In a nation that is renowned for its gifted innovators, there’s exciting news that will help ensure that Scotland stays at the forefront of innovation and development.
In Glasgow, the city is set to enjoy a share of the UK Government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s £100 million Levelling Up funding – with 11 projects getting cash to speed up the area’s innovation economy.
It’s called the Glasgow Innovation Accelerator (IA) scheme, and the city projects that will receive funding are certainly varied; they focus on key growth innovation sectors including advanced manufacturing, space and precision medicine.
Cllr Susan Aitken, chair of the Glasgow City Region Cabinet and Glasgow City Council Leader, said:
“Glasgow has a remarkable history rooted in industry and innovation and is home to world-leading science and technology expertise. The IA programme will support the Region’s key economic aims of increasing productivity, delivering inclusive growth and achieving net zero. It will create new jobs at all levels and grow the number of successful businesses. Vitally, through leveraging extensive private sector investment and building on our growing international profile it can turbo charge our innovation economy to the next level.”
Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation at DSIT, George Freeman, said:
“Record investment in our UK science, technology and innovation sectors are creating new career opportunities in the campuses, clusters and companies of tomorrow.”
Glasgow City Region is home to world-leading science and technology expertise and the city benefits from commercial advantages in nanotech, fintech, life sciences, digital media, energy and advanced manufacturing. It is also a global capital for the space and satellite industry. Investors can also take advantage of the city’s wide skills base among its talented workers and significantly lower labour costs than London.
Meanwhile in Dundee, a new £4.75 million innovation hub will see businesses develop products to address the climate emergency – and environmental concerns have also dictated the building’s construction.
The centre is a key part of the former Michelin tyre factory’s transformation into a place that focuses on decarbonisation.
The building at the Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc (MSIP) has not used conventional techniques – instead, it has been built with its carbon footprint in mind.
The innovation hub has a glulam (glued laminated timber) and CLT (cross laminated timber) structure in place of steel. This saves an estimated 715 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Both materials used are a natural alternative to steel, concrete, and plasterboard. And they are manufactured off-site to precise size specifications, resulting in very little to no waste in the construction phase.
Colin McIlraith, chief operating officer at MSIP, said:
“The innovation hub sits at the core of our mission at MSIP. It creates a place where industry, academia and government can come together and thrive.”
And in Aberdeen, Robert Gordon University has gained £1.34 million of funding towards the development of a cross-sector virtual reality digital innovation lab.
The grant comes from the Scottish Government’s Just Transition Fund, which was established to help diversify the north-east economy away from carbon-intensive industries.
The lab will be developed to provide support to the construction sector to decarbonise, particularly through the retrofitting of existing buildings and intelligent design of new buildings.
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