Encomara are proud to have been nominated for the Highland Business Award for Innovation at the 2026 Highland Business Awards. The team did not win the category and was delighted to congratulate the businesses that did.
The award, sponsored by the University of the Highlands and Islands and organised by Inverness Chamber of Commerce, recognised companies that had led with creative thinking and practical solutions across the Highlands. Finalists were named in August. The ceremony was held at The Kingsmills Hotel, Inverness, on Friday 25 September, as the finale of Highland Business Week.
MoROV Subsea Solutions won the Innovation award. MAKAR was highly commended. Congratulations went to both. It was a strong shortlist, and a privilege to have been named alongside them.
For Encomara, the nomination itself was the recognition. Innovation was what the team had been building toward: Squid™, a patented quick-connect system that combined pre-installed moorings and power cables in a single mid-water interface, so floating turbines could be hooked up faster and disconnected again for tow-to-port maintenance. Inshore trials at Ardersier Port that summer had taken the system to TRL 7/8, with ABS confirming it was ready for commercial manufacture. To have had that work noticed by the Highland business community mattered.
“We were proud to have been nominated, and prouder still of the company we were in,” said Ian Donald, Managing Director of Encomara. “Congratulations to MoROV Subsea Solutions on the win, and to MAKAR on a well-deserved commendation. Innovation in the Highlands was in good hands.”
Thanks went to Inverness Chamber of Commerce, the judges, and the University of the Highlands and Islands for the shortlist, and to everyone who came to celebrate Highland business at The Kingsmills.