The Bayes Centre: Open for Business
The University of Edinburgh’s innovation hub for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence has welcomed back residents to its world-leading facilities.
The Bayes Centre is delighted to have reopened its doors, following the Scottish Government moving to ‘beyond level 0’ on the 9th August. Since March of 2020 the building had followed Government and University rules and only allowed essential access, but with the easing of restrictions, it is able to once more welcome back residents.
Continuity of Work
Since March 2020, the majority of Partners, Members, residents and staff have worked from home, but the ground breaking work done within the Bayes Centre has continued.
The Bayes Centre has held major events online, including EIE21, the premier technology investor showcase.
The DDE Post-Covid AI Accelerator and Venture Builder Incubator have been delivered online with partners including Edinburgh Innovations. This accelerator gives data-driven AI scale-ups the chance to connect their ideas to the world, while the incubator supports data driven start-ups looking to leverage research to make a positive impact on society.
The Bayes Data Science Unit was launched, offering staff, students and industry a rapid-response interdisciplinary team that can quickly engage with high-impact strategic data research opportunities. New residents have been welcomed, including the Global Open Finance Centre of Excellence and Transwap and new relationships forged, such as signing Memorandum of Understanding with Tencent Cloud.
Our members and partners have continued to grow and excel in their time away and we are delighted to be welcoming them back to the building, along with the participants in the AI accelerator and Venture Builder.
Prioritising Safety
To ensure the safety of the returning residents, the building will continue to enforce social distancing measures and limit capacity in offices and meeting rooms, with measures easing over the coming weeks.
A new desk booking system has been introduced, allowing flexibility and effective hybrid working. For those residents who need to extend their footprint across their existing space agreement, the booking system will now make this possible.
Cutting Edge Offering
The Bayes Centre has also been able to upgrade its current facilities, with new AV equipment going into meeting rooms, allowing greater freedom in how people choose to work and run their meetings.
The Bayes Centre is one of the University of Edinburgh’s most modern and best equipped buildings and these facilities will once more be available, with more information and an FAQ in the Guide for Residents returning to the Bayes Centre.
I have been impressed by how our community has been able to adapt to working from home over the last year and a half – coming back to Bayes will allow us to learn from these experiences, but to also reap the benefits of everyone of us being embedded in a vibrant community that thrives on ‘breathing the same air’.
Our Operations Team have worked hard to adapt and reconfigure the building to be sure that we can continue to support our member and partner organisations, both safely on site but also in ways that embrace hybrid working. We realise that, for many, a return to campus will be a gradual process – but it’s important to note that the Bayes Centre is now very much ‘open for business’ and looking forward to welcoming back the range of co-located groups and organisations, and delighted to be hosting some new collaborating organisations who have joined us during the past few months.
Links
Guide for Residents returning to the Bayes Centre
The Bayes Centre: Bookable Desks