Scottish Minister visits Heriot-Watt University Dubai to accelerate enterprise, decarbonisation discussions

emirates7 - Heriot-Watt University Dubai and the Ministry for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise of Scotland have explored means to accelerate the sustainability agenda in the UK and the UAE and common business and enterprise interests.

This came during a visit by Ivan McKee, Scottish Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise, to the university's campus in Dubai Knowledge Park.

The visit was part of a wider programme that included a tour of the University's Innovation Hub and Enterprise Suite and discussions on the latest developments from the Industrial Decarbonisation Research Innovation Centre (IDRIC).

Speaking about his visit, Minister McKee said, "Today's visit to Heriot-Watt's Dubai campus has been both inspiring and insightful in terms of progressing opportunities for collaboration when it comes to Scotland and the UAE's shared net-zero ambitions.

"Scotland has an international network of world-class higher education institutes, and Heriot-Watt University has been at the forefront of driving the global energy agenda forward via its leading research, partnership opportunities and innovations in technology."

Professor Tadhg O'Donovan, Deputy Vice-Principal, Academic Leadership at Heriot-Watt University Dubai, said, "We were delighted to welcome Minister Ivan McKee to our campus in Dubai and showcase our state-of-the-art facilities to support innovation and sustainability."

The Minister and other dignitaries discussed the latest developments at IDRIC, a new UK research and innovation centre that supports industry and policymakers in accelerating industrial decarbonisation. They also talked about how the centre's work in engineering, environmental, and technical knowledge aligns with the UK and UAE's goals for investing in renewable energy and hydrogen economy to support industrial decarbonisation.