Rural and Veterinary Innovation Centre (RAVIC)
The Rural and Veterinary Innovation Centre will enhance SRUC’s expertise in epidemiology and data science, aquaculture, zoonoses, infectious disease control and veterinary surveillance.
The Rural and Veterinary Innovation centre is an ambitious hub hoping to create new links between science and industry in rural Scotland.
Opening in Inverness later this year, the Rural and Veterinary Innovation Centre (RAVIC) will develop new technologies and systems for the country’s land and marine-based sectors, including the green and blue economies of agriculture and aquaculture.
The £12.5 million pound project is being led by Scotland’s Rural College, (SRUC) whose existing Centre for Epidemiology and Planetary Health will provide a core function. It has been funded by the European Regional Development Fund, the Scottish Funding Council and SRUC.
RAVIC will bring together scientists, innovators and businesses to create new products, services and solutions to overcome sector challenges, including those posed by animal disease, climate change and food security. There will also be an emphasis on bioscience, including animal health, as RAVIC is to form part of Scotland’s new School of Veterinary Medicine.
As climate change continues to accelerate, the farming sector will be faced with rapidly changing animal diseases and uncertain markets. RAVIC will provide a much-needed research infrastructure to support the development of innovative systems and other practical tools to help Scottish farmers and land managers. RAVIC will work closely with SRUC’s Veterinary Surveillance Intelligence Unit, a recently developed Scottish livestock information system, that will provide new ways to help farmers deal with animal diseases, increase production efficiency and thereby reduce carbon emissions.
Located on Inverness Campus, a Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) development, the RAVIC building, will house several commercial business incubation units, a lecture theatre, wet and dry molecular, necropsy, and microbiology facilities, and a public atrium.
The collaborative hub will be looking to attract businesses that will enhance the rural economy, capitalise on the area’s natural assets, and support the transition to a net-zero economy.
Meet the Team
Dr Adam Giangreco
Dr Adam Giangreco, an expert in commercial, translational, and applied life sciences, is SRUC Head of Business Development for the Rural and Veterinary Innovation Centre (RAVIC). Adam’s background spans both academia and industry, having run an independent research group at University College London investigating stem cells and regenerative medicine, followed by time with The Technology Partnership (ttp), a life sciences and technology consultancy based in Cambridge. Adam joins SRUC from the University of the Highlands and Islands where he was Director of Health and Life Sciences Innovation. Adam is keen to work collaboratively across SRUC and SAC to help ensure our expertise and resources deliver real world opportunities and impacts.
Professor George Gunn
Professor George Gunn is Director of the Rural and Veterinary Innovation Centre. He is Professor of Population Medicine and Zoonoses and has helped win over £50M for SRUC and collaborating institutions, leading research projects in Scotland and internationally. His range of expertise includes livestock disease control with an overarching interest in population medicine and the dynamics of infectious inter-herd diseases and zoonoses. He has extensive experience working with industry and helped initiate several cattle disease programmes, including HI-Health, the Scottish and UK Pig Health and Cattle Health Schemes, and Cattle Health Certification Standards (CHeCS). George is a former director of the EPIC partnership which advises the Scottish Government on animal disease outbreaks and part of the management team for the EC BVD Control and ParaTB Tools Projects, and was part of the Defra Surveillance Review. George Gunn is Highland born and bred, and still runs a family croft near Inverness in his spare time.