See this from the Insider yesterday:
‘The University of Dundee has secured the highest ranking of any UK institution for its role in influencing innovation, a global report shows. The Nature Index 2017 Innovation supplement, which scores an institution’s influence on patents through academic research, ranks the University of Dundee at 26 in its global listing, ahead of US Ivy League universities Harvard and Yale, which ranked 33 and 35 respectively, and Duke, which ranked 27. The Nature Index is a database of author affiliations and institutional relationships which tracks contributions to science journals chosen by an independent group of active researchers.’.
Note that no other UK university made the top 50.
http://www.insider.co.uk/news/university-dundee-uks-highest-ranked-10962156
The wider success story of the city is not entirely new to me. The Tech Nation Report for 2016 had Dundee listed as a ‘Top Technology City’ and made the following points:
‘Whilst Dundee has traditionally been considered a ‘games’ city, it’s now mobile software development that’s playing a key role in driving the city’s economic growth. Dundee’s economic growth is now being driven by generating revenues throughout the rest of the UK (particularly London) and globally. In the digital age, Dundee’s companies, particularly software firms, are operating on a global scale as the city continues to punch above its weight. The city scored highly as a hub for a multitude of different digital companies who work using a variety of technologies across multiple sectors. Here are some of the stats from the report:
- Since 2010 Dundee’s digital turnover has risen by 129%
- Dundee now has the third fastest growing digital turnover in the UK
- Since 2010 Dundee’s GVA (Gross Value Add) has grown by 42%
- Dundee’s GVA now sits at £61.4 million
- There are now 3,318 jobs in Dundee related to the digital tech economy
https://waracle.net/dundee-listed-top-technology-city/
Nae bad eh? Did the Scottish Government play any part in stimulating this? Well yes, a £50 000 grant that year.
Talking-up Scotland 
Hi John – Hi all.
What an accolade for the University of Dundee. Really impressive stuff. Both Universities in the City seem to be carving out world class reputations in terms of Digital Design or Gaming Design. I confess this stuff is way beyond me but I have heard bits and pieces re. the very determined efforts being put into digital design by the various partner organisations in the city. Clearly Uni of Dundee have gone the extra mile – big respect to all concerned.
P.S. there was further good news for Dundee reported in the Courier today (beeb website Tayside and Central page carried a wee link – but the beeb couldn’t find space for the story themselves for some reason). The report was about Dundee’s James Hutton Institute winning a £3M commission to develop a lab in China for potato research:
The announcement of £3 million towards a new international laboratory for scientists from Dundee and China underlined Scotland’s global reputation for potato research at the Potatoes in Practice event.
The Chinese Government and leading potato processing company, Xisen Potato Group have committed the funds to a collaboration with James Hutton Limited (JHL) to breed new varieties and research resistance to pests and diseases, tuber storage and potato processing.
The shared facility is likely to be located in China’s Shandong province, and a top-level delegation from Xisen attended the Potatoes in Practice (PiP) event at Balruddery farm on the outskirts of Dundee.
Professor Ian Toth said James Hutton Institute scientists would work together with Chinese researchers and share ideas between Scotland and China.
Thanks for the most enlightening article re. the improvements made to Peterhead harbour which allowed it to win the contract to service the Vattenfall barges and massive floating crane. I was particularly interested to learn of the SNP Scottish Govt investment of £5M into the project. You’ll be highly surprised to learn that the beeb carried this story on their website business page – but with rather less detail managed. No mention of the SNP Scottish Govt funding for some reason – presumably the wee lambs ran out of space – can’t imagine any other reason – can you?
Thanks for covering the ARI dementia good practice story. As an NHS Grampian geezer myself it was brilliant to see the good work ARI staff (all staff) have been putting into improving the patient journey for people with dementia – and for this good practice to be recognised and rolled out elsewhere.
I’m currently trying to puzzle out the beeb website ‘Scottish’ business page policy. Today they had a story re. waiting times at the various airports in the UK – there was really no particular Scottish ‘angle’ identified. I then noticed – on the Glasgow and West area page they gave a link to an interesting piece in the Motherwell Times concerning the updated passenger numbers using the Scottish airports:
Edinburgh and Glasgow airports record busiest ever months Published: 10:56 Friday 11 August 2017
Edinburgh and Glasgow airports both recorded their busiest month on record in July.
The 1,413,272 passengers at Edinburgh Airport made last month the busiest ever at a Scottish airport. Both airports hailed their busiest ever months Traveller figures were up 6.1% on the 1,332,282 in July 2016, the previous record month.
Meanwhile, Glasgow recorded 1,082,047 passengers in July, up 6.2% on the same period in 2016. Glasgow’s international traffic grew by 10.1% driven by demand for long-haul routes to destinations including Dubai, New York and Orlando, while EU-scheduled services were up 14%.
The passenger increase at Edinburgh Airport was due to a rise in both international and domestic travellers. Chief executive of Edinburgh Airport Gordon Dewar said: “We are delighted to once again deliver the busiest ever month at a Scottish airport, highlighting the growing demand for flights into and out of Edinburgh Airport. “And it’s incredible to think it was only in July 2013 when we had our first million passenger month, so these latest figures demonstrate the phenomenal growth that we have achieved. ”
Amanda McMillan, managing director of Glasgow Airport, said: “July is traditionally our busiest period of the year as passengers head off on their summer holidays, but to record our busiest ever month in 51 years of operation is a significant achievement. “Looking ahead, Ryanair will introduce a number of new winter services in September and October to Frankfurt, Krakow and Madrid, while Lufthansa will also increase the current Munich service from one flight per week to four, ensuring we enter the second half of the year in a position of strength.”
Aberdeen Airport also recorded an increase in passenger numbers in July. A total of 301,089 passengers travelled through the airport last month, up 2.7% on July 2016. Domestic plane passengers increased 6.3% year on year while international traffic rose 1.2% in the same period. Helipad traffic was down 8.6% year on year but the drop was less steep than in previous months.
Carol Benzie, managing director of Aberdeen Airport, said: “We believe that the modest return to growth being demonstrated in both domestic and international traffic mirrors the slowly growing confidence in the region.”
I found that info interesting and indicative of something happening in the underlying Scottish economy – I would have thought the ‘National broadcaster’ might have thought there was something interesting here too?
They clearly thought it was interesting enough to include a link (in the wee ’round up’ bit at the bottom of their Glasgow and West page). For some reason however, these figures demonstrating growing strength in the Scottish economy didn’t find a place on the beeb’s own website.
Now – if only I could work out what was going on there. I know I’m getting ‘warm’ but the answer just keeps managing to elude me.
Have a good weekend all – Thanks, ludo
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Your comments are bigger than my blog. You know I can’t pay? Fantastic contribution to the whole thing.
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