Edinburgh Napier manages the centre which is supported by 11 Scottish universities in total.

Construction Scotland, a leadership organisation representing some 31,000 construction companies, has officially opened its Construction Scotland Innovation Centre to bridge the gap between industry, the public sector and academia. The centre was set up with £7.5m ($12m) in funding.

Edinburgh Napier University will run the centre, which has also attracted the support of ten other Scottish universities as well as the Scottish Funding Council, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

The remaining ten institutions beside Edinburgh Napier are Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Heriot Watt, Highlands and Islands, Robert Gordon, Stracthclyde and West of Scotland universities as well as the Glasgow School of Art.

Edinburgh Napier’s expertise stems from its Institute for Sustainable Construction, which focuses on built environment applied research and technology transfer.

The construction industry is a significant part of Scotland’s economy and employs 170,000 people, 10% of the country’s workforce. The Innovation Centres programme was created in 2012 by the Scottish Funding Council – a non-departmental public body to distribute funding to higher education – and has funded seven such centres to date. It has committed £110m ($178m) to the programme up to 2018.

Ed Monaghan, chair of Construction Scotland, said: “The Innovation Centre will be instrumental in placing Scotland firmly on the map. Construction already strongly influences the quality of the environment that we live and work in and now more than ever it is essential that we work in together. It is essential that developments taking shape on projects around the country are connected to the academic capability and innovation in our higher education sector as this will ensure that an innovative culture pervades our industry. The role of the Innovation Centre is to transform that mindset and ensure innovation becomes business-as-usual, creating a sector that is sustainable and one that generates greater economic impact for Scotland.”