Weekly Update, 1st February 2010

Considerable time last week was spent preparing for the Industry Day that signalled the start of the competition to appoint the next parent Body Organisation for the Dounreay site. I coordinated the group of local representatives making the area presentation on economic opportunities. The event itself was held on Friday 5th in Wick Assembly Rooms, and attracted over 50 potential bidding company representatives, as well as a number of local stakeholders. We were able to highlight the opportunities available to companies seeking to come into this area, and also to emphasise the crucial importance of working in partnership to achieve our aims. Caithness Chamber of Commerce also organised an exhibition area in the Assembly Rooms for local companies to display their products or literature. The second part of the Industry Day will be held in Glasgow on 9th March.

I met with the senior management team from HIE’s Area Office, as well as HIE’s Regional Director, for a very productive session on a number of strategic and delivery issues.

I met with staff from a local company investigating opportunities for work in the renewables sector. This is a significant opportunity for more than our local engineering  companies, and I was able to suggest a number of potential contacts to follow up.

I met with a local arts organisation developing an innovative skills project, and suggested some ways in which it could be developed to ensure it helped play a role in the economic diversification process we are going through.

Also making plans for several forthcoming meetings, including events on Skills, Tourism, Retail, IT connectivity and also the Partnership’s Senior Officers’ Group.