A new Scottish Centre of Excellence aiming to solve real-world challenges in digital trust and distributed ledger technologies is opening its doors at Edinburgh Napier University following a new collaboration.
Edinburgh Napier University will host the Scottish Centre of Excellence in Digital Trust and Distributed Ledger Technology in partnership with the University of Edinburgh, the University of Glasgow and Fintech Scotland, after securing initial funding from Scottish Enterprise, an advice, support and funding agency.
Aiming to make the digital world safer and more resilient, the Centre will look to deliver immediate benefits to the financial services sector and beyond. The team behind the project hope it will go on to support new start-up and spin-out companies, while working alongside established firms.
As more infrastructure, data and transactions move online, digital trust technology has an increasingly important role to play in building resilience and security, while guarding against threats like cybercrime. The Centre will become part of a wider aim to position Scotland as a global leader in digital trust innovation, supporting a range of industries from financial services to healthcare and beyond.
Developed alongside FinTech Scotland, the Centre’s plan has an initial two-year focus on delivering, innovation, actionable research and skills training to support industry-led research calls around areas such as digital payments, digital assets and digital identity.
The centre’s director, Professor Bill Buchanan from Edinburgh Napier University, commented: “Scotland has the opportunity to lead the way when it comes to digital trust technology. We have digitised a great deal of our work, but many aspects of privacy, security and resilience still need to be fully understood. Advances in computing technology will see many of our existing methods of establishing digital trust facing a range of risks, making the work of this Centre all the more significant.”
Driving economic growth in Scotland
“The new Centre for Excellence in Digital Trust is another important tool that helps us showcase Scotland’s leadership in fintech and digital innovation,” explained Nicola Anderson, CEO of FinTech Scotland. “This initiative complements the FinTech Research and Innovation Roadmap, developing new technologies that will shape the future of finance and the wider economy.”
Initially running for a two-year period, the Centre of Excellence will bring together the expertise of ENU’s Blockpass ID Lab, the Blockchain Technology Lab from the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Glasgow’s Trustworthy Connected Systems Lab.
During that time, it will aim to create a leading capability for knowledge exchange, innovation and skills development that translates into increased jobs, talent, company creation and economic development in Scotland.
Nanik Ramchandani, CEO of the Centre, also said: “In a world where the dark side of AI is making it impossible to distinguish between the real and not, continued innovation to strengthen trust using privacy-preserving technologies is essential.”
While the Centre is based at ENU, its scope and ambition extend across the UK and beyond. It is a hub for innovation that will support sectors as diverse as finance, energy, healthcare, and public services.
“[The Centre] represents an important step in advancing secure and trustworthy technologies in Scotland and addresses pressing societal and industry challenges that are of worldwide relevance and importance,” added Professor Aggelos Kiayias, chair in cyber security and privacy at the University of Edinburgh.
The Centre also aims to capitalise on the £4.3billion opportunity for Scotland through the adoption of blockchain technologies, as outlined by the Scottish Blockchain Roadmap, which was published by the Digital Trust Taskforce in 2023.
