This week’s blog is by Stella McManus, Principal, South Lanarkshire College. Colleges Scotland is marking the diversity and variety of work that Scotland’s 24 colleges do with our new blog series, 24 in 2024.

Last month I was delighted to welcome a number of guests to South Lanarkshire College to launch the Innovation Centre for Sustainable Development. In writing this blog today, I want to unpack a little around why this Centre will be good for South Lanarkshire College, and good for our partners, stakeholders and for employers in  in the Glasgow region. 

I’m not a lover of jargon, so the way I explain innovation is that it creates something new and useful – whether that’s innovation in terms of a new service, a new product, or a new way of doing business. Crucially for my college, hosting the Innovation Centre for Sustainable Development is in fact bringing two issues together which are facing Scotland at the moment, helping businesses to innovate alongside taking steps to tackle the climate emergency in practical and meaningful ways like decarbonisation. 

The Innovation Centre for Sustainable Development is the sixth Centre of Innovation to be hosted by a college across the west Central Belt. The College Local Innovation Centre (CLIC) project arose due through the Colleges Partnership West Group, which consists of South Lanarkshire College, New College Lanarkshire, Glasgow Kelvin College, Glasgow Clyde College, City of Glasgow College and West College Scotland.  

This is an informal group which allows these six colleges, focus on identified priorities within the Glasgow City Region which includes health, a just transition to a sustainable future, developing equality – tackling poverty and productivity.  The remit of the group seeks to facilitate effective and productive collaboration among Principals and their college management teams with a view to identifying, seeking out and pursuing opportunities jointly, where a partnership approach is likely to secure optimal outcomes with a focus on operational efficiency and sustainability; improved socioeconomic outcomes; and environmental sustainability.

In terms of activity, at the launch we heard from innovative businesses that the College has already developed solutions for. Our in-house experts also explained the culture of innovation that can help businesses face the future with confidence. 

What does innovation actually look like when it is being delivered by the College? It starts with partnership and a deep understanding of the problem we are collectively trying to solve, under the banner of sustainable development and sustainable business practices. There are then a really wide range of services the Centre can offer, including technical mentoring, upskilling, access to funding and fully funded support and bespoke work on innovation audits, access to technical experts, and opportunities to collaborate. Some businesses we already work with are accessing innovation support with 2D and 3D CAD, heat pump and solar installation, thermal imaging, external and internal wall treatment and drone technology. All of these technologies are helping to support sustainable operations for businesses – innovation is in many cases assisting businesses to future-proof so they can concentrate on growth.

The South Lanarkshire College campus incorporates our Low Carbon House and Outstanding BREAAM building, both of which have received awards from the Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education. With a continuous programme of technological adaptations underway for a “greener” campus, the College is the embodiment of sustainable development with a transition journey to net zero by 2040.

The event also allowed participants to find out about the fully funded support available through the College Local Innovation Centres (CLIC) project, a 12-month pilot project funded by the Innovate UK Further Education Innovation Fund, which is dedicated to driving digital innovation and productivity across the region.

This is an incredibly exciting project to be part of. I’m a firm believer that innovation starts with collaboration and the CLIC initiative presents the perfect platform to work with our local business community, offering opportunities to educate, grow, upskill and expand to increase productivity.

It was fantastic to see such support from our exhibitors on the day, KTP Centre, Hub South West Scotland, South Lanarkshire Council and Business Gateway Lanarkshire.

We are unashamedly ambitious around innovation. Alongside our partner Colleges, the aim is to engage with more than 200 businesses across Glasgow, Inverclyde, North and South Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire, and West Dunbartonshire.

To find out more about the College Local Innovation Centres (CLIC) project and all six Innovation Centres, please visit the CLIC website.