In November 2021 the UK will host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26). With over 30,000 delegates from every corner of the globe expected to be in attendance, it will be the largest international summit the UK has ever hosted.
In anticipation of this significant and crucial event, Scotland’s seven innovation centres have partnered with The Herald for a special, one-day online conference on Tuesday, 3 November 2020 to explore innovation, inclusive growth, cultural change around climate action, and ultimately how collaboration could achieve national net zero targets. With over 1600 delegates registered, Scotland’s Countdown to COP26 is shaping up to be a fascinating event. Make sure you register your place by clicking here.
The Data Lab is hosting the Energy stage and we’ll be speaking to leading industry figures to hear their insight on Scotland’s journey to net zero. You can read more about the energy stage here.
The UK’s Aim to Be Carbon Neutral
‘Net zero’ refers to the UK’s pledge to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 by eliminating carbon emissions or balancing their creation with their removal. It’s a necessary and urgent step in the battle against climate change and Scotland’s innovation centres are at the cutting edge of research, technology and implementation.
What We Do at The Data Lab
The Data Lab supports a wide variety of organisations, projects, and ideas. Our experienced funding managers help organisations access funding and grants as well as having extensive expertise in delivering collaborative innovative projects and providing access to academics, project managers, data scientists and systems architects. We also develop innovative transformational projects that focus on specific problems, such as our Data for Children collaboration with UNICEF. This kind of collaboration and networking is going to be crucial to battling climate change and The Data Lab is at the heart of making it happen.
Ensuring organisations have the right skills and talent to face the ever-evolving technological landscape is crucial from both financial and competitive perspectives. The Data Lab MSc is a collaborative programme between The Data Lab and twelve Scottish universities; it facilitates industry involvement and collaboration, and provides full funding and resources for students. The demand for data scientists is growing across a wide variety of sectors – the MSc placement programme can provide your organisation access to the cutting edge talent you’ll require in a data-driven world. We also facilitate industrial doctorates to support the development of high-level data science talent.
Many of the organisations we work with have a data strategy, but are unsure of how to action it or proceed on their data learning journey. This is where TORCH, our business advisory service, becomes a vital aspect of our offering to the business community in Scotland. TORCH aims to enable businesses, who have developed a data strategy, to find the right data methods and technologies for them through engagement with The Data Lab experts and specialist supplier organisations. Facilitating collaboration and innovation is at the heart of everything we do at The Data Lab – TORCH is a prime example of the tangible and valuable impact our work has on businesses.
Reaching Net Zero by 2050
Accomplishing net zero won’t be achieved in a vacuum or by disparate individuals – it will be the collective effort and innovation of a wide network of talented, driven and passionate people working together for the common good. If you’re an organisation looking to better utilise your data, launch a transformation project, or are seeing out the skills and talent required for a data-driven future, just drop us an email and we’ll help you on your journey. We hope to see you at Scotland’s Countdown to COP26 on the 3rd of November – click here to register and come say hi at our virtual stand. Click here to download a PDF of the event’s agenda.
