Development Assistance

Scottish Enterprise

Scottish Enterprise (SE) is involved in activities concerned with economic development in Scotland.

Their main areas of concentration include the encouragement of learning and enterprise; the creation of innovative and far-sighted organisations; the formation of an inclusive society and the development of an internationally renowned competitive work environment.

There are thirteen Local Enterprise Companies (LEC) throughout the Scottish Enterprise area. They are the localised centres for access to all areas of Scottish Enterprise's activity.

LECs work closely with organisations in their local area on a personal level to devise and implement projects, or to deliver locally national programmes instigated by the SE.

SE supports projects which are of national importance, providing valuable expertise in a variety of fields, including sectional knowledge, in-market export support and attracting inward investment.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE)

The Highlands and Islands of Scotland is a vast and diverse area with many distinct communities. It has thousands of businesses, each with plans for the future. There are more than 400,000 individuals with skills and potential of their own and more than 8,000 voluntary and community groups.

Sustainable development and the HIE network
HIE’s strategic policy framework, A Smart, Successful Scotland – the Highlands and Islands dimension, establishes sustainability as a key implementing principle. Sustainable development is central to the HIE network’s strategic vision of progress and legacy.

Sustainability is not narrowly applied to environmental issues alone, but also to the key factors that HIE is working towards to establish lasting prosperity, wellbeing and quality of life in the Highlands and Islands. Crucial to these will be:

• A sustainable economy which is diverse, adaptable and resilient;
• Sustainable businesses with well-developed skills and markets;
• Sustainable communities with confidence, capability and suitable means of economic vitality;
• Sustainable use of natural resources, including the area’s primary products, its natural environment and its cultural assets.

Combined, these will leave an enduring legacy of lasting value for future generations. The task for the Highlands and Islands is to turn the challenges of achieving sustainable development into opportunities by playing to and developing its natural, cultural and community strengths – as a place to live, work and do business.

As the development body for the Highlands and Islands, the HIE network has a key role to play in ensuring that business and communities are at the leading edge of responding to these challenges. The HIE network will do this by:

Progressively taking more account of environmental requirements in its core functions of social and economic development;
Promoting an integrated approach to all three sectors in its own work and with its partners, including local authorities and the voluntary sector across the Highlands and Islands.
To assist in this process the HIE network has defined ten objectives it aims to achieve as its contribution to sustainable development. Our ’ten point plan’ is accessible below and contains examples which illustrate practical progress to date.

For more information please visit the Scottish Enterprise Web Site.