Transcript Highlands and Islands Enterprise title to go here

Rural Innovation and Business
Systems
Final Conference, Wednesday 27th February 2013
John Mackenzie, Development Manager
Ambitious for Scotland
What is RIBS ?
• Northern Periphery Programme project.
• Five participating partner countries.
• Research and develop products and tools
that can be utilised by any rural region.
• Identify strengths and weaknesses in each
region.
• Share findings of the learning experience.
Ambitious for Scotland
Ambitious for Scotland
RIBS Partners
• Highlands and Islands Enterprise,
Scotland
• Lulea University of Technology, Sweden
• Micropolis Ii, Finland
• West Iceland Regional Development,
Iceland
• WESTBIC, Ireland
Ambitious for Scotland
Ambitious for Scotland
Aims and
Objectives
 Manage a successful project as lead partner.
 Share and learn best practice from our
partners.
 Investigate the challenges of innovation in a
rural context.
 Utilise the products developed by the RIBS
partners.
 Help to scope out innovation policy moving
forward.
Ambitious for Scotland
Ambitious for Scotland
HIE Initiatives
Online resources
• Developed website
(www.ruralinnovation.eu)
• Twitter account
@innovationrural
Lack of context
Limited joined up
working
Innovation Survey
Knowledge Exchange
•Designed and analysed
by Lulea University of
Technology, Sweden
• Hosted 3 KE visits
•120 Companies
surveyed across
partnership
Ambitious for Scotland
Too many programmes
Confusing landscape
 Four main areas of focus
 Lead Partner for the Rural
Innovation and Business Systems
project
Mapped innovation
Ecosystem (2011)
• KE visit to Sweden
• Project dissemination in
Norway
• Learned from our partners
Ambitious for Scotland
Online resources:
www.ruralinnovation.eu
 Website where the outputs of the project
are communicated
 The products and services developed
during the project will be shared on this
website
 The website will be updated and
maintained until 2018
 You can also follow @innovationrural on
Twitter
Ambitious for Scotland
Ambitious for Scotland
Innovation Map June 2011
Ambitious for Scotland
Ambitious for Scotland
Mapping Innovation Landscape
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Findings
Too many similar
programmes.
Lack of context.
Confused landscape.
Limited joined up
working.
Advisor confusion.
Lack of promotion at a
regional level.
Ambitious for Scotland
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Outputs
Reduction and merging
of products
Toolkit for HIE Account
Managers
Regional representation
for national programmes
Joint promotion of
services
Sharing of information
Ambitious for Scotland
Innovation Survey
Twenty Five Companies Survey in the HIE area
Ambitious Businesses
Strengths

Quality Focus

Creativity

Informality

Community Values

Physical Environment

Ambitious for Scotland
Ambitious for Scotland
Innovation Survey
Twenty Five Companies Survey in the HIE area
Remote location
Challenges

Higher Cost Location

Lack of Competition knowledge

Infrastructure

Levels of Entrepreneurship

Supply of skilled staff

Access to Investment and Capital

Ambitious for Scotland
Ambitious for Scotland
Knowledge Exchange Visits
Ambitious for Scotland
Ambitious for Scotland
Knowledge exchange what did we learn ?
 Similarity between the regions in the context of population, geography
and challenge but mostly importantly in the levels of ambition.
 Focus on what resources are in your region and try and use them as a
platform to grow.
 A strong University reaching out across the region can really act as a
Hub for regional growth
 Infrastructure such as connectivity and transportation links is a
challenge for all rural regions but the more you investment the more
long term benefit can be derived.
 Increased support is required to enable new businesses to emerge
through incubators, increased innovation and entrepreneurship support.
 Renewable energy and our goal to make wave and tidal our
differentiator is the correct strategy.
Ambitious for Scotland
Ambitious for Scotland
Knowledge Exchange what did we learn ?
• That business mentoring is used very effectively by our partners.
• Universities are the pipeline for developing new companies.
• Having a local supply chain in place is the key to developing a
industry around a sector. For example Facebook in Sweden.
• We are doing well in a number of areas such as support for
internationalisation, food and drink, tourism, marine science and
renewable energy.
• That micro clustering for sectors such as tourism, creative industries
and food and drink can help to bring economies of scale enabling
access to larger markets.
• Keeping skilled talent in the region and attracting new talent is
challenging in rural areas
Ambitious for Scotland
Ambitious for Scotland
Actions taken and next steps
 Our new programme of entrepreneurship support aims to stimulate
innovation.
 Aim to develop new Espark presence in Inverness in 2013.
 Increase collaboration across the innovation support partners .
 Utilise the Business Compass and Navigation Tool to measure progress.
 Look at the internationalisation tool and clustering work methodology
developed during this project and utilise these moving forward.
 Promote the successes of the region through case studies and business
testimonies
Ambitious for Scotland
Ambitious for Scotland
Contact Rural Innovation:
Crystal Mackay, Development Manager (01463 244 556)
[email protected]
John Mackenzie, Development Manager (01463 244 520)
[email protected]
Website: www.ruralinnovation.eu
Follow on Twitter: @InnovationRural
Ambitious for Scotland
Ambitious for Scotland