Initiatives
Examples of current initiatives include:
Pacific Quay
Pacific Quay is a 60 acre site located next to the river Clyde in Glasgow and provides flexible, modern offices and work spaces tailored to the needs of growing businesses working in the field of digital media and creative industries.
Pacific Quay is next to the Film City Glasgow site, which is being developed as a production and post-production base for the film and television community.
Read more about developments at Pacific Quay on the Pacific Quay website
Visit the Film City Glasgow website
Dare to be Digital
Dare to be Digital is a video games development competition for students at universities and colleges of art. Teams of five students, usually a mix of artists, programmers and audio, assemble in a regional hosting centre for 10 weeks to develop a prototype video game, receiving daily support and weekly training sessions from industry specialists.
At the end of the competition, the prototypes are displayed at a special talent showcasing event. Prizes are awarded to the winning teams who also attend the BAFTA Video Games Awards to compete for the coveted "Ones to Watch Award".
Find out more about the programme on the Dare to be Digital website
Seabraes Yards
The Seabraes Yards development in Dundee, located next to the city’s cultural quarter and close to Dundee’s two universities and airport, is a modern, dynamic business environment for creative media industries.
This purpose built, 20 acre, city centre environment provides high-quality accommodation for start-ups, indigenous businesses and inward investors. There will also be provision of incubator accommodation for new companies, designed to provide them with a real kick-start into business.
Seabraes Yards is one of Scotland’s most high-profile and important investment projects: one that will see more than £50 million injected into the area over the next 10 years and will give a further boost to Tayside's already successful and fast growing digital media and creative industries sectors.
Download the Seabraes Yards brochure (PDF, 665kb)
Download the Seabraes Yards leaflet (PDF, 1.6 Mb)
The Wellness Innovation and Technology Initiative
The Wellness Innovation and Technology initiative is aimed at new wellness sector entrants and companies looking at diversification programmes. The initiative has been designed to enable them to assess the potential of the global wellness innovation and technology market and support these companies through the innovation and commercialisation stages.
Visit the Wellness Innovation and Technology Initiative website
Institute of System Level Integration
The Institute of System Level Integration (iSLI) sits at the critical interface between the academic and commercial engineering worlds. Their mission is to produce highly skilled design engineers and researchers to meet the needs of the rapidly changing global semiconductor industry.
FPGA High Performance Computing Alliance
The FPGA High Performance Computing Alliance (FHPCA) is developing high-performance computing solutions using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) to deliver new levels of performance into the technical computing market.
The Advanced Forming Research Centre
The Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) is a public – private sector partnership designed to drive improvements in performance and profitability of UK Industry. The centre will be part of the University of Strathclyde, building on its 25 years of experience in this field. AFRC will be a beacon for engineering and manufacturing excellence, housed in a high-quality, purpose-built facility designed to reflect the status of this internationally significant service. AFRC is modelled on the highly successful Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) developed with Boeing at Sheffield.
Find out more about the Centre
The Innotek Centre - Cleanrooms for Growth
The Innotek Centre provides the ideal environment to enable intermediate stage companies requiring cleanroom facilities to grow and flourish. The Centre is housed in a high-quality industrial building in Livingston, Central Scotland, and contains five completely independent units comprising a cleanroom and adjoining office area. The Innotek Centre provides the space and environment to enable technology companies to focus on their core business and grow to the next level.
For further information visit the Innotek Centre website
Optocap
Optocap Ltd is a Design, Engineering and Manufacturing Service provider for packaging and assembly in the Microelectronics and Optoelectronics industry. Optocap provides advanced packaging solutions to a world-wide client base of blue chip multinationals and leading edge start-ups. Optocap's Microelectronics and Optoelectronic Division's focus on the full product development cycle from design, prototyping, qualification, failure analysis and manufacturing. Optocap has close partnerships with off-shore subcontract manufacturing facilities supporting the seamless transfer to low-cost volume manufacturing, if and when required.
For further information visit the Optocap website
SMC - Scottish Microelectronics Centre
SMC is a world class Centre for Incubation, Research & Development in the semiconductor sector. A joint venture between the University of Edinburgh and Scottish Enterprise, it provides a dynamic environment that links academia and hi-tech companies. This successful collaboration is at the leading edge of Scotland's semiconductor and MEMS activity. The SMC aims to provide a hothouse of companies and activity to supply the UK with a leading Centre of Excellence in the semiconductor field and delivers its services in four key areas: Incubation, Analytical, Processing and Assembly.
For further information visit the Scottish Microelectronics Centre website
SAFENANO
The Safenano Initiative is designed to help industrial and academic communities to quantify and control the risks caused by nano-particles to their workforce, as well as to consumers, the general population and the environment, through both information provision and consultancy services.
For further information visit the SAFENANO website
Wireless Innovation
Wireless Innovation (WI) was established to provide commercial expertise, technology development and market intelligence to Scottish companies developing Wireless and Mobile products and services. In addition to one-to-one advice to companies, the team of advisers organise networking events with partners covering a wide range of business and technology issues. The services of Wireless Innovation are accessible to companies all over Scotland and at any stage of their development.
For more information visit the Wireless Innovation website
Analogue Skills Initiative (ASI)
The Analogue Skills Initiative was launched in 2005 to support the growth of Analogue companies in Scotland and help address some of these problems. Its main purpose is to:
- Develop an increasing number of electronics students with Analogue Capability
- Increase continuous professional development in the industry
For more information visit the Analogue Skills Initiative website
Centre for Engineering Education Development (CeeD)
CeeD was formed to promote world-class performance in the Manufacturing and Engineering sector in the West Central Scotland. This initiative has been developed and is led by a group of engineering companies to promote the interests of the sector.
CeeD provides the infrastructure for sharing the expertise and energies of both SMEs and non SMEs, together with the knowledge and resources of academic institutions.