Weekly update, 10th October

Energy & Business Services:
• The Beatrice Offshore Windfarm project is one of the largest private sector investments in Scotland, and to illustrate the sheer scale of the work the consortium has produced a short animation, which is available to view at https://vimeo.com/186162042 Also this week, lead partner SSE has broken ground on the site in Moray where the subsea cable from the Beatrice turbines will connect into the National Grid, ready for the date in 2019 when the project will be operational. http://renews.biz/104493/sse-breaks-ground-for-beatrice/

Tourism, Food & Drink:
• Last weekend’s spectacular weather helped another successful “Taste North” celebration of local produce from Caithness and Sutherland. The event is an initiative of Venture North, the group of tourism businesses working together to promote the area’s tourism assets. It’s good to see the latest of Venture North’s “Discovery” films being launched, with an Autumn-themed look around the area. Once again the stunning footage is captured by local business including Storyboard Films and Sinclair Aerial Surveys. Venture North is supported by CNSRP partner the NDA. To view the incredible “Discovery” series of films see http://www.venture-north.co.uk/discovery/

Communications:
As part of an ongoing process of helping communicate progress with the delivery of aspects of our economic transition programme CNSRP’s partners work together to generate news stories for local, regional and national media. I also speak on a regular basis to individuals and organisations across the area to update on progress. This week:
• The CNSRP Delivery Group met this week, and members discussed how best to continue focussing down on key opportunities, so that a possible view of Partnership working beyond March 2017 can be brought together for the next meeting of the CNSRP Executive Board.
• Congratulations to Dr Neil James of Thurso’s Environmental Research Institute – Dr James coordinates the “Circular Ocean” research project that won the Public Choice award at this year’s EU “Regio Stars” ceremony. The Regio Stars awards aim to identify good practice in regional development in the EU and to highlight original and innovative projects which could be inspiring to other regions. The “Circular Ocean” project seeks “innovative and sustainable solutions for marine plastic waste, the Circular Ocean project seeks to inspire enterprises and entrepreneurs to realise the hidden opportunities of discarded fishing nets and ropes in the Northern Periphery & Arctic (NPA) region.” More info at http://www.circularocean.eu/