INNOVATION E-NEWSLETTER
Welcome to the latest edition of INNOVATION - the newsletter that brings you all the news from Innovation Centres Scotland Ltd, Hillington Park Innovation Centre, Alba Innovation Centre, Wellness and Health Innovation, Interactive Scotland and Wireless Innovation.
Lots has been happening over the last 6 months from within the Innovation Centres and the initiatives and also with our clients.
HILLINGTON NEWS
Tidal Energy Project Wins £3.9M Grant
The tidal streams of the Orkney Islands are set to be the proving grounds of a tidal energy project developed by Hammerfest Strom UK Ltd, one of our Hillington Park Innovation Centre tenant companies.
The tidal turbine developed by the Hammerfest Strom design team at Hillington has been awarded a £3.9 million grant by the Carbon Trust for the construction and testing phase of the project.
Capable of generating 1 megawatt of power the pre-commercial generator will be tested at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney.
Standing 100ft high to tip of blade and anchored to the seabed by 200 tonne weights the HS 1000 will be placed in the water by June of next year (2011).
Hammerfest Strom, following the Carbon Trust award in February are now in the process of placing contracts for the procurement of components and manufacture of the tidal turbine.
Fraser McCreadie, MD of Hammerfest Strom UK Ltd, who established the wholly owned subsidiary of the Norwegian parent company, two years ago said: " We completed the design phase in October last year and the Carbon Trust grant allows us to progress the manufacturing phase. Once the device has been tested in Orkney and proven to do what we say it will do one of our key shareholders, ScottishPower Renewables, will place a contract for an array of ten of them to be sited at Islay. They have also been notified that they have secured a tidal site in the Pentland Firth which is capable of taking 95 of these devices."
The knock-on effect of these developments coming to fruition has the potential to create up to 50 new jobs and importantly establish a supply chain to support an expanded Hammerfest Strom UK Ltd.
The company has a close relationship with the ICS business advisory team at Hillington who have assisted in winning R&D and training grants from Scottish Enterprise.
Blowing in the Wind
The wind of opportunity is blowing in America for one of our cluster of renewable energy companies.
Gaia Wind is targeting the US market with its small wind turbine technology and is aiming to have 15 installations in place by the end of the year.
However the ambition of the Hillington Park Innovation Centre based company is to be the leader in its field in the USA within the next 5 years.
Realising their target could mean the creation of up to ten new jobs in the company which specialises in the production of 11KW wind turbines capable of generating 30kWh of electricity a year which can completely eradicate the carbon footprint of a 4 person household.
Gaia Wind have 200 installations worldwide and manufacturing, carried out by the parent company in Denmark, could easily double if the American market takes off as predicted.
A study by the American Wind Energy Association reported sales in 2008 worth $77Million and an expected 30 fold growth in the small wind turbine market by 2013.
Gaia Wind have one of their turbines installed in the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) where they are participating in the NREL Independent Testing Program for Small wind turbines. Significantly Interim results show the Gaia Wind turbine has outperformed its nearest peer by almost 3-1 in annual power production.
The market segment being targeted by Gaia Wind includes homes owners, farms, municipal buildings, schools and small businesses.
Elena Sutherland, Gaia Wind's International Marketing Manager, said: "America is an attractive market for us. The growth potential is enormous. In terms of adopting renewable energy they lag well behind the UK and Europe. However California and New York are in the vanguard and other states are falling in behind them. Our involvement with NREL also gives us an edge over our competitors which we can exploit."
Gaia Wind is supported by the ICS business advisory team at Hillington Park Innovation Centre.
Business in the Pipeline
Shaw Pipeline Services headed by Jim Duffy is the latest company to take up residence at Hillington Park Innovation Centre.
It is a division of ShawCor of Toronto Canada, a global energy services company specialising in products and services for the pipeline and pipe services, and petrochemical and industrial segments of the oil and gas industry and other industrial markets.
A team of 5 engineers has been employed at the Hillington facility and are currently undergoing training to deliver non destructive testing using ultrasonics and real time radiography.
Jim who has an entrepreneurial background has recently completed a Saltire Fellowship designed to fast-track the careers of gifted and ambitious business-minded individuals and create an alumni network of fellows who will help to shape Scotland's economic future.
A placement with ShawCor during his year's study resulted in him being offered a post with the company.
In line with his entrepreneurial spirit the new facility has also been designated a business development office.
Jim said: "We have been given the remit of looking at the technology we have and seeing where it fits with other industries either in joint ventures, collaborations or acquisitions."
Jim said he selected Hillington Park Innovation Centre as the base for the new facility because it offered not only well serviced accommodation but because of its vibrant business environment.
ALBA NEWS
Cyberhawk - A New Sports Perspective
A small remote controlled flying eye-in-the-sky device developed as an inspection tool by one of our Alba Innovation Centre tenants has taken off in a completely different direction!
The Cyberhawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has found a new niche in the world of sports.
It first took to the air in its new sporting role as a coaching aid for the Scottish international rugby team during the recent Six Nations Cup.
Malcolm Connolly, co-founder and director of Cyberhawk Innovations, explained: "The new use for our UAV came at the suggestion of one of our investors, Scottish & Southern Energy. Their subsidiary Scottish Hydro Electric sponsor the Scottish rugby team and through them the link was made to the SRU who trialled it at a training camp then took us onboard for the Six Nations tournament. It gives the coaches a new angle on players' movement and improves their spatial awareness."
Other sports have also shown an interest in using the Cyberhawk which has now been used to film kite surfing and downhill mountain biking.
The main business use of the device is inspection and survey services providing live video film of an installation, building, bridge, dam, planned pipeline or road routes even heat loss surveys.
With a background in offshore inspection of rigs and platforms Malcolm is only too aware of the advantages in using a UAV: "Offshore you can spend two hours gaining rope access to an area than spend less than five minutes on the actual inspection. The UAV is much quicker, more economic and a great deal safer."
Given Scotland's improving results during this year's Six Nations Cup the SRU are considering using the Cyberhawk in training for next year's tournament.
Optoscribe etches their name on Alba Innovation Challenge Award
A young hi-tech laser etching technology company has won the inaugural
Alba Innovation Challenge prize.
Optoscribe outshone 24 other young companies vying for the title and a business support and finance package worth £50,000 which includes a year's free accommodation at our Alba Innovation Centre.
The competition launched last year to entice innovative new businesses to West Lothian and attracted 25 entries from aspiring companies. Reduced to a shortlist of seven by the judging panel the awards were presented at Innovation Centres Scotland's Alba Innovation Centre, Livingston, on Thursday, 11 March.
Headed up by Nicholas Psaila, OptoScribe products target high growth global markets in high-speed data transfer, optical sensing and bio-photonic lab-on-a-chip markets estimated to be worth $160 billion by 2015.
Nicholas said: "We were thrilled to win the Alba Innovation Challenge, because this is exactly what the company needs right now. It will enable us to establish the company, and give us an ideal base for developing in the future."
He added: "We were surprised to win as we were up against some very strong competition in the other finalists, but we're absolutely thrilled."
OptoScribe's technology provides the only cost effective means of three dimensional micro-manufacturing of integrated optical systems, augmenting existing technologies and enabling new design freedoms.
The judges also made a special award to Dan Arnold and his company Epistemy, a developer of intuitive and novel software for fast and accurate estimates of risk in producing oil and gas fields.
Dan Arnold said: "The oil industry has always been a risk-based industry. With the prospect of Peak Oil, and with the North Sea already in decline, oil companies need to accurately quantify the risks in reservoir management decisions."
The Alba Innovation Challenge was launched by West Lothian Council's Business Gateway and the sponsors included the Alba Innovation Centre, Scottish Enterprise, MBM Commercial and Springfords.
Project chair Alice Sinnet, Business Gateway manager at West Lothian Council, said: "We have been absolutely delighted with the high calibre of entries which have exceeded all expectations for the first year of the challenge."
Stephen Morris, Alba Innovation Centre manager explained: "Young technology companies have an important role to play in delivering a diverse economy for West Lothian and Scotland. We are delighted to welcome OptoScribe and Epistemy as tenants and client companies. The competition revealed a rich vein of young businesses with huge potential. We also hope to be able to work with them and help them grow and expand their idea in West Lothian."
Among the shortlist were innovations that spanned the energy, IT, biotechnology and healthcare sectors which is testament to the range of skill and entrepreneurship that exists in Scotland.
West Lothian's Executive Councillor, Development Transport, Martyn Day spoke at the awards about the potential of the area for new businesses: "West Lothian's reputation for being a business-friendly location with a highly skilled workforce has given the area an excellent track record in attracting and retaining business investment."
"West Lothian wants to encourage new businesses, especially those in innovative technology sectors, to start up and locate in the area where we can deliver a full package of support to help them through the start up, early stages and growth processes."
The competition's Project Board has offered support to all the finalists from Business Gateway and the Alba Innovation Centre.
INTERACTIVE SCOTLAND NEWS
Scotland goes Interactive with a live Twitter feed
Thurs 25th March saw 300 of Scotland's creative, innovative digital media companies and individuals descend on the Hub in Scotland's prestigious digital media quarter to find out how to develop their business to take advantage of the sector's opportunities.
The event showcased some of Scotland's leading experts in the digital media sector including Stuart Cosgrove from Channel 4 and John Maxwell Hobbs from the BBC who both showed their enthusiasm for Scotland's digital media sector.
