Discovery Trail

GRID - global research innovation and discovery

GRID is a a new ground-breaking facility to advance our global research, innovation and discovery. Researchers from all over the world and working on lots of different areas work together to solve problems across engineering, business, and computer science. Within the building, there are virtual and augmented gaming technologies, digital environments and discovery labs.

GRID also helps our researchers to set up start-up companies which create things like computer programmes that let you travel through space on your computer, affordable solar powered water heaters, and new, more efficient ways for farmers to water their crops.  

Walking through GRID you can see everyone hard at work in the labs, with students working on research projects and lots of interesting such as coding experiments. The space is a hub for innovation!  

Sometimes we don't think that science can be very creative; but just like starting painting, where you ask yourself what colours of paint you'll use, what canvas size, and what you want to record (is it a still life, is it a landscape?) – coming up with new ideas and technologies is similar. Researchers are often asking questions such as what will I work on and who will this be for? More importantly, what benefits will it have? And who will help to turn the idea into a reality?

At Heriot-Watt, many of our researchers work in a multi-disciplinary way – this means bringing lots of different people together from different fields to create amazing solutions to problems – people who work in maths, chemistry, engineering, design, social science and more. GRID is at the centre of this, with collaborations ranging far and wide – both local and global. This is not just a space on campus, but an intricate network of innovators and collaborators, all of whom are working to transform and help society.  

Research Bite

Check out this Research Bite from Professor Umit Bititci, whose research focuses on understanding how businesses are successful.