By Audrey Cumberford MBE, Principal and Chief Executive, Edinburgh College

The potential for our colleges to contribute to Scotland’s innovation agenda is no longer a secret. It was half a decade ago that I co-authored the Cumberford-Little Report, which strongly emphasised not only the desire of colleges across Scotland to be more involved in this sphere, but how they were uniquely placed to support business and industry innovation.

Edinburgh College is doing all it can to fulfil our potential in this sphere, recently helping climate-tech company Vaste to develop a feedstock trading platform to support a range of industrial sectors in Scotland with their net zero and sustainability goals. Working with our computing science experts, Vaste are developing a system that connects businesses producing organic waste with industrial parties who can turn it into something more valuable and sustainable – such as using used food waste, cooking oils and waste potatoes for biofuel plants.

And just this year we’ve been working with InnoSport AI. Using Edinburgh College’s expertise, they have combined AI-driven analysis with a user-friendly interface that tracks an athlete’s progress and incorporates trainer notes and videos. The project has set a new benchmark for innovation, while helping to boost participation in competitive sports and contribute to injury prevention. 

We’re also a key part of the CONSOLIDATE network that launched this year and aims to develop technologies that enhance the quality of life for people with dementia. Working alongside Heriot-Watt University, the University of Strathclyde and Age Scotland, we’re helping to co-design solutions responding to the needs of the expected 1.4 million people in the UK who will have dementia by 2040. 

These projects show the importance and also the benefit of a joined-up approach between the innovation/R&D ecosystem and the skills system. Colleges are training the workforce of the future right now and we’re eager to ensure that our role in the wider innovation ecosystem is fully understood and supported.

What these projects also show is the importance of collaboration. What often makes colleges unique in our approach is the reach we have in our communities and the potential we have to engage local businesses in our regions, particularly with SMEs.

And it’s not just businesses who we work closely with – we’re also collaborating with university partners like Heriot-Watt’s Robotarium department and The Bayes Centre at the University of Edinburgh. This is in addition to innovation centres and organisations such as Interface, who we’ve helped to deliver several projects in our economic region.

We know innovation is one of the primary drivers of economic growth, both within a regional and national context. It helps to ensure businesses grow, diversify and stay ahead of their competition. While it’s often referenced in the same breath as Research and Development, the innovation ecosystem is so much more than that.

The businesses we help here at Edinburgh College have bold ambitions. They want to know how they can improve their products and processes, introduce new business models, exploit new and emerging technologies, upskill and reskill their employees and enter new markets. 

This is the applied innovation that colleges are uniquely placed to support, but while the Scottish Government talk about prioritising economic growth, there’s a lot more they could be enabling colleges to do in this space.

That’s why I believe there is an urgent need for change to the policy and funding streams in order to enable colleges to better support businesses to innovate. Despite all of the work that’s been done since the publication of the Cumberford-Little Report, there remains a huge discrepancy in what the Scottish Funding Council awards to universities and colleges.

We also need to address prevailing assumptions about the capability of colleges. We should be seen as key collaborative partners, encouraging joint dialogue between tertiary education partners and enterprise agencies in support of SMEs. 

Despite proving time and again the value that we can add in this sphere, the funding structures we currently have are stifling the ability of colleges to help businesses to innovate. Until this is addressed, we will continue to see the potential of our college sector go unrealised.