Research, Innovation and Impacts

So why do universities do research? Well, the advancement of scientific methods is an important output, and which are measured in research publication quality, and in terms of citations. But most research papers do not actually end up contributing a great deal, and never actually significantly contribute to much.

A core objective of the investment in research must be to have a impacts of societal, economic and technical developments. It should thus create the next generation of internationally or world-leading companies, along with creating high-quality jobs for an area. These often provide strong economic pulls for attracting further innovation.

For now, Edinburgh, as a city, is a hive of innovation, with conferences and meet-ups that are brimming with new companies and ideas. Personally, I have never felt such a buzz in the city, and where success just seems to be building on success. The only downside is Brexit, and which the city, generally, did not — and does not — want.

And so the last week has saw our research outputs blossom into companies which are leading forward on an international stage. First it was the acquisition of Zonefox by Fortinet [here]: