• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
The Data Lab

The Data Lab

Pruple button with the word menu
  • Business Support
        • Business Support

          We’ll help you harness the power of data so you can innovate and grow your business.

          Visit our Business Support page

        • Accessing Talent
          • Data Talent
          • Placements
        • Funding
        • Small Business Support
        • Digital Strategy
        • Academic Project Funding
        • The Data Lab Community
  • Professional Development
        • Professional Development

          We’ll help you harness the power of data so you can innovate at work and also advance your career.

          Visit our Professional Development page

        • Workshops
        • Online Courses
        • Data Skills for Work Programme
        • The Data Lab Community
  • Students
        • Students

          We’ll help you learn about the power of data and gain real-world experience and career-focused qualifications.

          Visit our Students page

        • The Data Lab Academy
        • PhD
        • TDL Academy Placements
        • Scholarships
        • The Data Lab Community
  • Partner With Us
        • Partner With Us

          We work in partnership with companies to help them gain maximum benefit from the strategic use of data.

          Visit our Partner With Us page

        • Collaborate With Specialists
        • Partnerships
  • About Us
        • About Us

          We discover opportunities, connect people and ideas, develop knowledge and expertise and bring game-changing data projects to fruition.

          About Us

        • Our Team
        • Careers With Us
        • Academic Opportunities
        • The Data Lab Community
        • Case Studies
        • News & Podcasts
        • DataFest
        • Scottish AI Alliance
        • Contact us

Fostering data innovation though collaboration and skills development

Case Studies, HIE 18/08/2021

Data Path: The Data Lab in Inverness, the Highlands and Islands

The Data Lab is Scotland’s innovation centre for data and artificial intelligence (AI). With hubs in Inverness, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow, The Data Lab aims to foster innovation that will help Scotland maximise value from data. The Inverness hub opened in April 2019 and is located within An Lochran on Inverness Campus. It provides the Highlands and Islands with a dedicated centre for data and AI to help build momentum and create further growth and opportunities in the tech sector

The opening of The Data Lab hub on Inverness Campus builds on a strong partnership between The Data Lab (TDL) and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE). For several years, the two organisations had previously collaborated on running DataFest events across the region – creating exciting workshops and networking opportunities for young people and the tech sector. With confirmation in April 2019 of national funding for Phase 2 of The Data Lab, which included £500k from HIE, the two organisations were in a position to work together to create a new Data Lab hub co-located with HIE’s Innovation and Technology team in Inverness.

The Data Lab hub in Inverness was created to focus on data driven innovation across Scotland’s rural digital economy. With our support we were delighted to bring one of The Data Lab team to the north of Scotland, to focus on data science skills and talent, events and new ambitious collaborative projects.

In addition, by having the hub located here, businesses from across the Highlands and Island now have access to exciting new national and international contacts and opportunities.

Theresa Swayne, Senior Digital Economy Manager at HIE

The Inverness hub is at the centre of a support programme for businesses in the Highlands and Islands looking to innovate through data science to solve real-world business problems. It provides access to specialist advice, support and training, and runs events on topics such as data innovation featuring businesses that are applying machine learning and AI to create value.

Over 2,500 businesses across the region are expected to benefit from the programme over the next three years. As well as businesses, the programme is also accessible to established community groups and social enterprises.

We are not focused on one sector or one intervention. Everything we do, the support we offer, is tailored to the needs of the specific organisation – whether that’s in the private sector, the public sector or the third sector.

In the Highlands and Islands, the first year of the TDL2 hub has seen as working with a range of innovative organisations from start-ups to large public bodies. It’s been an exciting and challenging year as we identify how best to provide support to a diverse range of organisations across a dispersed and rural geography.

Karen O’Hanlon, business development executive with The Data Lab in Inverness 

The Data Lab: Innovation, Skills, and Events

The Data Lab hub in Inverness seeks to help businesses and organisations in the Highlands and Islands to maximise the value from data and to exploit the opportunities presented by a data powered future. Interventions fall into three key areas:

  1. Support to innovate: Support for collaborative partnerships that turn specialist expertise and academic research into real world innovation.
  2.  Skills and talent: Help for organisations looking to upskill employees so that can apply the latest developments in data science and AI.
  3. Community and events: Championing and cultivating the data science community in the region to ensure that it continues to flourish.

Specific programmes included the Data Lab Executive Education Programme, the Data Lab Industrial Doctorate Programme, the Data Lab MSc Programme – and, of course, DataFest.

We like to think our support helps organisations to get on a pathway to a data-rich future, it’s a journey that encourages them to increasingly integrate data into their everyday business through a series of tailored interventions and engagement opportunities.

This journey may start with a data science student working in-house on a specific project for a few months, which could lead to a collaborative project with academics or other organisations, and ultimately to employing a data scientist within the business itself. It’s a continuous learning curve – and we provide access to the tools and the expertise they need at every stage.

Karen O’Hanlon, Business Development Executive

The Data Lab: The Future Starts Here

Any organisation or business in the Highlands and Islands interested in both driving more value from their existing data or looking to innovate using data can get in touch with us.

Contact us

Find out more about the business support available to you:

Business Support

Innovate • Support • Grow • Respect

Get in touch

t: +44 (0) 131 651 4905

info@thedatalab.com

Follow us on social

  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • TikTok

The Data Lab is part of the University of Edinburgh, a charitable body registered in Scotland with registration number SC005336.

  • Website Accessibility
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions

© 2023 The Data Lab

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
Cookie SettingsReject AllAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement1 yearSet by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category .
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
CookieLawInfoConsent1 yearRecords the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie.
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
CookieDurationDescription
_ga2 yearsThe _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors.
_ga_DPXX4XJSJ82 yearsThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics.
_gat_gtag_UA_54851888_11 minuteSet by Google to distinguish users.
_gat_UA-54851888-11 minuteA variation of the _gat cookie set by Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager to allow website owners to track visitor behaviour and measure site performance. The pattern element in the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to.
_gcl_au3 monthsProvided by Google Tag Manager to experiment advertisement efficiency of websites using their services.
_gid1 dayInstalled by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
CONSENT2 yearsYouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
CookieDurationDescription
personalization_id2 yearsTwitter sets this cookie to integrate and share features for social media and also store information about how the user uses the website, for tracking and targeting.
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE5 months 27 daysA cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface.
YSCsessionYSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages.
yt-remote-connected-devicesneverYouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
yt-remote-device-idneverYouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
CookieDurationDescription
cl-bypass-cache1 hourNo description
muc_ads2 yearsNo description
SAVE & ACCEPT
Powered by CookieYes Logo