A new plan to boost Scotland's participation in the "big data" revolution was launched last week with an application to the Scottish Funding Council for £30 million for three data science innovation centres based at Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen Robert Gordon universities.

The plan – which is expected to be approved next month – is being led by Neil Logan, chief technology officer of business technology firm Amor Group, who acts as "data champion" for the Scottish Government's technology advisory group.

"Big data" is defined by Scottish Enterprise as "structured and unstructured sets of information whose size is beyond the ability of commonly used software tools to capture, manage, and process in an effective timescale". A new global industry has emerged in recent years dealing in the curation, management, analysis and security of data, exploitation of which has the potential to increase the competitiveness and efficiency of industry, and spur business innovation.

Logan, whose firm is contracted to deliver the Scottish Government's information services and information systems division, said big data was worth about £250 billion to the UK economy over the next five years, and that there was "huge potential impact" for Scotland to win a share of around 60,000 mostly high-value jobs.

If approved, the planned innovation centres will build on the industry collaboration work of the Scottish Universities Informatics and Computer Science Alliance.

The current proposal envisages the Scottish Funding Council leading on the delivery of the innovation centres and providing the core funding, with development agencies Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise supporting company engagement.