Dunoon scuba diving business to enhance offering and create jobs
Wreckspeditions Dive Charters Limited offers scuba diving charters in the Firth of Clyde.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has approved a £228,000 investment in the initiative, which will be open to all food and drink firms in the Highland Council area.
The agency has commissioned consultancy firm Rural Matters LLP to create a Highland food and drink innovation network. This will be industry-led and focused on improving productivity, the adoption of new technologies, and nurturing the businesses of the future.
It will explore themes such as scalable premium products, a sustainable supply chain and the circular economy, digitisation, robotics and automation.
It will also include extensive consultation with the industry and supply chain to develop HIE’s plans to create a new food and drink technology hub in Highland.
The new network, which will also be open to social and community enterprises, will run for two years, promoting collaboration within and beyond the sector.
It will form part of the HIE-led Northern Innovation Hub (NIH), a project that received £11m from the UK Government and £1.7m ERDF support as part of the Inverness and Highland City Region Deal. The Deal is a joint £315 million initiative supported by both the UK and Scottish governments.
Food and drink is one of four key growth sectors the NIH will support, with the additional cross-cutting themes of technology and young people.
Claire Munro, HIE’s senior project manager for the NIH, said:
“The food and drink industry is one of the Highlands’ most important sectors and has significant potential for further growth so it is logical that it is one the four key sectors prioritised in the Northern Innovation Hub.
“This project will encourage and support food and drink companies to embrace technology and innovation with a view to increasing productivity, reaching new markets and creating quality jobs. In addition, it will reach out and engage with the food and drink producers of the future.
“We are very pleased to be working with Rural Matters LLP and look forward to engaging companies in the new network as well as in our plans to create a food and drink technology hub.”
David Gass, Managing Partner of Rural Matters LLP, commented:
“We are delighted to have been selected to deliver the first phase of the Highland Food and Drink Innovation Network. Food and drink remains a hugely important sector for the Highland Council region and we look forward to engaging with food and drink companies from across the region, and the wider supply chain for the sector.
“The Innovation network will add real value to the wider support and partnerships already in place across the sector. It will promote innovation and raise food and drink companies’ awareness and adoption of new technologies and processes, and collaboration opportunities that will help support their growth and productivity. It is intended the network will be very much industry led and owned, facilitated by Rural Matters, and responding to industry demand and ambition.”
Related Articles
Forres firm to boost turnover, cut carbon and create jobs
Investment by Forres-based Maclean’s Highland Bakery will create up to five new jobs
Elgin company to increase efficiency and cut carbon
Highland Galvanizers, is upgrading buildings equipment and infrastructure at is premises in the town’s Pinefield Industrial Estate where it employs 34 people
West coast sand mine steps up production
Lochaline Quartz Sand Limited is set to double its production and increase annual turnover by more than £2.6m.
Argyll chocolate firm expands to meet growing demand
Fetcha Chocolates Limited is investing in new equipment to quadruple its capacity, increase turnover and create employment.
Funding award to Canna community visitor hub
A major project to create a new visitor hub on the island of Canna in Lochaber has secured a £20,000 contribution from HIE.
Argyll marine firm scales up with new high tech survey vessel
The project by Oban based Tritonia Scientific Limited will support four jobs and is forecast to increase the company’s turnover by more than £1m within three years.
Work starts on new business units in Benbecula
HIE has appointed Benbecula company D Macdonald (Building Contractors) Ltd to create seven new units at Eabhal. Business Park
Caithness fabrication firm gears up for big contracts
Gow’s Lybster Limited is installing Migatronic CoWelders that will significantly improve productivity and ensure consistent high-quality workmanship.
Contract awarded for Manufacturing Innovation Centre Moray
A £1.3m contract has been awarded for the refurbishment of a building on Enterprise Park Forres to create the new Manufacturing Innovation Centre Moray (MICM).
Funding boost for new Isle of Mull recording studio
The project is forecast to generate more than £340,000 turnover in the next three years and create three jobs within five years.
Argyll firm to create eDNA lab for aquaculture sector
Underwater ecological survey company Ocean Ecology is developing the state-of-the-art lab in its existing facilities at the European Marine Science Park (EMSP) near Oban.