A new £10 million innovation hub, which will bring together Scottish universities, including Heriot-Watt, with industry partners has been launched in Glasgow by Fergus Ewing, MSP, Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism.
CENSIS
CENSIS will exploit the commercial potential of Sensor and Imaging Systems (SIS) technology and support the generation of future significant economic growth for Scotland in this technology area. There are already around 140 companies working in SIS in Scotland, contributing around £2.5 billion per year to the Scottish economy.
CENSIS was developed following the principle of Scottish Enterprise's 'Sensor Systems Framework for Action', launched at the same event. CENSIS is the first major initiative in the sensors area between universities, companies and their customers during early stages of new product development. This SE initiative highlights many areas where the public and private sectors can work together to strengthen and grow the company and research base in Scotland.
CENSIS is expected to deliver 150 collaborative research and development projects and bring new products to market over the course of its initial 5-year funding period.
A key technology
SIS is a key enabling technology that is fundamental to a range of industrial sectors, including transport; defence; oil and gas; agriculture; built environment; life sciences and food and drink. The technology enables us to sense, measure, process, communicate and visualise data. This data provides invaluable information which informs business decision making.
CENSIS will act as a single contracting point for companies to access SIS research capabilities in Scotland's universities and research institutions. The approach will be to integrate communities of academic research and industry leaders to encourage large-scale, significant collaboration. CENSIS will be business-focused and will reinforce Scotland's potential as a world leader in SIS technologies.
The innovation created by universities and industry working together will create new high-tech jobs in Scotland and help transform our economy."
Mr Fergus Ewing MSP said: "The global sensor systems technology market is due to be worth over $600 billion by 2015. Scotland is already at the forefront of this technology and, by bringing expertise together, CENSIS is ideally placed to continue the development of our broad and deep research capabilities. I believe that aligning activity within universities to address industry-defined needs gives us the potential for substantial future growth."
Laurence Howells, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Funding Council said: "SFC's £10 million investment in innovation for sensor and imaging technology will help solve technological challenges in medical diagnostics, drug discovery, intelligent transport systems, environmental monitoring and superfast broadband. The innovation created by universities and industry working together will create new high-tech jobs in Scotland and help transform our economy."