Digitech

Digital industries have grown at more than twice the speed of the economy as a whole in recent years, and the South East of Scotland City Region in particular has experienced a rapid expansion of its ‘digital cluster’ – spawning some well-known company names. The Data-Driven Innovation initiative is supporting further develop through the work of its hub, the Bayes Centre.

An illustration of voice dictation, a woman presses a button on her tablet behind an icon of a microphone

Breaking the sound barrier

Academics have used funding from the University of Edinburgh’s Data-Driven Innovation initiative to develop ground-breaking Gaelic speech recognition software

An illustration of voice dictation, a woman presses a button on her tablet behind an icon of a microphone
A close up image of the blades of an offshore windturbine

FASTBLADE composite test centre

FASTBLADE is a composite structures research facility and part of an industry-academic partnership between Babcock International Group and the University of Edinburgh.

A close up image of the blades of an offshore windturbine

Made to order

NextChain is an ordering app for restaurants and suppliers that aims to help the hospitality industry recover from the pandemic.

photo of the Bayes Centre

Bayes Centre hits accelerator of data-driven innovation

The Bayes Data Science Unit is helping to co-ordinate data science projects at the University of Edinburgh whilst forging external data science relationships

photo of the Bayes Centre
picture of floating tidal turbine technology, like the Orbital O2, will be tested in FASTBLADE

Pulling power

Tidal power has the potential to play a big role in renewable energy generation. To achieve that potential, developers want to use larger and highly reliable blades on tidal turbines, to produce greater quantities of cost-efficient energy

picture of floating tidal turbine technology, like the Orbital O2, will be tested in FASTBLADE
Photo of the team members of Carbon Glance

Carbon pricing solutions - at a Glance

Carbon Glance also offers a carbon pricing tool that will allow companies to estimate the costs associated with their direct and indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. CEO Víctor Pérez Prieto explains how the company graduated from the University of Edinburgh Venture Builder Incubator programme

Photo of the team members of Carbon Glance
Photo of electric vehicle charging

Clearing the road ahead for the charging point market

It is estimated the UK will need to increase its number of electric vehicle (EV) charging points tenfold by 2030 to meet decarbonisation objectives. Vahanomy aims to help operators reach that target through data and risk analysis.

Photo of electric vehicle charging
Bayes Centre

Our DigiTech Hub

Bayes Centre

Opened in October 2018, the Bayes Centre provides an innovative environment to support the co-location of up to 600 world-leading applied data science researchers, students, and collaborating staff from organisations across the public, private and third sectors. The Centre is also home to the Post-Covid AI Accelerator, the Data Science Technology and Innovation online PGT programme and coordinates the internationally acclaimed EIE programme. Focussing on the facilitation of translational research and development, the Bayes Centre connects industry partners to academic and research expertise from across the institution, as well as organisations like the Alan Turing Institute and the Data Lab.

For more information contact:

Neil McGillivray, Chief Operating Officer

Our Expert Profiles

Image of Paul Patras

Paul Patras

Associate Professor/Reader in the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh

The number of Internet-connected devices is projected to reach one trillion by 2035 and new applications with huge societal impact potential are emerging. These include home automation, assisted-living robotics, self-driving cars, and countless more.

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Image of Dr Beatrice Alex

Dr Beatrice Alex

DDI Chancellor's Fellow, Edinburgh Futures Institute

Dr Alex leads the Edinburgh Language Technology Group, a research and development group with longstanding expertise in text mining and natural language engineering.

Image of Dr Beatrice Alex