Boosting Scotland’s international collaboration in digital education 

EIT Digital, the Europe-wide digital innovation and entrepreneurial education organisation, has opened a centre in Edinburgh.

Funded by Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Funding Council and EIT Digital, and hosted by the University of Edinburgh’s Bayes Centre, the ‘Edinburgh Satellite’ will “contribute to achieving the Scottish Government’s goals to deepen relationships between Scotland and the EU, increase innovation and investment in R&D, increase university-industry knowledge exchange, develop skills in Scottish businesses, and promote Scotland’s offer to investors and talent,” said EIT in a statement.

At the opening ceremony, Innovation Minister Ivan McKee said: “Our vision is for a Scotland where innovation is an intrinsic part of our culture, our society and our economy. For decades, Scotland has participated in European projects, led strategic partnerships and welcomed people from across the EU and around the world. We have always valued the resulting skills, diversity and talent that is brought into our economy and society.

“Regardless of the outcome of Brexit, Scotland will continue to be an outward-looking, open and welcoming country. This project will allow academia and businesses to work together to drive innovation. It also enables Scotland to raise the profile of its digital assets across Europe, helping to attract both inward talent and investment while connecting Scotland’s businesses to experts and potential collaborators.”

With an annual budget of €100m to drive Europe’s digital transformation, EIT Digital invests to accelerate the market uptake of research-based digital technologies focusing on Europe’s strategic, societal challenges: Digital Industry, Digital Finance, Digital Cities, Digital Wellbeing and Digital Tech.

“This new Edinburgh Satellite will allow EIT Digital to deepen the connections with the Scottish innovation ecosystem and to intensify our relationship with the Scottish Private and Public Sectors,” said EIT Digital chief executive Willem Jonker.

EIT Digital is one of eight Innovation Communities of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology. It has 10 co-location centres across Europe, including one in London, and the Scottish office is the first satellite to be opened in the UK.

The EIT Digital Academy breeds entrepreneurial digital talent focused on innovation through a blended Education Strategy that includes a Master School, Doctoral School and Professional School.

The Edinburgh Satellite intends to host a new Doctoral Training Centre, with a focus on Fintech, and Cyber Security via a new program supported by the Scottish Government’s Cyber Resilience Unit and ScotlandIS, plus other areas of national strategic importance. Its students will be supported by universities across Scotland with the first students expected to start later in 2019.