Scotland’s Deputy First Minister hailed the power of innovation during a visit to a leading think tank in Moray yesterday.
Finance Secretary John Swinney met staff and designers at the Glasgow School of Art (GSA) Institute of Design Innovation in Forres to learn about the latest projects designed to progress communities and industries.
Among the topics currently being explored at the centre are local alternatives to accident and emergency wards and new social care networks in rural communities.
Mr Swinney’s visit followed an announcement that GSA intends to significantly expand its activities at its site in the Forres Enterprise Park over the next four years.
The £10million joint project between GSA and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is expected to support about 30 jobs in the delivery of new research, teaching programmes and services to businesses, social enterprises and communities.
Mr Swinney said: “What the centre here is able to do is take some of the challenges that we face, in terms of the delivery of public services or looking at how we identify new products and processes, and do some of the very heavy graft to work out how that can come about and how we can make them successful.
“I think it’s fabulous that the Highlands and Island economy benefits from the presence of the GSA and is able to essentially bear the fruit of the tremendous expertise that exists here.
“We must foster a culture that everyone is involved in innovation because innovation is how we make progress, how we advance as a society. It’s not just the preserve of sophisticated people. It’s for everybody and that’s what this centre helps to do.”
Moray MSP Richard Lochhead also praised the investment last night.
He said: “A further £10million of investment in the partnership between Glasgow School of Art and HIE is very welcome indeed, as are the additional jobs it is expected to create over the next four years.
“It really cements the role that Glasgow School of Art has developed in Moray in recent years, and it is a fantastic commitment to Moray.
“The combination of academia with business and social enterprises and community development in Moray and the Highlands is hugely innovative and very welcome.”