Fancy a year’s free salary?

Researchers keen to develop a spin-out business around a technological idea have until 1 April to apply for the next round of Scottish Enterprise/Royal Society of Edinburgh Enterprise Fellowships.

The Enterprise Fellowships offer 12 months salary to researchers to enable them to concentrate on developing a commercial proposition or product, along with business training and access to networks of mentors.

Each fellowship is worth around £50,000 and the RSE hopes to award one in each of the following sectors: electronics, optoelectronics, microelectronics, life sciences, energy, forest industries, food and drink and tourism.

Successful applicants would be awarded their fellowships to run from October this year.

RSE Research Awards Convener, Professor David Saxon FRSE, University of Glasgow said: "The RSE research fellowships are crucial in bringing to and retaining in Scotland some of the brightest young talent.

“We have new PhDs of tremendous achievement and potential across the range of technologies aimed at wealth creation and quality of life, from optoelectronics to geriatrics. The three RSE Fellowship schemes make sure Scotland gains from these people by integrating them into our universities at the time when their rate of development is at a maximum.

“The Enterprise Fellowship scheme provides guidance and support to imaginative scientists who want to turn their inventions into commercial reality. Its pay-off in creating many hundreds of highly-skilled jobs has led to two Research Councils asking us to run schemes also for them”.

One person who can testify to benefits of this once in a lifetime opportunity is Colin Urquhart based at the highly successful Innovation Centre in Hillington. He believes his Enterprise Fellowship was a key factor in the development of his company Virtual Clones.

He spent his fellowship year investigating the commercial potential of the technology behind Virtual Clones, which was making early progress as a supplier of high-quality 3D imaging technology for the broadcast and games sectors.

By December 2003 when his fellowship was complete, Colin’s research helped the company to make a vital decision to enter a second key market, the medical imaging sector. Today that sector is offering the business significant opportunities for growth.

He said: “I do not think we would be in the position we are in today without the Fellowship. The quality of support was fantastic, and the provision of a salary allowed me to concentrate on the commercial potential of the business proposition while my business partner Douglas Green worked on the continued development of our technology.”

Applications are received as part of a rigorous competitive selection process in April and October. To find out more about how to apply for an Enterprise Fellowship please contact the RSE Research Awards Manager.