Edinburgh Napier’s new Innovation Hub to host Symposium on Technology Innovation and Collaboration on 12 January to showcase Napier’s tech innovation and explore partnership and funding opportunities.
Edinburgh Napier University’s newly launched Innovation Hub is pleased to be hosting a technology innovation symposium on 12 January that will showcase the future of tech innovation in Scotland, with a focus on sharing insights to inspire transferring academic research into reality.
The Innovation Hub of Edinburgh Napier University aims to facilitate linking the world-leading expertise and wide experience of Edinburgh Napier University’s academics and researchers with external business communities from a wide variety of sectors, with a view of establishing commercial collaboration to support business growth and development.
A gathering of industry and academic leaders in Scottish tech
Hosted at the Edinburgh Napier University’s Merchiston campus, this Symposium on Technology Innovation and Collaboration will gather both industry and academic leaders of Scottish tech, including keynote guest speaker, Mark Logan, Scottish Government’s Chief Entrepreneur, a new role created in July 2022 to ensure entrepreneurship is embedded in the economy, and that partnerships with industry and investors are prioritised and strengthened. In his career, Mark Logan has been instrumental in the success of multiple start-ups, including as Chief Operating Officer of Skyscanner, one of Europe’s most successful technology companies.
This symposium will be convened by Professor Bill Buchanan OBE, Professor of Applied Cryptography at Edinburgh Napier University, who specialises in blockchain, cryptography, trust and digital identity. In 2017, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to cybersecurity.
Showcasing latest Edinburgh Napier tech innovation
Explaining more about the forthcoming symposium, Professor Buchanan said:
“Scotland has produced two tech unicorns (billion-dollar companies): Skyscanner and FanDual. Where will the next one come from? Will it be a university spin-out or an innovative start-up?
“Over the past decade the university has spun-out a number of highly successful spin-outs, including Zonefox (acquired by Fortinet), Symphonic (acquired by Ping Identity) and Cyacomb (currently expanded fast in international markets). Based on these activities, within a recent research assessment (REF 2021), all of their submissions within Computer Science were rated as world-class for their impact.
Exploring collaborations to inspire future tech innovation
“This symposium will not only showcase the latest tech innovation emerging from Edinburgh Napier, but also be a collaborative event with our industry partners who will share their knowledge and insights to inspire academics and researchers in the field of technology to engage in innovation and explore commercial collaboration.
“Presentations will include case studies of Edinburgh Napier success stories in the spin-out space, information on funding pathways, with inspirational talks about the opportunities out there and potential markets for the technologies we want to encourage our early career researchers to create.
“Key areas of collaboration we hope to highlight at this event include: healthcare applications; cybersecurity and resilience; machine learning; smart cities; cryptography; identity and privacy; information sharing; blockchain; wi-fi and smart antennas; IoT; and cyberphysical systems.”
Guest speakers and key topics
In addition to Mark Logan’s talk on ‘The Future of Innovation in Scotland’, other guest talks will spotlight cybersecurity and fintech innovation, with presentations also on funding opportunities and research journeys. Talks will feature guest speakers from: Scottish Enterprise; Innovate UK; DSTL; Interface Online; EU Horizon 2020; TrueDeploy; Zonefox; Cyacomb, and Edinburgh Napier’s Innovation Hub and Bright Red Triangle.
This event will take place at Edinburgh Napier University’s Merchiston campus, from 9:45am to 5pm, on Thursday 12 January 2023. Advanced registration is essential.