£50,000 prize for individual achievement in innovation

£50,000 prize for individual achievement in innovation – call for entries Scotland’s highest accolade for individual achievement in innovation for 2008 is launched today.

The Gannochy Trust Innovation Award of The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is presented annually to a young innovator whose work has the potential to promote social and economic well-being. Targeted at a new generation of Scottish innovator, any individual aged 45 or under, working in Scotland is eligible to compete for the award.

The award carries a valuable cash prize of £50,000 to an individual, and a prestigious specially commissioned gold medal. “Scotland’s top award for individual achievement in innovation was established 6 years ago, in partnership between The Gannochy Trust and The Royal Society of Edinburgh.

The award seeks to encourage younger people to pursue careers in the fields of science, technology and research which promote Scotland’s inventiveness internationally. It also recognises outstanding individual achievement which contributes to the common good of Scotland,” says RSE President Sir Michael Atiyah. Where we would be today without Scotland’s inventors? Without the kaleidoscope, vacuum flask, bicycle to name a few! The best known inventions to come out of Scotland must be the telephone, radar, penicillin and television. Lesser well known Scottish inventions include tubular steel, invented as a stronger material for construction in the early 1800s; pneumatic tyres patented by John Boyd Dunlop in 1888, and refrigerators, from a cooling system invented in 1876 by Scot James Harrison. The list is long and varied, but the contribution to Scotland’s economy and well being enormous.

The winners of The Gannochy Trust Innovation award have had equally varied science and technologies. Last year’s innovation award winner was marine biotechnology pioneer, Dr Andrew Mearns Spragg, (35) CEO of Aquapharm Bio Discovery Ltd, based at the European Centre for Marine Biotechnology in Oban. Andrew’s new technology has the potential to make an important contribution to the fight against hospital acquired infections such as MRSA, developing antibiotic compounds from a new species of marine micro-organism. The award was presented for the first time in 2003 to Dr Barbara Spruce from Ninewells Hospital and Medical School in Dundee who identified a way to cause cancer cells to self-destruct without harming healthy cells. The 2004 winner was Dr Ian Underwood of MicroEmissive Displays Ltd, Edinburgh for his research and innovation which led to the creation in Scotland of a world record breaking technology – the ultra-miniature television-quality display built on a silicon chip. In 2005 John Harrison of Surfactant Technologies Grangemouth won the award. He developed a unique chemical technology that can effectively dissolve oil in water and vice versa, enabling pollution such as oil contaminated wastes to be cleaned up and the detergents recycled. In 2006, Dr Marie Claire Parker of XstalBio Ltd in Glasgow was presented for her innovative technology which has the potential to deliver insulin to diabetes sufferers, without the need for self injection.

Following an open competition run by The Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s national academy of science and letters, a distinguished judging panel chaired by Lord Cullen will select and assess the entries. Application forms are available from The Royal Society of Edinburgh Email: gannochyaward@royalsoced.org.uk tel 0131 240 5013 www.royalsoced.org.uk