Innovation will hold key

Opportunities for growth lie in extracting value from the mass of information available, says David Smith

Data science is evolving in Scotland thanks to collaborative relationships involving academics, entrepreneurs and government bodies. We see partnerships being forged among our universities, research institutions, businesses and organisations such as Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Development International (SDI).

Already sectors including retail and finance are making use of big data to understand customers better and deliver what they want or to develop systems that detect and respond to fraud.

It can also be used to support health and care professionals deliver better treatments, support people living with complex chronic conditions and improve patient outcomes generally.

If you look at the growing digital and technology sector in Scotland, data is fundamentally at the heart of so many of those businesses.

But there is still room for growth. The ability and need to extract value from this data represents the next wave of innovation-driven opportunity for businesses.

It will disrupt existing markets and it will create new business models which stem from having better access to information and a better understanding of market behaviour.

Our aspirations for the growth of the data cluster in Scotland are bold and ambitious.

We want to work in partnership with others to secure substantial public and private sector investment in building more capabilities around data.

From research by Bain & Co, we know that data-driven businesses are better informed, can respond quickly to change and have been shown to be more competitive.

On a more dynamic level, the data meetups that have come out of the work of the Data Lab are an example of more informal but still powerful collaboration.

Through the innovative use of data science and analytics, organisations can drive economic value and create high-value jobs for Scotland. n

Scotland is at the beginning of a data revolution. Edinburgh has made a name for itself globally as a hub of innovation in technology and data science and thanks to a collaborative ecosystem which has its roots in Scotland’s world-leading universities, the industry is booming.

Around 150 companies are engaged in developing data-based solutions, employing in the region of 5,500 people.

With a highly skilled workforce – over 10,000 students each year graduate in software and digitally related disciplines from Scotland’s universities according to HESA, the higher education analyst – plus the infrastructure to support the development of future leading datadriven solutions, this is without a doubt a sector to watch – and watch closely as it will evolve quickly.

“A lot of Scotland’s expertise can be linked back to our strengths across our universities and Edinburgh [University] in particular,” explains David Smith, sector director for technical and engineering at Scottish Enterprise.

“Data science has been evolving in Scotland and on a wider global scale.

“We can trace it back, especially in Edinburgh but also in other parts of the country, just over a decade to when there was a particular level of focus and investment by the academic base and some early-stage companies.”