Ambitious for Scotland Rural Innovation and Business Systems Final Conference, Wednesday 27 th 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 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  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. Aims and Objectives

Ambitious for Scotland Online resources Developed website ( Twitter Mapped innovation Ecosystem (2011) Too many programmes Lack of context Confusing landscape Limited joined up working Innovation Survey Designed and analysed by Lulea University of Technology, Sweden 120 Companies surveyed across partnership Knowledge Exchange Hosted 3 KE visits KE visit to Sweden Project dissemination in Norway Learned from our partners HIE Initiatives  Four main areas of focus  Lead Partner for the Rural Innovation and Business Systems project

Ambitious for Scotland  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 on Twitter Online resources:

Ambitious for Scotland Innovation Map June 2011

Ambitious for Scotland Mapping Innovation Landscape Findings 1.Too many similar programmes. 2.Lack of context. 3.Confused landscape. 4.Limited joined up working. 5.Advisor confusion. 6.Lack of promotion at a regional level. Outputs 1.Reduction and merging of products 2.Toolkit for HIE Account Managers 3.Regional representation for national programmes 4.Joint promotion of services 5.Sharing of information

Ambitious for Scotland Twenty Five Companies Survey in the HIE area Strengths Ambitious Businesses Quality Focus Creativity Informality Community Values Physical Environment Innovation Survey

Ambitious for Scotland Twenty Five Companies Survey in the HIE area Challenges Remote location Higher Cost Location Lack of Competition knowledge Infrastructure Levels of Entrepreneurship Supply of skilled staff Access to Investment and Capital Innovation Survey

Ambitious for Scotland Knowledge Exchange Visits

Ambitious for Scotland  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. Knowledge exchange what did we learn ?

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  Our new programme of entrepreneurship support aims to stimulate innovation.  Aim to develop new Espark presence in Inverness in  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 Actions taken and next steps

Ambitious for Scotland Crystal Mackay, Development Manager ( ) John Mackenzie, Development Manager ( ) Website: Follow on Contact Rural Innovation: