Bridge Moray: From Conversation to Action

In mid-April, leaders from across Moray’s business, public and third sectors came together at the Rural Centre of Excellence at Moray UHI for a focused business breakfast. This was not to discuss another strategy, but to test something far more ambitious.

The question at the heart of the session was simple:

Can Moray build a new way of working, where local organisations come together to turn health and social care challenges into practical, deliverable opportunities?

What emerged from the discussion was clear.

There is both appetite and urgency to do things differently.

Moray, like many regions, is facing increasing pressure across health and social care. But rather than viewing these purely as system challenges,

the conversation focused on something more constructive:

What if these challenges were reframed as opportunities for local businesses, social enterprises and community organisations?

Not in theory, but in practical economic impact values.

Bridge Moray is built on that premise. It is not a programme of ideas or reports. It is a collaborative venture focused on co-designing real solutions, grounded in local need and delivered through local capability.

The initiative is being supported through the Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre (DHI) as part of the Moray Growth Deal, creating a platform to explore how innovation, collaboration and local delivery can come together in a meaningful and scalable ways.

What We Heard

Across the room, there was strong alignment on a number of key points:

• There is a clear appetite to collaborate across sectors

• Businesses are interested, but require tangible opportunities, not just concepts

• The greatest potential sits in non-clinical and community-based services

• The third sector is ready to play a central role in shaping delivery

• There is momentum but a strong need for clear direction and next steps

Perhaps most importantly, there was a shared recognition that:

Moray responds best to solutions that are built locally, where the impact is visible and felt within its communities.

Local Opportunity

A significant theme emerging from the session was the role of Community Wealth Building (CWB), a follow on for TSI Moray's Join the Dots event.

Currently, a large proportion of health and social care spend flows out of the region. CWB presents a real opportunity to change that, by strengthening local supply chains and enabling more businesses and organisations within Moray to deliver services.

This is about keeping more value local and creating new opportunities by doing so. With the backing of DHI and the Moray Growth Deal, Bridge Moray creates the conditions to begin connecting that opportunity with real demand, supporting both improved outcomes and regional economic growth.

While the ambition is clear, so too is the challenge.

To move forward, the focus now needs to shift from discussion to execution. That means:

• Defining a small number of priority challenge areas

• Translating these into clear, business-ready opportunities

• Understanding and navigating procurement and delivery pathways

• Creating space to test, pilot and refine solutions locally

There was a shared understanding that this work will require coordination, commitment and a different way of working but that it is both possible and worthwhile.

What Happens Next

The business breakfast was an important first step in validating the concept.

The next phase will focus on building momentum through action, working with partners across sectors to shape early opportunities, test ideas, and begin demonstrating what this approach could deliver in practice.

Bridge Moray will only succeed if it continues to be shaped collaboratively. The strength of the region lies in its networks, its businesses, and its communities and this initiative is designed to bring those strengths together in a more purposeful way. We would like to thank each and every person that attended the Business Breakfast and for all of those involved, your input will now help us shape a way to bridging the gap.

The direction is clear. Now the focus is on delivery.