As a public body, Forestry Commission Scotland is looking to safeguard the future of Scotland’s forests while using them as a valuable resource to improve the environment and the lives of Scottish people.

Woodland creation can play an important role in the reduction of carbon emissions as well as generating significant social and economic benefits. Scotland has set itself a target to reduce gas emissions by 80% by 2050 and in support of this the Forestry Commission Scotland aims to plant 10,000 hectares of new forest per year and provide 25% woodland cover in Scotland within the same timeframe.

Communication is a key objective for the Forestry Commission Scotland; this along with education will help the public to understand the importance of sustainable forest management and renewable energy such as biomass, which burns waste product from the timber industry. A well-managed forest has the potential to shape the future for Scotland.

Renowned as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and home to ancient civilisations, the Orkney Islands are now becoming home to growing numbers of progressive industries and innovative companies that are helping to build and enrich the region’s diverse economy.

Quality, sustainability and traditional values are at the heart of The Orkney’s entrepreneurial businesses, which often take their inspiration from the stunning natural environment. Here, five Orkney-based companies tell their stories of the Islands and how their location has had a unique and positive impact on their businesses.

Whether its food, creative industries or renewable energy, the mix of modern and traditional working practices combined with innovation and entrepreneurial drive has helped produce quality, sustainable, responsible and inspiring products and services.

With the decline of the British steel industry over the past 30 years, huge areas of Scotland have faced an uncertain future.

Heavily dependent on a disappearing sector, people were finding themselves out of work and with no decent prospects for the future.

This is where UK Steel Enterprise came in, with the aim of transforming business opportunities and helping communities to refocus.

Initially, UK Steel Enterprise looked at helping unemployed individuals, but its focus soon shifted to helping small and medium-size enterprises that it quickly identified to be the key drivers for growth in the affected regions. By assisting in business growth within the traditional steel areas, the economy was given a much needed boost.

UK Steel Enterprise supports a wide range of industry sectors and has a very successful strategy for regeneration, which includes loans & equity funding and sourcing business premises, both on favourable terms.

This not-for-profit organisation has helped create over 16,000 jobs across Scotland and is now a self-financing entity, recycling funds to continue driving successful regeneration.

Natcen is the National Centre for Social Research.

The organisation, with its 400 research staff and 1200 interviewers, produces in depth and far reaching surveys into social attitudes.

Natcen’s annual survey into British Social Attitudes is now in its 25th year and provides invaluable insight into what Britain looks like and how the population thinks. Natcen rigorously defends its independent status and although 80 percent of its work comes from Government, it has no affiliation with any political party and remains solidly impartial.

The organisation puts its success down, in a large part, to its staff. The scale and range of services it can offer, combined with staff expertise and experience, enables Natcen to undertake complex and innovative research that has the potential to change social policy.

Established in 1991, Scottish Enterprise is Scotland’s enterprise, innovation and investment agency.

The organisation looks to make a positive long term impact on the Scottish economy by working with businesses to help them grow faster, perform better and build strong business relationships in Scotland and further afield. Scottish Enterprise focuses its resources on key industries where Scotland can be truly competitive and has helped improve the business infrastructure with some large scale transformational projects including the £250 million Edinburgh Bio Quarter.

The expert team provides invaluable advice and tailored solutions to meet individual company’s needs and help them grow their business. This assistance can include advice on leadership, training, innovation, grant applications or international expansion.

The organisation often works in partnership with Scottish Development International to help forge global business links. By working with companies that it believes can lift Scotland out of recession and have genuine capacity for growth, Scottish Enterprise is helping to stimulate the entire Scottish economy.

For too long, bespoke tailoring has been the domain of extremely wealthy gentlemen. Things are about to change thanks to the Glasgow-based company Innova, which is using innovative technology to provide a unique, affordable tailoring process for women looking for made-to-measure clothing. This fully automated process uses digital cameras to build a 3D body model of each customer.

Once the details are uploaded onto the Innova website, the customer is able to shop online, choosing different items, designs and fabrics to suit their specific needs. These are then bought in the same way as any other ecommerce transaction and are custom made to their precise measurements. Four weeks later, the products are delivered to their door.

The company has embarked on an intensive testing programme, using local women from Glasgow to trial the products and provide feedback. By involving local women, the company has built up a sense of community, where the women of Glasgow are helping to create clothes that fit at a price that’s right for women across the world.

In addition, Innova is working with retail partners to help create fashion that fits real women.

One area that appears to be unaffected by the global economic downturn is data centre provision. In fact, data centre services company Scolocate, has benefitted from the difficult economic conditions facing Scottish businesses today as these companies are looking at ways to improve services but reduce costs. By outsourcing their data services to companies such as Scolocate, they remove the need to invest in their own data management and receive the very best in data security.

From its facilities in Edinburgh, Scolocate offers a wealth of data protection equipment and is the only data centre in Scotland with a Tier 3 rating. The company was built from scratch, rather than growing from an IT support infrastructure and as such has had no restrictions to its development. It is carrier independent and currently supports 26 carriers, which gives its clients much greater flexibility to change carrier quickly and cost-effectively.

Scolocate sells itself on its services rather than price and is able to attract well-established companies as well as start-ups. Working with secure businesses has allowed Scolocate to offer long term contracts and benefit from greater financial resilience.

Since acquiring Scottish Equitable almost 20 years ago, AEGON has established itself as a key player in the long-term savings market in the UK, with over two million customers who are looked after from its headquarters in Edinburgh.

The company prides itself on its flexible products, innovation and worldwide network. The company is able to take global products and make them work for local markets giving it unbeatable competitive advantage. The company is looking to increase its brand awareness in the UK and has done this through high-profile sponsorship with the Lawn Tennis Association.

The brand is all about building a successful future and developing long term performance and it is because of this that AEGON is passionate about supporting up-and-coming British tennis stars.

The company has an engaged and motivated work force and among recent graduates is an employer of choice thanks to its wealth of career opportunities and positive working environment.

Family-run preserves business, Mackays has seen impressive growth over the past 10 years thanks to its unique blend of traditional and modern techniques, which offer the company the best of both worlds.

The manufacturing process begins by using traditional recipes and homemade methods of production in order to create jams and marmalades that taste as close to homemade as you can possibly get in a commercial environment. Once the preserves are out of the boiling pans, the automated process begins, with automatic filling and labelling.

It is this automation that allows Mackays to compete on price with the big players, while providing a product more in keeping with the smaller, traditional cottage industries. It is the heritage and authenticity of the products that has helped Mackays break into international markets, but it is the unbeatable taste that has kept it there.

The business now produces in excess of 12 million jars of preserves a year from its new, state-of-the-art factory in Arbroath.

Petro-Canada is one of Canada’s largest Oil & Gas companies.

From its base in Aberdeen, Petro-Canada UK has a strong presence in the North Sea, where it seeks to add value by responsibly developing energy resources and providing quality petroleum products and services.

The company prides itself on its engineering excellence and the expertise of its multi-disciplined team who produce long-lasting, safe and reliable sub-sea equipment. In order to achieve these strict standards of quality and reliability, Petro-Canada UK works closely with local suppliers and contractors.

By building an inclusive culture, where everyone works together as part of a wider team, Petro-Canada UK has created a very solid production chain based on mutual respect and appreciation.

This sense of shared ambition has helped Petro-Canada UK to maintain its impressive safety record and has also helped boost the local economy.