A NEW £10million hub designed to link Scotland's universities with businesses in the technology industry has been launched in Glasgow.

The CENSIS centre was unveiled by Fergus Ewing, MSP, the Scottish Government Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism.

CENSIS will promote Sensor and Imaging Systems (SIS) technology.

There are already around 140 companies working in SIS in Scotland, contributing around £2.5billion per year to the Scottish economy.

The hub is located at the University of Glasgow until the spring of this year when it will move to the Inovo building at ITREZ, Scotland's International Technology & Renewable Energy Zone in George Street.

It has been funded for five years.

Mr Ewing said: "Scotland is already at the forefront of this technology and, by bringing expertise together, CENSIS is ideally placed to continue the development of our broad and deep research capabilities.

"I believe that aligning activity within universities to address industry-defined needs gives us the potential for substantial future growth."

SIS is a technology vital to a range of industrial sectors including transport, defence, oil and gas, agriculture and food and drink.

The technology can sense, measure, process, communicate and visualise data.

CENSIS was developed following the principle of Scottish Enterprise's 'Sensor Systems Framework for Action' which was also being launched at the same event in Glasgow.

stef.lach@ eveningtimes.co.uk