Climate Innovation Hub

We face significant challenges in how we will use our land in the future so that we can produce food sustainably and with security of supply, meet net zero targets, support nature and biodiversity and have resilient and thriving rural communities.

The recently established Climate Innovation Hub at Glensaugh provides a unique collaborative space for people with ideas that can help address these challenges and who want to develop new opportunities, whether at a local community or supply chain level or with large scale ambitions.

We offer access to a real-world test site, on-site lab and work space and the opportunity to collaborate with the world-leading scientists across all our campuses to make a positive change to the world.

An introductory brochure about the Climate Innovation Hub can be downloaded here.

The new Centre for Smart Natural Capital is based within the Climate Innovation Hub at Glensaugh and is being developed in collaboration with CENSIS, Scotland’s Innovation Centre for sensing, imaging and Internet of Things (IoT).

The Centre will provide a unique platform tailored to the development of smart sensing, monitoring and advanced computing and analytics needed to inform future land management decisions and support the growing field of natural capital.

The Centre will deploy a growing variety of both mainstream and emerging intelligent wireless communications technologies to support estate-wide remote sensor deployments.  This will enable trials of the latest in sensor and monitoring technologies and the development of data integration, analysis and modelling platforms.

Glensaugh provides an operationally challenging location to ensure these new technologies work and are validated, as well as opportunities to develop novel simulation tools for complex environments, such as digital twins.

Glensaugh has a significant collection of historical baseline data and scientific observation spanning many decades. It is also a national monitoring centre for the Environmental Change Network (ECN), Cosmic-ray Soil Moisture Observing System UK (COSMOS-UK), and the Defra Acid deposition (UKEAP) network. It is also an Ecological Continuity Trust LTE/LTM Hub and a BIOSCAN-UK project site.

The James Hutton Institute has extensive experience in the creation and deployment of sensors in the environment and in data validation, analysis, benchmarking, visualisation and modelling.

If you are interested in developing or testing the next generation of environmental sensors in a real-world environment, and would like to access the expertise of the James Hutton Institute, please contact us.

Collaborate with us

Working with the Climate Innovation Hub at Glensaugh provides access to:

  • The James Hutton Institute’s world leading expertise in crops, soils, water, land use, and environmental research.
  • Glensaugh’s 1000ha upland farm with pasture, peatland, moorland and woodland and many associated data sets.
  • Flexible use of on-site lab and office space and meeting rooms for up to 25 people with video conferencing, as well further facilities at Invergowrie and Aberdeen.
  • Access to specialist facilities and analytical services including Environmental Technology Verification (BS EN ISO14024), soil analysis, many chemical analysis techniques and FTIR spectroscopy.
  • An expanding communications infrastructure at Glensaugh for remote sensor deployment and support for data analysis, benchmarking and verification.
To find out more, contact us