Already the Inverness area is one of Europe's fastest-growing communities and accommodating this growth in coming decades will be essential if this area is to continue to be an attractive location in which to live and work, as well as being a prime investment location for 21st century business sectors.

Moving this vision from aspiration to actually happening will mark the Highlands and Islands as one of Europe's leading regions, but it will rely on many factors, not least the sustainable development of economic hubs and corridors such as the A96 corridor between Inverness and Nairn. This vital artery offers so much potential for growth that SCDI believes it is essential for development and infrastructural investment to be phased in a planned manner.

Creating new communities in itself offers a wealth of opportunity for innovation. While SCDI takes the view that new stand-alone settlements should only be approved if they are properly planned and co-ordinated, its Highlands and Islands committee has supported proposals for a new town at Tornagrain, particularly given the high priority outline plans afford to pedestrians, sustainable transport, mixed housing and development, local services and employment opportunities.

Tornagrain could be more than simply a new community for the Highlands - it could be a model for future development in Scotland, particularly if innovative local solutions for renewable energy and utility supply are supported in planning.

And let's not forget the key role information technology can play in the Highlands achieving targets for productivity, economic growth, public sector services and CO2 emission reductions. Better telecommunications and infrastructure help limit the impact of distance from services in remote and rural communities and are essential in delivering sustainable growth.

SCDI recommends that ICT infrastructure is given a higher profile in the Highland-wide local development plan, supporting a range of opportunities from innovative, accessible and personalised public services to opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises to work collaboratively and access new markets.

Growing skills in support of economic growth is the locus of our educational sector, at the heart of which is UHI and its founding partner colleges. Here we are close to a tipping point. University status is within our grasp while SCDI hopes the establishment of a new campus for the University of the Highlands and Islands at Beechwood is equally close.

As well as a high quality campus layout with accommodation for 800 students, SCDI believes Beechwood offers the potential to accommodate expansion of the Centre for Health Science and a technology park which would offer the potential to grow businesses linked to the university and other sectors.

But it's not just about flagship buildings - Cogentsi, the economic development and business strategy consultancy, calculates that this development alone would, at £147 million, contribute twice as much to the Highlands and Islands economy as alternative campus locations, while boosting the population of this region by a further 20,000.

At a time of cash constraints in both public and private sectors, talk of investment in infrastructure to support new communities and economic growth may seem ill-timed. SCDI disagrees: never was there a more important time to invest in what we need to grow ourselves out of the current economic malaise.

But we must invest wisely, in sectors that support future and sustainable economic growth. Public investment aligned to achieving sustainable growth gives confidence to the entrepreneurial markets for them to invest, while the resultant confident private sector provides the revenues to sustain high quality public services.

This then is the virtuous circle - targeted investment in business sectors ripe for growth and the infrastructure to support them, investment in growing the skills to support this growth and in return sustainable revenue for government to deliver quality essential public services. Simple!

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