Innovation

Ayrshire Rural and Islands Ambition (ARIA) is supporting community led initiatives across Ayrshire.

Scottish farming businesses will see support payments start to reach their bank accounts this week, two weeks ahead of last year’s first payments. 

The Scottish Organic Milk Producers co-operative is celebrating 20 years of collaboration this Organic September with the launch of a new project that’s set to benefit organic dairy farmers across Scotland.

The National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care, expected to launch next month, will seek to improve the capability of remote, rural and island Primary Care and enhance the delivery of community-based services.

The first phase of a new initiative to identify and nurture new entrepreneurial talent has been launched.

Funding of up to £1.5 million will be delivered through the Pathways Pre-Start Fund this financial year to provide support, mentoring and advice services for people thinking about taking the first steps towards creating a start-up company. It will have a particular focus on closing the gender gap and widening participation in entrepreneurship, and is the first step to developing a pre-start network to bring more people into the entrepreneurship pipeline.

Scientists at the University of Aberdeen are developing technology that will enable electricity generated by renewables to be ‘banked’ as green hydrogen in depleted oil and gas reservoirs alongside industrial carbon emissions. 

The research could play a key role in helping Scotland achieve its net zero ambitions and even become a net exporter of hydrogen, while providing a new lease of life to depleted oil and gas reservoirs and aquifers, as well as the pipeline and well infrastructure surrounding them. 

Libraries across Scotland can apply to the Public Library Improvement Fund to help finance creative projects and sustainable services.

Projects that could be supported under the £450,000 Scottish Government fund include tackling the cost of living crisis, bridging the digital divide, tackling the attainment gap for children and young people, or addressing sustainable development goals.

The Scottish Library and Information Council, administrators of the fund, will make awards in line with the aims and ambitions of its current strategy.

Tickets for the Scottish Agritourism Conference are released for general sale today.  

Applications are also open for twenty scholarship places, which Scottish Rural Network (SRN) are funding as part of our remit to encourage innovation in agriculture and to support the delivery of the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP).

A new report - 'Evidence to Support Development of a New Rural Support Scheme for Scotland: A summary of written outputs' - has been published.

The report covers twelve written separate reports. These provide evidence reviews, analysis, summaries and expert briefings on agriculture in Scotland, the purpose of which is to help shape future policy in order to deliver sustainable food production that tackles climate change and nature restoration.