MSZ Business Forum discuss data opportunities
Midlothian businesses joined the second MSZ Business Forum on Tuesday 9th March to learn more about data-driven opportunities and business support.
The MSZ Business Forum was launched in December 2020 to create an opportunity for discussion, collaboration and awareness of other businesses within the zone.
This occasion provided an opportunity to introduce Robbie Broomfield, newly appointed Midlothian Business Gateway advisor. Robbie has extensive business experience and outlined to guests the support Business Gateway can offer businesses within the zone.
Guest speaker, Dr Lawrence Brown, Data-Driven Entrepreneurship (DDE) Innovation Manager for Health, outlined a new series of programmes offered by The University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh Innovations to advance data-driven entrepreneurship and support a recovering society.
These activities offer huge opportunities to innovative and entrepreneurial students, academics, staff and businesses at the University - and beyond - to develop their ideas, build their skills, scale up and connect their ideas to the world.
The importance and use of data to develop business ideas, particularly in a society recovering from a pandemic is an important source to manage uncertainty. We are fortunate within Midlothian that Easter Bush Campus is one of the five Data Driven Innovation hubs, presenting opportunities and collaboration with business in our local area.
Emerging data-driven opportunities within our key sectors of animal health and agritech, provoked plenty of discussion.
A lead for a PhD placement to be matched within one of our business participants, under the Digitech Work Placements initiative, is already progressing. This opportunity provides University of Edinburgh PhD students the chance to gain experience and insight into what it’s like working in an entrepreneurial organisation - and of course provides benefit and resource to the host organisation for a project that will have a wider positive impact on society.
From the topics the MSZ Business Forum covered on Tuesday, we have established a shortlist of future themes which participants were interested to explore more. Midlothian Science Zone will release further details of our next Forum and hope that in time we will be able to host these events in person at partner venues in the zone.
Did you miss this MSZ Business Forum?
To find out more about research, expertise or business support 'in the zone', and to be kept informed of forthcoming events or opportunities for collaboration, please email Emma McCallum, MSZ Project Coordinator.