Innovation in Scotland
Innovation can mean the difference between success and failure for a business. Scotland provides the perfect ecosystem for innovation – with the right skills and expertise, strong networks and commitments from universities.
A culture of innovation
From the telephone and penicillin to the ATM and the colour photograph, Scotland has claim to a lot of great inventions and discoveries over the years. Today, innovation is felt, taught and incorporated across the whole of Scottish life, work and play.
We’re working on ground-breaking innovative products and services – like thermal imaging that helps robots detect humans, flat-packed building blocks made from recycled plastic, molecular imaging technology, revolutionary malaria treatment and biofuel made from whisky by-products.
Giving the green light for spin outs
Scotland’s innovative culture means that more university spin outs are created here than anywhere else in the UK – including London. In fact, all 19 of our universities are committed to supporting spin outs, for example by motivating their academics to form spin outs, providing access to intellectual property and supporting activities across all sectors.
Scotland's Innovation Centres and Centres of Excellence
In Scotland, great ideas are nurtured. Across all industries and technologies, our innovation centres and centres of excellence exist to help businesses do incredible things. Here’s a flavour of the ways our centres can help you.
Digital Health Institute
Defining and designing the digital health and care future for a healthier Scotland.
Industrial Biotechnology Centre
Enabling the transition into industrial biotechnology by helping companies understand sector opportunities.
Stratified Medicine Scotland
Bringing together clinicians, researchers and industry innovators to develop patient-specific medical innovation.
Scottish Aquaculture
Ensuring that innovation helps growth in this sector to meet rising domestic and global demand.
Other centres of excellence improving health and care with data
- Bayes Centre – University of Edinburgh
- eDRIS – Electronic Data Research and Innovation Service
- Usher Institute – Population Health Sciences & Informatics
- SISCA – Scottish Informatics & Computer Science Alliance
- Scottish Centre for Telehealth and Telecare
- Centre for Data Health Science
- Health Data Research UK Scotland
- Biomedical Informatics Systems Engineering Laboratory
- Health Informatics Centre
- Farr Institute of Health Informatics Research
- Health Economics Research Unit
Centre for Sensors & Imaging System
Working to develop effective sensor technologies solutions by bridging the gap between industry and universities.
Urban Big Data Centre (UBDC)
Gives you access to data collections, tools, training and expertise from Scottish universities and other partners for improving cities worldwide.
Bayes Centre
Home to more than 600 experts in data science and artificial intelligence, dedicated to nurturing innovation by advancing digital technology, space and satellites, robotics and autonomous systems.
UK Astronomy Technology Centre
UK Astronomy Technology Centre
The Data Lab
Supporting the Scottish digital economy and the use and innovation of data science.
ARCHER – national supercomputing service
Based in the University of Edinburgh, this £43 million service offers access the UK’s primary academic research supercomputer.
National Centre of Excellence for Computer Games
Based at Abertay university this centre of excellence is at the forefront of education and research, offering cross-disciplinary Masters programmes.
Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre
One of the leading supercomputing centres in Europe and provider of training in high performance computing. Internationally renowned for all aspects of data research.
Construction Scotland
Building Scotland's exciting construction future through innovation and collaboration.
Oil & Gas Innovation Centre
Fostering the future of the oil and gas industry in Scotland through technological innovation.
UNESCO Centre of Water
Based at the University of Dundee, with a global reputation in research, transboundary water governance, integrated water and coastal zone management and climate adaptation.
Funding for innovation
Innovation, research and development is key to Scotland’s growth, and that’s why we offer generous funding for innovative projects and businesses via Scottish Enterprise. As well as grant funding, Scottish Enterprise can help you access other forms of finance, such as investors.
If you’re planning on doing research and development work, Scotland is the ideal place.
Find out more from Scottish Enterprise
How we can help your business
We help companies look for new business models, new products and services and new market opportunities. Our experienced and connected innovation advisers help businesses break new ground. We stay ahead of the game across all industry sectors, so you'll invest in a business infrastructure that's innovative and dynamic, forward-thinking and high-achieving.
Contact us to find out how we could help you
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