What do we do?
Our mission is to help Scotland maximise value from data and lead the world to a data-powered future.
We are here to accelerate the journey by fuelling innovation through collaboration, building skills and growing talent, and strengthening Scotland’s thriving data science community. We act as a catalyst, using our expertise, network, funding and platforms to change how Scotland, and the world, innovates with data.
Support to innovate
We support collaborative partnerships that turn
specialist expertise and academic research into
real world innovation.
specialist expertise and academic research into
real world innovation.
Skills & talent
We help Scotland’s workforce to build the industry-ready skills they need to tackle tomorrow’s challenges and apply the latest developments in data science & AI.
Community & events
We champion and cultivate Scotland’s vibrant data science community to help it flourish, make a global impact and lead on the world stage.
What is The Data Lab?
The Data Lab was founded in 2014 as part of Scotland’s Innovation Centres programme. We have operational hubs in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness.
Together with a network of over 1,500 companies, public sector organisations, universities, and data experts, we’re working to make Scotland the global leader in data innovation.
We exist to help companies and organisations use data science to make a difference in the real world. We are focused on giving individuals and organisations the practical skills and hands on experience they need to apply the latest data science thinking in the real world.
Over the next 5 years, our 4 hubs aim to achieve the following economic and social impact in Scotland:
1
MSc students
1
collaboration projects
£
1
m
economic impact
Innovation Centres programme
The Data Lab is one of the eight innovation centres funded by the Scottish Funding Council through the Innovation Centres programme. The Innovation Centre programme has been registered with the European Commission as a General Block Exemption Scheme. For more information on the IC programme and State Aid please click here.
We are proudly funded by:
Why is our work important?
We believe that collaboration is the key to unlocking data’s potential. Scotland’s thriving data science community is already proving that meaningful innovation happens when industry, data scientists, academia and the public sector work together and share expertise, ideas and approaches.
But it can be challenging to apply the latest developments in data science and artificial intelligence to problems and opportunities in the real world.
By bringing together people from all sectors, we can make sure we are applying data science responsibly and building a future where data benefits everyone.
