Fife Council Commits To ESES City Region Deal Community Wealth Building Pledges

Fife Council on behalf of the Fife Industrial Innovation Investment (i3) Programme, have become the first City Region Deal project to commit to the ESES CRD Community Wealth Building (CWB) Pledge.  

Fife’s Industrial Innovation Investment programme (i3) is being delivered as part of the ESES City Region Deal, with an aim to provide much-needed serviced employment land and new industrial, office and business spaces, as well as creating new skilled permanent jobs, short-term construction jobs over the 15-year lifetime of the City Region Deal. 
 
“Committing to these pledges demonstrates our dedication to accelerating inclusive growth and removing barriers to growth in our inclusive economy.” Gordon Mole, Head of Business and Employment, Fife Council.  
 
Fife Council have been proactive on their own community wealth journey and instil the core values of the 5 pillars of CWB in their day-to-day activity.  

Read the press release to find out more information about why committing to the pledge was important to Fife Council and how this will influence their activity going forward.

For more information on the Community Wealth Building framework and pledge, visit the Community Wealth Building website 

BE-ST Retrofit

The City Region Deal’s Housing, Construction and Infrastructure Skills Gateway is changing construction across Edinburgh and South East Scotland. With almost 40% of UK greenhouse gas emissions emitted by the built environment, it is vital to inspire new careers and upskill experts to achieve sustainable low carbon housing and construction.

The Built Environment - Smarter Transformation training programme enthuses young people about construction, and bridges the gap between education and new construction technologies.

Find out more about about how the project is delivering benefits in the last of this year’s case study videos:

Data Education in Schools - Case Study Video

The Data Education in Schools programme is for children and young people across the City Region to learn about data to benefit their personal lives and open up new possibilities for interesting and well-paid careers.

One example can be seen in Addiewell Primary School. In this video, we can see how children of learnt about the impact Co2 levels have on their own learning and focus, as well as how it effects a reptilian friend in the Five Sisters Zoo.

You can watch other videos which show how the City Region Deal’s projects and programmes are helping people, in the Annual Report 2022/23

Women in Data - Case study Video

The PDA Data Science programme is delivered by Edinburgh College through the Data Education in Colleges project - part of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal.

The programme is aimed at reducing the gender imbalance within IT and Tech roles by supporting women to enhance their skills in digital and data innovation.

In this video, we hear from several students enrolled on the course who are taking the opportunity to further their learning, enhance their lives and advance their careers.

You can watch other videos which show how the City Region Deal’s projects and programmes are helping people, in the Annual Report 2022/23

ESES City Region to lead new era of UK supercomputing

The UK’s first next-generation supercomputer – 50 times faster than any of the country’s existing machines – is to be hosted by the University of Edinburgh.

Exascale will be housed in a new £31 million wing of EPCC’s Advanced Computing Facility, which has been purpose-built as part of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal.

The Exascale supercomputer will perform one billion billion calculations each second to provide high-performance computing capability for key research and industry projects across the UK.

Exascale will help researchers model all aspects of the world, test scientific theories and improve products and services in areas such as drug discovery, climate change, astrophysics and advanced engineering.

The computer – one of only a handful of its kind in the world – is funded by the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). It will be managed by EPCC, the University’s supercomputing centre.

This investment means the City Region is one of the few places in Europe able to host a computer of such enormous scale, experts say.

Installation of the first phase is due to begin in 2025.

The University has been home to the UK’s high-performance computing services for more than 30 years, and it hosts the country’s current national supercomputer, ARCHER2.

Funding for the new supercomputer was announced by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt in the Spring Budget as part of an investment of around £900 million in both exascale and a separate AI Research Resource.

Professor Sir Peter Mathieson, Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, said: “We are thrilled to be chosen to host this significant leap forward in the UK’s supercomputing capabilities.

“Bringing the Exascale computer to Edinburgh is a testament to our expertise in managing such world-class facilities, and the depth of global talent in computer science and AI within the University.

“Exascale’s power will help all who work with it to untangle some of the world’s knottiest problems, ensure the UK is prepared for the data-driven future, and further establish Edinburgh as the data capital of Europe.”

Professor Mark Parsons, EPCC Director, said: “I’m immensely proud that Edinburgh through EPCC has been chosen to host the UK’s first Exascale system.

“These supercomputers are immensely complex systems, and we’ll use everything we’ve learnt over the past 30 years to run the best possible service for our thousands of users from across the UK’s scientific and industrial research communities.”

Secretary of State for Scotland, Alister Jack, said: “We have already seen the vital work being carried out by ARCHER2 in Edinburgh and this new exascale system, backed by the UK government, will keep Scotland at the forefront of science and innovation. As well as supporting researchers in their critical work on AI safety this will bring highly skilled jobs to Edinburgh and support economic growth for the region.”

Exascale is the latest in a series of nationally strategic computing and AI developments at Edinburgh since the University established research hubs in the disciplines 60 years ago.

A year-long programme of events is marking those achievements and anticipating major developments in computer science and AI at Edinburgh in the future.

Find out more about the 60 year celebration here: edin.ac/60-years-computer-science-ai