The University of Edinburgh has exceeded its goal as part of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal, securing more than £200 million in investments for innovation in local business, 5 years before target.
As part of the deal created in 2018, the University pledged to raise £50 million by the end of the following 10 years.
This money was raised with the intention of supporting over 400 entrepreneurs with the University’s Data Driven Innovation (DDI) programme. The DDI is an initiative which aims to gather and capture data at “high speed” to improve several public services which would benefit citizens.
“The DDI initiative is striving to help researchers collaborate with businesses, charities, and the public sector, at the crossroads of data science, research, and real-world challenges”.
So far, 500 companies have been provided specialist programmes and initiatives.
Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes has praised the DDI stating:“It is great that the DDI team are ahead of target for company engagement and I look forward to seeing the innovation that support unlocks in key sectors of our economy.”
The City Region Deal was created by the UK and Scottish Government with the aim of investing £1.5 billion into sectors including housing, transport, culture as well as overall innovation for residents.
The University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt have also been in collaboration in an effort to tackle Edinburgh’s digital skills gap, with the aim to provide new opportunities for employment in technology-based sectors such as digital, data science and AI.
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