Scottish Enterprise confirms plans to integrate ITI Scotland
Plans will focus on preserving core ITI programme delivery and expertise and supporting increased investment in exploiting its research assets to build new or grow existing Scottish companies. Integration will also allow much greater alignment with other SE commercialisation programmes and projects bringing increased efficiency and impact.
Chief Executive Jack Perry said: “ITI Scotland has made real progress since its inception, with some exciting projects being delivered. The plans for change we are currently developing are about ensuring as much effort as possible goes on front line delivery and that all other parts of Scottish Enterprise’s operations are aligned behind the project to help deliver its full economic potential for Scotland and Scottish businesses.
“Following our own reorganisation last year, SE’s remit is much more focused than when we launched the ITI initiative five years ago. Now the largest single area of our activity is on a range of investments to stimulate growth in Scotland’s key industry sectors. ITI Scotland is of course engaged with three of these sectors.
“We firmly believe that integration will help us all to accelerate the realisation of commercial and economic benefits across all of our combined activities. In terms of research and the development of commercialisable intellectual property, these activities include not just ITI Scotland but also the Translational Medicine Research Institute, Scottish Health Innovations, Proof of Concept Fund and the Advanced Forming Research Centre. In terms of commercialisation, we wish to build on the achievements of the Proof of Concept Fund, the High Growth Start up Unit, PROSPEKT and our three investment funds.”
ITI Scotland Ltd was launched in September 2003 by Scottish Enterprise to identify and commercialise valuable technology-based intellectual assets.
The company comprises three individual Intermediary Technology Institutes (ITIs), each focused on a global market sector where Scotland has strong economic and business potential. These are known as ITI Techmedia, ITI Life Sciences and ITI Energy and each is a membership-based organisation.
As part of Scottish Enterprise’s annual business planning process, a transition plan is being developed with the ITI team which will include the detailed implications of the changes. It was confirmed with staff earlier today, however, that there would be no compulsory redundancies as a result.
Mr Perry added: “We intend to build on what has been achieved to date. We wish to retain the ITI Brand, for example, and we are also keen to ensure continued input from ITI Board members in an advisory capacity. This kind of approach has yielded many benefits with other major arms of our business such as our investment funds and the Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service (SMAS).”