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Highland and Islands Enterprise gives food for thought with upcoming contract opportunity

Highlands and Islands Enterprise logo and Northern Innovation Hub logo

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has published a Contract Notice on Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) for a Northern Innovation Hub (NIH) Food and Drink TechHUB Strand 1: Business Support Services contract opportunity.

The Food and Drink TechHUB project will be delivered across the Highland Council area, as a project under HIE’s Northern Innovation Hub (NIH) Programme. To deliver this contract successfully, it will have to align with, and complement, existing HIE provisions and that of its partners. The aim of the contract is to provide business support, technical advice, and events to develop and existing and growing network of Food and Drink producers and supply chain businesses (SMEs).

The key tasks include:

  • bringing Food & Drink businesses together
  • supporting businesses including brokering specialist/technical support
  • raising awareness and increase implementation of new technologies and opportunities
  • developing transformational local, national, and international triple-helix collaborations between public sector, businesses, and academia
  • engaging with partners and stakeholders
  • nurturing young entrepreneurs – provide complementary support to the relevant cohort(s) of IMPACT30 participants
  • reporting, monitoring and evaluation

The estimated initial duration of the contract is three years, with the opportunity to extend the contract for one year.

Support from the Supplier Development Programme

Micro, small and medium sized businesses can access free training with SDP Scotland to prepare for this opportunity.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise is working in partnership with the Supplier Development Programme to host a Talking Tenders with Highlands and Islands Enterprise – Food and Drink TechHUB Strand 1 – Business Support webinar on 18 January 2022. Through this aligned training, which is open to all businesses, HIE wants to support suppliers to understand more about the tender opportunity and the bidding process for the contract. During the session, representatives from HIE will give background on the contract and give suppliers an idea of what type of suppliers it is looking for.

Next steps

If you are interested in bidding for HIE’s Northern Innovation Hub Food and Drink TechHUB Strand 1: Business Support Services contract opportunity, please register your interest on the Public Contracts Scotland website and register for the free Talking Tender with Highlands and Islands Enterprise webinar on 18 January 2022!

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