annual conference
That's a wrap.
Focus North would like to say a heartfelt thank you to the fantastic speakers, panellists and 130+ delegates who helped make our 2025 Annual Conference a fantastic success. This year’s event focused on inspiring the next generation to seize the opportunities that lie ahead for our North Highland. For the first time, we brought young people’s voices direct to delegates and we know everyone left buzzing with ideas for how to put everything we learned into action. If you missed it, don’t worry – check out the highlights below. Want to discuss how you can get involved?
Missed it? Watch it back.
View the live feed of our 2025 Annual Conference.
Conference highlights
Straight talking from youth panel
We heard direct from local students about their views on living in North Highland – the good, the bad and the ugly. The pupils were extremely open and honest, sharing their ideas, their career plans and what they get up to outside of school. The audience really engaged with their feedback and was keen to get a better understanding of how we can highlight local opportunities as well as better support our young people to achieve their potential. This panel session was hosted by Developing the Young Workforce North Highland, whose co-ordinators work directly with Wick, Thurso and Farr High Schools. The team provides career days, interactive workshops, work experience opportunities and vital connections with local employers big and small. With the help of DYW, Focus North arranged an ambitious summer programme of activities, and Conference 2025 saw the official launch of Minecraft Reinventing Regions – the first of its kind in Scotland!
Unprecedented growth
Three excellent speakers very clearly laid out the cause for optimism. Martin Johnson, Director of Strategy and Regional Economy at HIE, set out the £100bn investment expected to flow into the Highlands and Islands in the next 15 years. Hailing the “unprecedented growth prospects” this brings, he emphasised the need for collaboration on workforce planning, house building, transport infrastructure and supply chain growth. That spirit of collaboration was also a central theme in the presentations from Derek Brown, Chief Executive of the Highland Council, and Finlay MacDonald, who heads up Property and Assets. Outlining the council’s own £2bn Highland Investment Plan, they laid out the opportunities to leverage private sector match funding and transform our regional infrastructure. For Caithness, the flagship project is a £100m new hub for Thurso, bringing together primary, secondary and further education alongside health, leisure and community spaces
Building a talent pipeline
Trudy Morris, Chief Executive of the (newly renamed) North Highland Chamber of Commerce set out the remarkable work underway to develop local talent. Marking the 10 year anniversary of DYW North Highland, she highlighted their impact, with 8197 interactions with young people in the last year alone and 158 local employers engaged. Funding from the NDA, NRS Dounreay and offshore wind developers is ramping up opportunities for apprenticeships, with the £400k FutureSkills Fund providing support over 3-4 years. Since 2019 37 young people have taken up apprenticeship placements. This year, additional funding allowed for the launch of a pilot graduate placement scheme, and Trudy hosted a panel discussion with some of the graduates who have benefited from this pilot. Among them was Dounreay physicist David James, who first arrived for a three-month placement and is now proud to call Thurso his home.
Challenging debate
For the first time, we introduced Slidl to facilitate live interactive voting. We didn’t want broadcasts or passive audiences – we wanted to place our delegates front and central to the day. This was achieved by live questions and comments feeding through via the app and generous time allocated for audience Q&As and networking. A clear highlight was the live survey, which tested our perceptions of life in the region. Before the summer, the DYW team asked local young people what they like about living in Caithness and Sutherland, what they think needs fixed, and whether they plan to build a career here. Could our audience guess what they said? Interestingly, they could not. Many of the results were eye-opening for everyone (including us) and it formed the basis for an interesting discussion and lots of brainstorming centred around how we can work together to address negative perceptions and create meaningful change.
Eyes on the future
We didn’t shy from the tricky conversations over the course of the day, but the overwhelming mood was one of positivity. The conference opened with an inspiring film created by Local Lens Media, which set out the scale of opportunity on the horizon. Later in the afternoon, we took a closer look at some of the major developments in the area. Our panellists included Mike Hay from West of Orkney Windfarm, Dave Wilson from NRS Dounreay, Mark Williams from Murphy, Roxane Anderson from UHI (representing the Peatland World Heritage Site) and Ewan Walker of Thistle Wind Partners. Each panellists provided an update on their projects in the area, setting out the scale of opportunity for job creation, supply chain development and investment in our transport, housing and digital infrastructure. Check out our film below for a whistlestop tour of the sheer breadth of activity underway in North Highland.
Can you help?
As a triple helix partnership, Focus North’s success is built on close collaboration between private, public and academic partners. Whether you’re an SME willing to offer work experience or a major global developer looking to make a meaningful socio-economic contribution, we want to hear from you.