many potential crossovers to the Greentech sector.
What support is available to you in Highlands & Islands?
The Team
Head of Regional Engagement, Mark Sutherland, is your first point of contact for the region. They’re here to help you find the right support through joining the Techscaler community and becoming a Techscaler member, and grow regional participation in the Techscaler programme.
Contact The Regional Team
Workspace
Hot Desking
Unlimited hotdesking membership with 24hr access 7 days a week for £135pcm
8 days pcm hotdesking membership (bookable as 16 half days between 09:00 & 17:00 Mon-Fri) £100pcm
Co-working
Fixed desk within the co-working space for £175pcm, providing unlimited 24:7 access and a secure lockable unit.
Fixed banks of desks are available for operating your own hotdesking operation, POA
Small 2-3 person office spaces, perfect for smaller startups, are available within the hub. Please get in touch for further details.
Events & Meetups
Coworking day
CSO & Techscaler Partnership Webinar
Star
Community Support
We work with partners xxxxx to provide support in the area. Join us in the
Other regions
Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know about Techscaler. If you can’t find the answer to your question here please get in touch.
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Join Techscaler
If our education courses are of interest to you, apply for Techscaler membership. Membership is for people working in startups who are at all stages of the startup journey, from ideation through to scaling phase, based in Scotland, and with ambitions to grow their business. Fill in the application form and Team Techscaler will get back to you as soon as possible to let you know your suitability for Techscaler membership and benefits available to you.
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