The North Highlands is changing – and so is the story we have to tell about it. With major investment ahead, world-class expertise already here and new opportunities emerging across the region, this year’s Focus North Conference is about seeing our future through a different lens.

Taking place at the Norseman Hotel in Wick on Wednesday 9 September, our 2026 conference will bring together industry, businesses, policymakers, education and communities under the theme Changing Perceptions.

Because while the North Highlands is changing, perceptions don’t always change at the same pace.

More than £100bn of investment is expected to flow into the Highlands and Islands, with major developments in energy, infrastructure and other key sectors creating opportunities for businesses, communities and people across the region.

But understanding the scale of that opportunity is only part of the story.

Throughout the conference, we’ll explore what it could mean in practice: the investment coming our way, the infrastructure needed to unlock it, the capability that already exists within our local supply chain and the pathways that will allow local people to benefit.

We’ll also be asking some bigger questions.

How confident are we about economic growth? Do we recognise the scale of the opportunity ahead? And are we doing enough to ensure the next generation can see a future for themselves here?

One perception we’re particularly keen to challenge is the idea that expertise and innovation happen elsewhere.

Across the North Highlands, businesses are already delivering highly specialised work for major industries and projects – often from workshops, offices and industrial estates that most of us pass without giving them a second thought.

At the conference, we’ll premiere Quietly World Class, a new Focus North film celebrating the skills, innovation and capability within the North Highland supply chain. Where our 2025 film highlighted the investment coming into the region, this 2026 follow-up demonstrates that our supply chain is ready to grasp that opportunity. Produced once again by the excellent Local Lens Media, it’s always a highlight of the event.

We know that opportunity alone isn’t enough.

Our Infrastructure for Growth panel will look at what the region needs if we’re to turn planned investment into lasting economic benefit, while sessions throughout the day will explore everything from future career pathways and skills to community development.

We’ll hear about initiatives including Powering Futures, From Classroom to Career and Minecraft Education: Reinventing Our Communities, putting young people firmly within the conversation about the region’s future.

And we’ll be asking delegates to get involved too.

Interactive sessions throughout the day will test some of our assumptions about the North Highlands, economic growth and the opportunities ahead – and perhaps challenge a few perceptions along the way.

The Focus North Conference has always been about bringing people together: sharing information, making connections and creating conversations about what comes next.

This year, we want to go a little further.

We want to challenge how others see the North Highlands – but also how we see ourselves.

Because changing perceptions can influence where businesses invest, where people choose to build their careers and whether our communities feel confident about the future.

The opportunity ahead is significant. The capability already here is considerable.

Perhaps it’s time we got better at recognising both.

The Focus North Conference 2026: Changing Perceptions takes place at the Norseman Hotel, Wick, on Wednesday 9 September, with registration and networking from 9am and the main programme running from 10am until 4pm.

Book your place and join the conversation.