Only Scottish finalist for UK Social Enterprise of the Year recognised for innovative approach bringing tourism, renewables and communities together.
Highland CIC has been named one of just seven finalists for UK Social Enterprise of the Year 2026 – and the only Scottish organisation shortlisted for the overall award.
The recognition comes just five years after the CIC began with a mission to create a more sustainable future for Highland tourism – and subsequently took the innovative step of bringing the renewable energy industry into that community-led vision.
Today, Highland Tourism and the Highland Renewables Network sit together within Highland CIC, connecting two of the region’s most important industries with communities, nature and business around one ambition: to embrace the extraordinary investment coming to the Highlands and turn it into a lasting legacy for people and place.
That approach is now attracting international attention.
Yvonne Crook, Chair and Founding Director of Highland CIC, said: “We started with tourism, but we were always in this for the long haul. We quickly realised that changing an unsustainable tourism model was no quick fix – and that tourism itself couldn’t become truly sustainable in isolation.
“The future of tourism is tied to the future of our communities, our natural environment and our wider economy. As the scale of the energy transition became clear, so did the opportunity to bring those agendas together.
“That was the catalyst for Highland Renewables – and it has made our ambition for the Highlands much bigger.
“The response from the renewable energy sector has been one of the most exciting parts of our journey. Developers and businesses haven’t simply sponsored Highland CIC – through the Highland Renewables Network they have embraced a much bigger community vision for what this transition could achieve.
“That collaboration is the innovation. Tourism, renewables, communities and nature all have a stake in the future of the same place. Why would we plan their futures separately?”
Alison Hood, Head of Engagement and Social Value at Statkraft, said: “From the outset, what was exciting about Highland CIC was the ambition coming from community leaders and the opportunity for the renewable energy sector to be part of something bigger.
“The Highland Renewables Network creates an important space for industry, communities and organisations to work collaboratively and be more deliberate about the long-term benefits this investment can create.”
That opportunity is perhaps clearest around Loch Ness.
Around 10,000 people live around one of the world’s most recognisable tourism destinations, while the same area is becoming increasingly important to the UK’s energy future through renewable generation, pumped-storage hydro and associated infrastructure.
Yet there is no overarching strategy bringing energy, tourism, communities, infrastructure and nature together around the long-term future of the place.
Willie Cameron, Highland CIC Director, Scotland’s 2019 Silver Thistle Award winner and long-standing Loch Ness tourism ambassador, said: “Tourism has been an extraordinary success for Loch Ness and the Highlands, but our future cannot simply depend on more and more visitors. We need to create greater value for our communities and places.
“Loch Ness is both a global tourism icon and increasingly important to Britain’s energy future. Bringing those two strengths together creates an extraordinary opportunity to think differently about the legacy we leave for the people who live here.”
Highland CIC’s mission is to help create a new model for sustainable regional development – bringing private investment, community ambition and public policy together to create measurable, long-term impact.
As the Highlands prepares for hundreds of millions of pounds of community benefit funding over the coming decades, alongside much greater energy and infrastructure investment, the CIC believes the conversation must move beyond how much money is available to what impact that investment can create.
Despite the extraordinary natural and economic wealth of the Highlands, communities continue to face poverty, high levels of fuel poverty, housing pressures and the loss of young people, while significant areas of the natural environment require restoration.
The opportunity is to think about investment across people, place, planet and prosperity – and that is where international expertise is now joining Highland ambition.
Internationally renowned economist and sustainability leader Dr Pavan Sukhdev has agreed to mentor Highland CIC as it develops this work, in partnership with the Global Alliance for a Sustainable Planet.
His expertise in impact economics and investment will help the CIC explore how investment flowing into the region can create – and measure – much wider social, environmental and economic value.
Yvonne said: “This could be a once-in-a-generation investment opportunity for the Highlands.
“The question isn’t simply how much community benefit we receive. It is what difference we want hundreds of millions of pounds of investment to have made in 30 years’ time.
“Have we reduced poverty and fuel poverty? Have we created homes, businesses and careers that allow our young people to stay? Have we invested in the social care and community services that enable people to live well in their communities? Have we restored nature and strengthened the places people call home?
“That’s why Pavan’s expertise is so important. He can help us move from talking about investment to understanding impact – and how we measure value across all of those things.
“We don’t expect renewable developers to solve every Highland challenge. This is about shared responsibility for place– industry, communities, businesses, government and investors working together and asking what we can achieve collectively.
“The Highlands is helping power the country’s future. Our ambition should be equally great for the legacy we leave behind.”
Dr Sukhdev will be in Inverness on 19 November to speak at Highland CIC’s Highland Sustainable Development Summit, bringing international thinking on impact investment to the conversation about the region’s future.
The national recognition comes just days after Yvonne Crook was named Business Woman of the Year at the 2026 Highland Business Women Awards, recognising her contribution to Highland business and her belief in business as a force for good.
Highland CIC is shortlisted for UK Social Enterprise of the Year alongside Belu Water, Breadwinners, Community Dental Service CIC, Locala Community Partnership, Standing Tall and Unicorn Grocery.
The winners of the UK Social Enterprise Awards 2026, co-produced by Social Enterprise UK and Co-operatives UK, will be announced at New Century Hall in Manchester on 12 November 2026.