The Scottish Funding Council (SCF) has pledged more than £11m toward the formation of big data and data analytics innovation centers in Scotland. Three data hubs in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen are planned with the first opening in either August or September.

The initiative is part of the SCF’s innovation center program which is aimed at fostering collaboration between Scottish universities and industry. Called The Data Lab, the scheme has also been backed by DC Thomson owned data center company Brightsolid, technology group Lockheed Martin and software group SAS, and it is hoped it will lead to the creation of at least 345 new jobs and an additional £155m of value to the Scottish economy. 

The Scottish innovation center initiative has already been successfully tested in other areas of business and seen the formation of centers on medical research and on electronic sensor and imaging systems.

David Richardson, recently appointed COO of The Data Lab, said: “Our primary focus will be on helping industry connect in with the talent and expertise within Scottish universities. There are three strands to the innovation center - collaborative innovation, community and skills and training.”

Richardson added that the initiative has been welcomed by industry with many businesses already providing data sets for the project to use. The Data Lab aims to deliver more than 100 collaborative innovation projects and work with businesses from the oil and gas, health care, online and digital industries, he said.

Professor Aaron Quigley, director for knowledge exchange for the Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance, added: “This presents us with a vital opportunity to connect growing, data-attuned industries with world-leading academic experise in all areas of data science. It positions the Data Lab to become a world leader in data science, and the place academia and industry come for data science innovation and leadership. Across 14 universities we are looking forward to working with industry on breakthrough innovation, by drawing on cutting-edge research to produce new products, jobs, services and insights.”