According to its website, the centre is "designed to bring together mathematicians and practitioners in science, industry and commerce for research workshops and other meetings."
The centre was jointly established in 1990 by the University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University, under the supervision of Professor Elmer Rees, with initial support from Edinburgh District Council, the Scottish Development Agency and the International Centre for Theoretical Physics.
[1] Its current operations are primarily funded by grants from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of the UK.
[2][3] The current scientific director (appointed in 2021) is Professor Minhyong Kim.
Increased activity necessitated removal in 2010 to a converted church in South College Street, and then in 2018 to its present location in the nearby Bayes Centre of the University of Edinburgh.