Cosgrove gave an overview of the Digital Media Strategy which was recently launched and looked at 5 key areas that companies need to ‘shape up' in - Innovation, Interactive Distribution Platforms, Internationalisation, Investment and Infrastructure. Maxwell highlighted that there is a lot of opportunity in the digital media sector and encouraged companies with innovative ideas to get in touch!!
A lively debate took place between some of the industries key individuals from both the private and public sector where the old issue of broadband connectivity raising the biggest concern. The panel discussed innovation in the sector and some of the key challenges facing Scotland. As well as taking the usual questions from the floor, the panel were also following interesting comments and questions from the community via a live Twitter feed - a first for Scotland.
Interactive Scotland has been developed by Scottish Enterprise to drive growth in the sector and support ‘Digital Inspiration', the recently launched strategy for Scotland's Digital Media Industry. Interactive Scotland will be delivered for Scottish Enterprise by Innovation Centres Scotland and NewMedia Partners, experts in the digital media market.
If you are a company working in the digital media sector in Scotland and need help to grow your business, get in touch. Register online at www.interactivescotland.com and an advisor will contact you.
ICS Clients Showcase at Mobile World Congress
A group of our client companies were given a unique opportunity to discuss potential business opportunities with global leaders in the mobile communications industry during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona.
Utilising our reputation in the industry the ICS Wireless Innovation (WI) team arranged for mobile technology businesses to meet with: RIM, Nokia, Qualcomm Ventures, O2/Telefonica, OMTP, Samsung and Wavefront.
The participating companies who were part of the SDI/WI delegation were: Premium Mobile Distribution Ltd; Key Point Technologies; Satsis; Tricast Media; NX Vision; Mobile Acuity and Fruit Mobile.
One of the Scottish delegation companies supported by WI, Stream Communications, a specialist in M2M (Machine to Machine) mobile network services, was selected as one of three UK companies at MWC to meet Lord Davies, Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Small Business.
Nigel Chadwick, Stream's Managing Director, said afterwards: "Barcelona was a fantastic event for Stream and the interview with Lord Davies really couldn't have gone any better. It was a great result for us and the Scottish technology business support infrastructure."
Alisdair Gunn, our Senior Innovation Manager, who led the Wireless Innovation team, was in Barcelona and identified seven major new trends in mobile communications technology as:
Augmented Reality: an application on your mobile phone which shows what is around you by displaying real time digital information on top of reality through the camera of your mobile phone. A tourist could switch on the camera of their mobile phone hold it up to show the Glasgow Science Centre and the application would show details of the visitor attraction. The application can also be used in the retail sector.
Mobile Cloud: personal data such as music and email will be stored in the cloud.
Mobile Advertising: mobile apps will carry advertising providing developers with increased funds.
Accelerated Development of Mobile Services: companies like Adobe, Facebook, Twitter, Google, and QT are opening up their software platforms to web and internet developers allowing them to mobilise their content at the touch of a button.
Mobile Health: mobile and wireless are driving the development of mhealth solutions. An example is GE Healthcare's mobile ultrasound scanner, Vscan, launched 17 Feb. Next year will see enormous growth in this area.
Mobile Money: the financial services are moving into mobile market providing services facilitating simple purchases, handset banking, and money transfer. The potential for removing paper and cards will increase efficiencies for the financial services in what is being termed mcommerce 2.0.
TV Entertainment: now available on the mobile platform an example being the STV player and the new User Interface (UI) platforms for Windows 7 provides multi screens to access broadcasts.
Government Boost for Stream Communications
The world Mobile Congress proved to be a proud occasion for one of our clients Stream Communications.
Stream was one of only three British companies attending the event selected to meet UK Trade Minister Lord Davies.
The meeting with Lord Davies was seen as Government recognition of the growth potential of the M2M (Machine to Machine) mobile communications sector and Stream's pre-eminent position in the industry.
Significantly the meeting came soon after Stream announced it had become the first M2M provider of mobile network services to enter an agreement with 3G mobile network operator 3 UK.
3 UK will allow Stream to use its mobile network to provide high capacity network services to the M2M sector in the UK.
M2M is the fastest growing of the mobile sectors, as machines increasingly become connected using wireless services. Uses are wide ranging, covering security, healthcare, smart metering, retail-vending and remote monitoring applications.
Stream director Nigel Chadwick commented," We are delighted to be given the opportunity to showcase our technology to Lord Davies. It was networking at the highest level and can only benefit our development as a leader in this growing field of telecommunications."
The world Mobile Congress meeting and the agreement with 3 UK strengthen further Stream's leading position in the provision of complete, end to end mobile network services for the M2M sector in the UK and overseas.
Stream's development has been supported by Wireless Innovation, the Scottish initiative managed by Innovation Centres Scotland Ltd (ICS) to support communication technology companies.
