Highlands & Islands ERDF Programme
Priority 1: Business competitiveness, commercialisation & innovation
Allocation ca. £5 million annually
Strategic Delivery Body: Highlands & Islands Enterprise
Enhancing the culture & competitiveness of enterprises
- Financing & advice for new businesses & entrepreneurs
- ‘Greening’ businesses
Developing business of scale & investing in commercialisation in key sectors
- Support for potential high growth firms (especially key sectors)
- High quality industrial property
Priority 1: Business competitiveness, commercialisation & innovation
Eligable Activites:
- Actions that address gaps in pre- and post-start up provision of business advice for new firms
- Promotional events for would-be entrepreneurs
- Actions to provide access to information, consultancy and hands-on support to social enterprises
- Projects that encourage the take-up of e-business among enterprises, particularly those that deepen the use of e-commerce and aim to produce significant business transformation
- Small-scale financial assistance through grants, micro-credit schemes,guarantee programmes and public/private loan funds to entrepreneurs and new firms
- Development and implementation of environmental and carbon use/footprint audits by enterprises and introduction of more environmentally-sustainable production systems and business
processes
- Activities under this theme will be expected to be targeted at the peripheral and fragile parts of the region
- Investments in individual business growth projects, targeted on innovation, productivity improvements and increased output in high growth potential enterprises
- Provision of high-specification, customised business premises, incorporating ‘green design’ principles wherever possible and involving the conversion/upgrading of existing sites rather than the construction of new ones
- Improving knowledge transfer and business networking in key research centres by supporting networking projects for groups of enterprises
- Creation of research projects that address RTD bottleneck gaps in particular technologies and sectors
- Scoping studies and prototype development for projects with sector wide benefits
- Support for higher/further education and other research spin-outs
- The development of innovative new products by food and drink and forestry enterprises will be funded through the SRDP rather than the ERDF Programme, although their commercial exploitation can be funded under this priority.
Up to 10% of the funding in this priority can be used for related ESF-type expenditure
Priority 2: Key drivers of sustainable growth
Allocation ca. £4 million annually
Strategic Delivery Body: UHI
Research & Learning Infrastructure
- Development of research centres of excellence
- e-learning and training facilities
Increasing the sustainable use of natural / cultural assets
- Development of new products & services to make use of region’s natural / historical /cultural assets
Priority 2: Key drivers of sustainable growth
Eligable Activites:
- Training facilities for the UHI and its network, particularly linked to supporting skills development in enterprises
- Wider research capacity of the region
- Investment to upgrade research facilities and infrastructure, especially those supporting competitiveness in the region’s key and growth sectors
- Support for specific research projects leading to the development of key technologies by research centres and higher and further education bodies operating in the region with a direct potential for use and commercialisation by existing or new SMEs located in the region
- Increasing the sustainable use of natural, historical and cultural assets
- Projects to develop new products, services and processes of benefit to groups of enterprises and sectors based on the region’s natural resources, particularly for the tourism sector
- Projects that enable the region’s cultural/linguistic/historical heritage to be developed and marketed in support of the region’s cultural industries and tourism
- Activities that seek to bring together individual tourism attractions/sites into more integrated products/services
- Projects that enhance the visitor experience such as interpretative facilities
Up to 10% of the funding in this priority can be used for related ESF-type expenditure
Priority 3: Peripheral & fragile communities
Allocation ca. £3 million annually
Role of Community Planning Partnerships
Focus on peripheral & fragile communities
- Support for regeneration projects
- Local business incubator & e-business facilities
- Small -scale transport links to local communities
- Small - scale investment in ICT / broadband links
- Local facilities for renewable energy production
Priority 3: Peripheral & fragile communities
Targeting:
- Areas need to satisfy at least one of the three sets of criteria to be designated as fragile.
- Geographic islands which lie off other islands and are not linked by a causeway
- a distance of more than 50 miles (80 kilometres) from a population centre of 5,000
- over 70% of roads are single track
Demographic
- islands with populations of less than 2,500
- population density less than the area average of 9 persons per square kilometre
- more than 20% of the population is of pensionable age
- population loss between the last two censuses
- in-migration of economically active below the area average
Economic
- economic activity rates below the area average
- high average and/or seasonal unemployment
- long-term unemployment more than 25% above the area average
- high dependency on primary sector employment
Lists of areas qualifying under this approach will be provided to applicants in advance of each programming round.
Contact Details:
Inverness Office
Jubilee Lodge
12c Ness Walk
Inverness
IV3 5SQ
Tel: 01463 279500
Fax: 01463 279501
Email: hipp.general@hipp.org.uk
www.hipp.org.uk
A freephone number is also available for all new Programme enquiries:
0800 014 1008
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