THE HIGHLAND COUNCIL

Their core work

The Highland Council is the local government authority for the Scottish Highlands, one of the largest and most rural administrative regions in the UK. Within H2020, their role has been delivering Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) services to help Highland-based SMEs access EU innovation support, particularly through the SME Instrument programme. They act as a regional intermediary connecting local businesses with European innovation funding, coaching, and growth opportunities — essentially bridging the gap between remote Scottish enterprises and the EU innovation ecosystem.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

The Highland Council's H2020 involvement shows a clear maturation path within the EEN framework. Early projects (2015-2018) focused on the mechanics of the SME Instrument — helping local companies apply for and manage EU funding through basic innovation management support. By 2019-2021, the emphasis shifted toward deeper coaching, innovation management as a discipline, and supporting SMEs through growth and scaling stages, suggesting a move from application support to longer-term business development advisory.

Moving from helping SMEs access EU funding toward providing substantive innovation management coaching and scale-up support, which may continue under Horizon Europe's EIC programmes.

How they like to work

The Highland Council has exclusively participated as a partner, never as a coordinator, across all four projects. With only 3 unique consortium partners in 1 country, they operate within a tight, recurring Scottish EEN consortium — likely working alongside the same regional partners (such as Scottish Enterprise or other Scottish councils) on successive EEN mandates. This makes them a reliable, low-risk partner within established Scottish innovation support networks, though not a connector to broader European consortia.

Very compact network: 3 unique partners, all within the UK. Their collaboration is concentrated within the Scottish Enterprise Europe Network ecosystem, suggesting a tightly knit regional support partnership rather than a broad European network.

What sets them apart

The Highland Council offers something unusual: public-sector innovation support in one of Europe's most geographically remote and rural regions. For any project or consortium needing a partner with deep knowledge of rural and peripheral-region SME challenges, they bring direct experience in supporting businesses that face distance, connectivity, and scale barriers. They are not a research body or technology provider — their value is in regional reach and on-the-ground SME engagement in an underserved area.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EES Innovation CSA
  Their first H2020 entry (2015-2016), establishing the Highland Council's role in the Scottish EEN innovation support ecosystem.
• EEN Scotland EIMC (2020-2021)
  Most recent project with an evolved focus on growth, scaling, and coaching for innovative SMEs — shows the maturation of their support capabilities.