Alisdair Gunn, ICS Senior Innovation Manager, said: "Stream's selection to meet Lord Davies was recognition of their innovative technology. It enhances not only their reputation as an industry leader but also that of Scotland."
For further information on Stream Communications go to: http://www.stream-communications.com/
WELLNESS & HEALTH NEWS
Japan - A Market of Opportunity
Janette Hughes leader of our Wellness and Health Innovation (WHI) team has recently returned from a trade mission to Japan with client companies to gauge potential business prospects.
It was a trip well worthwhile making: "The opportunities for Scottish companies doing business with Japanese counterparts operating in the Wellness and Health space are significant."
"As a result of the meetings we held it quickly became apparent that Japan sees Scotland with its global reputation for innovation in life science and electronics as a source of novel solutions for its healthcare needs," says Hughes.
She adds: "They believe the convergence of these two industries empowers Scottish companies to develop unique innovative solutions for the wellness and health market."
A particular area of opportunity lies in developing products suitable for the Independent Assisted Living market in Japan.
As the world's 10th most populated country with 127 million people Japan is undergoing a major shift in its demographics with just over 1 in 5 inhabitants 65 years of age or older recently passing Italy to become the country with the highest proportion of over-65s anywhere and the lowest ratio of children under 15.
Japan does have a strong indigenous healthcare sector which is already developing solutions to tackle the challenges of supporting an ageing population but it is looking to Scotland and other countries for innovative niche products and services.
Our WHI project took five client companies to Japan as part of 5 day joint trade mission with Scottish Development International and UK Trade and Investment.
The participating WHI-supported and showcased companies innovations;
- 1. PWB - Breastlight - http://www.pwbhealth.com/ The Breastlight is designed for women to use in their own home to assist with the early detection of breast cancer.
- 2. Pyreos - http://www.pyreos.com/http://www.pyreos.com/ Low cost infrared detectors for application in continuous wellness monitoring for early signs of diabetes, kidney failure, liver damage and some cancers.
- 3. ModeDX - http://www.modedx.com/ MODE's initial market is Cancer Health/Awareness and will provide retail customers/consumers access to early detection and disease management products.
- 4. EXO2 - http://www.exo2.co.uk/ Self-regulating FabRoc® polymeric heating technology which emits 90% of its heat within the FIR (Far Infrared) range and is suitable for a wide range of therapeutic and health enhancing product applications.
- 5. BID Instruments - The RingOfSight product is a new and revolutionary method of measuring visual fields at home of particular use in glaucoma assessment.
During the trip they were able to meet major players in the Japanese wellness and healthcare market including Omron, Panasonic, Tanita and Secom.
Janette Hughes summed up: "The object of the mission was to allow our companies to judge whether the product or services would have traction in Japan and to establish initial contacts in the market. It can take more than two years to establish business partnerships in Japan so it is early days yet. However further contact is being made by our companies with potential business partners as a result of the trip and we will continue to identify opportunities to link with the Japanese market with Scottish innovation."
Innovative Technology - A Healthy Option for Scotland
An incisive analysis of the changes in the delivery of healthcare services and the opportunities these will present for innovative technology business has been produced by Ross McLennan of our Wellness and Health Initiative (WHI) team.
His report, published recently in the Holyrood Magazine, highlights how Scotland is well placed to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the fundamental shift to a patient centric health service.
Ross argues that Scotland's strong track record in sciences, a burgeoning innovative technology industry and a well trained and skilled workforce provides the prefect platform to benefit from the growth of converging technologies that is driving advances in medical care.
The key areas of opportunity identified include: diagnostics; remote patient monitoring; test and treatment for chronic conditions; wellness focused products; technologies and services to improve adherence and compliance.
Janette Hughes, WHI Project Manager says: "Companies must have a strong understanding of consumer patterns along with a commitment to develop easy-to-use solutions which address consumer needs and deliver them real benefits."
The report also provides tips for companies to succeed in meeting the demand for new innovative products, technologies and services in the new healthcare environment.
EVENTS
29th April 2010
Hillington Park Innovation Centre - Is your brand linked directly to business performance?
6th May 2010
Interactive Scotland - Digital Showcase, Glasgow
7th May 2010
Alba Innovation Centre and Interactive Scotland with Pact - How to use social networking to drive your business forward
19th May 2010
Wellness & Health Innovation - Convergent Technologies Showcase - Technology Changing Healthcare, Stirling
26th May 2010
Wellness & Health Innovation - Technology Showcase - Health Stream, Glasgow
June 2010
Interactive Scotland - Over the Horizon, Glasgow
10th June 2010
Hillington Park Innovation Centre - Which Angel could finance your business growth?
19th June 2010
Wellness & Health Innovation - Play for Your Life - How Gaming can Transform Health, Dundee
