Scottish 5G hub aims to be ‘lynchpin’ for economic transformation

Head of organisation aims to be ‘completely embedded in this strategy’

Credit: Mohamed Hassan/PxHere 

The chief executive of the Scotland 5G Centre has said the organisation will act as the “lynchpin” for delivering the Scottish Government’s recently launched national strategy for economic transformation.

Unveiled by finance secretary Kate Forbes at the start of this month, the strategy aims to generate economic growth by promoting investment, start-up business ventures and new green industries, as well as supporting firms to make the most of the “digital revolution”.

Scotland 5G Centre chief executive Paul Coffey said that as 5G will be key to delivering the plan it is “vital” that the organisation “is completely embedded in this strategy”.

“What is clear, is that in order to lead and deliver economic transformation and prosperity, the new strategy is heavily reliant on digital connectivity,” he said. “New innovations and entrepreneurial ideas need the newest technology. Connectivity underpins the strategy’s aim to support every community in every region. It is also the foundation crucial to enable and support productivity gains of existing regional industries and enterprises.  As Scotland’s gateway for advanced connectivity, advancing Scotland’s wireless connectivity, including 5G is front and centre of the transformational plan.”


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Funded by the Scottish Government, the centre is a partnership between Glasgow and Strathclyde universities as well as the Scottish Futures Trust. The centre brings together stakeholders from government and other public sector bodies, large corporations, SMEs, and academics. The goal is to help progress the use of 5G across the country so as to enable the economic benefits it can provide.

It operates a number of innovation hubs, with its site in Dumfries partnering with South of Scotland Enterprise to bring together SMEs, businesses, academic and public sector partners in the region.

Coffey said that the economic transformation strategy “not only recognises the importance of this collaboration to drive productivity, it also recognises the need to invest in quality infrastructure and connectivity to ensure the strategy’s success”.

He added: “The Scotland 5G Centre is the lynchpin to innovating, influencing and setting the pathway for the delivery of the National Strategy. We are currently working with agriculture to bring innovative changes that provide efficiencies and cost savings. In healthcare, digital solutions are offering huge benefits to patients and families and we will be launching this spring our first innovation challenge focused in this sector.”

When unveiling the government’s strategy, Forbes said it marked a “step-change in how we approach the economy” with the goal being to “deliver economic growth that significantly outperforms the last decade”.

As part of the plan, the government has pledged to embed entrepreneurial learning across education and skills, win greater shares of domestic and export markets, and improve connectivity and digital infrastructure.

The plan was immediately dismissed by the Scottish Trades Union Congress, which said it included a “sprinkling of good ideas”, but warned it could fail to deliver real changes. Businessman Sir Tom Hunter dismissed it as a “long wish-list with no magic wand to deliver it”.

 

Sam Trendall

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