Charlotte Wright chief executive of Highlands and Islands Enterprise
At Highlands and Islands Enterprise we’re excited to be involved in Scotland’s Year of Young People. We will be showcasing what we offer as an agency, and calling on businesses and communities to embrace the fresh thinking and innovation young people bring. While the region is home to many highly- skilled people we have long-recognised how important young people are to commercial competitiveness, sustainable economic growth and community resilience.
With this in mind we want to create more opportunities for young people to stay in the Highlands and Islands and have rewarding careers. We want to attract more young and economically- active people to live, work, study and invest here. Our research, published in 2015, into the attitudes and aspirations of young people has been helping to focus our work. We’ve put a lot of effort into providing opportunities not only in our traditional sectors such as energy and food and drink, but also in our more recently established sectors such as life sciences and creative industries.