How time flies – it is hard to believe we are celebrating the 10^th anniversary of the Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards!

Since 2016, the awards have evolved along with the knowledge exchange and innovation community they represent. The categories have changed and grown from five to 10, applications now come from a wider range of sectors, and we’ve hosted events – and been hosted – in Edinburgh, Dundee, Glasgow and, of course, online during Covid.

Each year, we’ve had the privilege of celebrating exceptional projects and the people involved in delivering them. While there are too many achievements to feature all at once, here’s a look back at 10 winners from over the years (do you notice a theme?).

The awards have consistently highlighted pioneering technologies that address critical challenges like net zero. In 2016, we awarded our inaugural Sustained Partnership prize to Soltropy and Heriot-Watt University for the development of their sustainable solar thermal technology. Soltropy continues to collaborate with Heriot-Watt and other academic partners.

In 2019, the Sustained Relationship category evolved into Powerful Partnership, with Sunamp and The University of Edinburgh taking the prize. Their longstanding work on thermal energy storage solutions has now earned Sunamp the prestigious King’s Award for Enterprise for innovation in 2023.

In 2017, Ivan Wood & Sons Ltd and Abertay University won Innovation of the Year for their collaboration on a water filtration system for food processing that prevents contamination, in line with new legislation. Additionally, their Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) Associate, Lee-Anne McGee won the Building Skills award.

KTPs have featured widely across the award categories and in 2018 KTP Associate Petra Crocker, from Edinburgh Napier University, who worked with Multiply UK Ltd, was awarded Building Skills for her work creating a digital tool to drive both the expansion and reputation of the company as industry experts in planning and insight.

In addition to hi-tech solutions the awards have also acknowledged non-technical projects. Baltic Street Adventure Playground, a Glasgow charity and child-led supervised adventure playground, partnered with the University of Glasgow to develop a community food hub. The collaboration won Making a Difference in 2020 for demonstrating both social and environmental impacts in an area of high deprivation with ‘grow local’ and sustainable themes.

Sustainable Thinking Scotland CIC, a social enterprise in Bo’ness, run a variety of projects that focus on food growing, community wellbeing and wood and green waste recycling. Their project, to optimise biochar with the University of the Highlands and Islands, was awarded Innovation of the Year 2023.

From local impacts to national and global solutions there have been many winners tackling healthcare challenges. In 2021 The Scottish Capsule Programme (SCOTCAP) made up of partners from the Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre, Scottish Government, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, NHS National Services Scotland, NHS Highland, NHS Tayside, NHS Grampian, NHS Western Isles, Medtronic plc, Corporate Health International UK Ltd, Bowel Cancer Scotland, University of Aberdeen and University of Strathclyde, won Multiparty Collaboration. The collaboration co-designed, delivered and evaluated the use of a minimally invasive “Pillcam” diagnostic tool, an innovative alternative to colonoscopies.

Another award which included the NHS was Making an Environmental Difference in 2022 where NHS Highland and the University of the Highlands and Islands, with a cross-sector partnership including Caithness General Hospital, Scottish Water, SEPA and the James Hutton Institute, significantly improved the quality of hospital wastewater discharged into the sewerage system and the environment.

And of course, there are the individuals who contribute significantly to advancing knowledge exchange and raising awareness of its impact – our Knowledge Exchange Champions.

In 2022, Professor Murray Pittock, from the University of Glasgow, received the KE Champion award for his influential work on policy around literary tourism, and enhancing visitor experiences in the heritage and tourism sectors.

The Knowledge Exchange Heroes award, a recent addition, acknowledges the people behind the projects. In 2024, Michelle Skotzen from Edinburgh College was awarded Knowledge Exchange Hero for her work championing college-led solutions for business and driving collaboration across colleges.

We feel privileged to deliver the awards and to play a part in showcasing some of the outstanding knowledge exchange and innovation happening across Scotland and beyond – and we’re very excited to tell the stories which come from this year’s event. As we celebrate this milestone, we want to thank everyone who has supported the awards, as judges, applicants, nominators, sponsors, presenters, speakers, and attendees. Here’s to the 10^th anniversary and the next decade of success!

Explore more stories about past award winners on our YouTube channel.

For those interested in applying this year,  all category details, application forms and top tips for applying can be found on our website.

Photo shows the winners of the Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards 2018.