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Distance Lab Launched - Chair and Chief Executive Appointed
Press release / 19 January 2007
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) today announced the launch
of Distance Lab, a unique research institute in the Highlands that
will become a world leader in digital media and communication
technologies.
As the first of its kind anywhere in the world, Distance Lab will
carry out research into how digital media and communication
technologies can help manage the impact that distance has on
individuals, communities and businesses in the north of Scotland and
other areas of the world.
Distance Lab will be structured as a distributed research
laboratory with satellite locations around the Highlands and Islands.
Based initially at Horizon Scotland - an innovation and incubation
centre at Forres - Distance Lab has gained a significant funding
package from HIE Moray for its critical work in developing an improved
knowledge economy.
Dr. Stefan Agamanolis has been appointed as Distance Lab's chief
executive. Stefan comes to Scotland from the USA and holds Masters
and PhD degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Stefan has more than 10 years of experience inside the world-famous
MIT Media Lab, first as a student and later as one of the founding
research directors at Media Lab Europe, its former sister lab in
Dublin. There he led a successful research group that invented new
technologies to enhance human relationships. Stefan came to interact
with HIE during its partnership with the Media Lab and earlier
assisted in developing the plans for Distance Lab.
Commenting on his appointment, Stefan Agamanolis said: "I am
tremendously excited to be heading up this new initiative in an area
of the world that has so much to offer and is poised for huge growth
in the digital age. My hope is that Distance Lab will work closely
with local businesses and communities to develop and trial new
cutting-edge technologies and applications."
"We have seen many examples of how digital media can help us
overcome distance in the areas of learning and healthcare as well as
in our everyday relationships with distant family members and friends.
The job of Distance Lab is to take these technologies to a new level,
focusing on design factors to make them much more usable and effective
than they are now, and to enable new activities over a distance that
weren't possible before."
One of the areas Distance Lab will explore is how digital media can
be used to create new kinds of tourism experiences that, for example,
take place in remote areas or that convey cultural heritage over a
physical or temporal distance. The Lab will be providing support to
the winners of HIE's Tourism, Heritage and Technology Challenge Fund.
Distance Lab is not part of MIT or the Media Lab, however, it will
aim to develop a culture that is similar to and improves upon those
creative hotbeds, particularly in its strong emphasis on building
working prototypes and channelling these into new products and
services in the global marketplace.
It is expected that researchers working at Distance Lab will be
inspired to create valuable high growth business starts and settle
locally to commercialise their ideas which will help grow the local
economy by providing high value jobs.
Professor Alan Alexander has been appointed as chair of Distance
Lab. Professor Alexander's wide experience as an academic and
business leader includes having been Professor of Local and Public
Management at Strathclyde Business School and chairing a number of
boards in the public and voluntary sectors. He was the first chair of
Scottish Water between 2002 and 2006, and currently serves on the
Accounts Commission for Scotland and the Economic and Social Research
Council.
Professor Alexander said: "Distance Lab has high but realistic
ambitions, and I am delighted to be leading its board. In addition to
enhancing the performance of the regional economy, Distance Lab will
focus on international activities that will impact far beyond Scotland
while bringing greater benefits to the Highlands and Islands."
James Gibbs, area director HIE Moray said: "I am delighted that
Stefan Agamanolis and Alan Alexander have been appointed as chief
executive and chairman of Distance Lab. Both are very talented, and
ambitious and their vision and energy will, I'm sure, make a strong
contribution both locally and further a field to the expertise in
technology, and potentially, to there being many more new businesses
in this sector of our economy.
"Forres is an excellent first location for Distance Lab as there is
a pool of skilled personnel at the nearby RAF bases and Moray has a
strong heritage of successful entrepreneurship. Organisations like
Distance Lab have the potential to provide far more opportunities for
successful careers in technology for local people and for a world
class research institute in digital media technology to be on the
doorstep of our local businesses."
The Lab will shortly be launching a drive to recruit some initial
research staff and is also developing a membership programme to enable
companies and organisations in any part of the world to sponsor the
Lab's growth and tap into its knowledge and research results.
It is expected that the project will see an overall investment of
at least £5 million over the next five years with around
£3 million coming from the HIE network which is driving the
project.
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