Scotland’s Innovation Centres – A unique programme for using research to fuel growth
Scotland’s eight Innovation Centres (ICs) are funded by the Scottish Funding Council, with support from Scottish Enterprise and Highlands & Island Enterprise.
The aim of the programme is to accelerate innovation and R&D in key economic sectors and technology areas in Scotland. We help businesses turn good ideas into commercial reality, through stronger R&D links with Scotland’s world-class academic research base.
That, in itself, is not a unique idea. But the ICs programme is a uniquely flexible and bold approach to clarifying the innovation landscape for businesses of all sizes.
An industry-aligned programme
The programme covers eight sectors or cross-cutting technology areas – ranging from oil & gas to aquaculture, from data, healthcare and sensors to construction
and biotechnology.
Each IC is industry-led and industry-aligned, and each one exists to accelerate commercial and economic growth.
But because each IC operates in a sector with different needs, opportunities and ways of working, the programme reflects this.
That’s where the strength and uniqueness of the ICs lie. It makes the programme harder to encapsulate, but more agile, more responsive, more productive and more industry-aligned.
