The Data Lab has signed its first partnership agreement south of the Border.

It will work with The Data Shed – a Leeds-based data engineering consultancy focused on delivering data transformation projects that reduce business risk and on understanding the potential of data.

The partnership will seek to boost the profile of The Data Lab in England while raising awareness of what Scotland can offer in terms of data skills and business opportunities.

Coinciding with its entry into the Scottish market as it opens an Edinburgh office, The Data Shed hopes its partnership with The Data Lab will facilitate new connections within Scotland’s booming data economy.

As The Data Lab’s first platinum partner, the company will also be front and centre at all events, within the innovation centre’s Academy, and on its online community of 2,700 active data and AI enthusiasts.

It will also be the only partner for the upcoming Innovation Week, where all The Data Lab Academy’s MSc data science students from across twelve universities come together to solve real-life problems using data.

Rose Souders, Head of Marketing at The Data Shed, said: “Further expanding into Scotland is a key focus for the business over the next year and working with The Data Lab is a critical partnership in facilitating this next step. We’re eager to be an active participant within the booming Scottish data scene and aim to add as much value as we can to best serve the data community.

“Being so closely aligned in terms of our values, especially around developing knowledge and distributing expertise, only further cements the decision to partner with The Data Lab.”

The Data Lab, which currently has 14 partners, also recently welcomed Auticon – an organisation that promotes the recruitment of neurodivergent talent – to its partnership programme.

Through a partnership with The Data Lab, organisations can gain access to a pipeline of Scottish talent via the innovation centre’s cross-sector MSc and PhD student placement programmes and through attendance at events like Data Talent, Scotland’s most extensive data and AI recruitment event.

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Mark Wilkinson, Director of Partnerships and Business Development at The Data Lab, said: “With a network of over 1,500 companies, public sector organisations and universities, The Data Lab is right at the heart of the Scottish and UK data ecosystems, allowing our partners to capitalise on our extensive knowledge and academic and industrial connections.

“Expanding our partnership programme into England will further strengthen our already robust network, raise awareness of what we do outside of Scotland, and introduce us to new and innovative ideas that can help support and develop the data community.

“We are excited to welcome The Data Shed and Auticon to our partnership programme. Their work for the tech sector is incredible, and we look forward to delivering even more impact as our relationship grows.”