Lorraine Thomson, Business Engagement Manager at Interface for the Highlands and Islands, was invited to meet First Minister Nicola Sturgeon today (Monday, 6 August).
The First Minister was visiting the recently opened Tomintoul and Glenlivet Discovery Centre, which received funding from Highlands and Islands Enterprise to develop a fully immersive visual experience focusing on the past local illicit whisky industry.
Through Interface, the Tomintoul and Glenlivet Development Trust, which owns and manages the centre, accessed expert academic support from The University of St Andrews. Virtual reality technology is being developed as well as a 360 degree experience of an illicit still.
Previously, Interface connected the Trust to Abertay University and Edinburgh Napier University during the early development of the centre’s digital and marketing plans.
Lorraine said:
“This was a fantastic opportunity to share with the First Minister a great example of Interface’s support for an organisation in an economically fragile part of Scotland, which is tapping into our world-class academic expertise to enable it to develop and capture the imagination of potential visitors, young and old. The centre welcomed its 4,000th visitor recently and is expanding its workforce, which is great news for the area.”
For more information on how Interface can help business connect to Scotland’s academic community contact the regional team member in your area.
(Pictured, left to right): Lorraine Thomson (Interface), First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Catherine Cassidy (University of St Andrews) and Amy Woolvin (Tomintoul and Glenlivet Landscape Partnership).
Innovate or stagnate: it’s a blunt message, however one that Scotland’s business community shouldn’t need to hear quite as often as it did 13 years ago.
So, what has changed in that time? Firstly, the Scottish Government’s Scotland CAN DO Innovation Action Plan’s priorities include encouraging more business innovation and making best use of university and college research, knowledge and talent to drive growth. Streamlining the experience for businesses from our enterprise agencies and business support services is vital to that: creating the right environment will lead to more conversations, more ideas, more solutions, more invoices and more jobs, ultimately enriching Scotland as a place to live and work.
The environment for businesses partnering with universities to develop products, processes or services, or to carry out collaborative research, is easier to navigate. From simplifying intellectual property agreements to guiding businesses in identifying relevant expertise, the wrinkles have been ironed out instilling more confidence in businesses looking to enter into academic partnerships.
In addition, the willingness of small and medium sized businesses (including micro businesses employing one or two people) to partner with academic expertise is greater now than ever before. The pain points of not having enough time or resource to find the right academic expertise or how to fund initial projects have also been eradicated with the introduction of accessible funding schemes like Innovation Vouchers and free and impartial brokerage and support services such as Interface.
Scottish universities are now more receptive to welcoming industry for co-creation of new research or indeed, into the classroom or lab for teaching purposes (previously the focus was on licensing technology or spinning out companies). They have recognised the enormous educational gains from presenting real-life business issues to students and researchers as well as meeting the demand from funders for a return on their investment in terms of economic and societal benefits, such as safeguarding and creating employment and breaking into new markets.
Thousands of business-academic projects have been established across Scotland by Interface since 2005 which have generated £64.2 million gross value added (GVA) a year for the Scottish economy, supporting around 1,060 Scottish jobs.
The long-term economic impact from these companies could increase to more than £195.3 million GVA/year, supporting almost 3,500 jobs if future expectations of businesses within the next three years are realised.
One of these companies is Edinburgh-based snap40, an ambitious start-up which is creating employment opportunities and having a positive impact on the economy. The company has developed a wireless wearable device for monitoring patients’ health in hospitals and communities, which is currently being rolled out by several NHS trusts and US hospitals.
Whilst a medical student, snap40 co-founder Christopher McCann noticed that the existing manual systems of gathering data on vital signs meant that deteriorations in patients were not seen until long after they had started. Together with co-founder Stewart Whiting, who has a PhD in Computer Science, snap40 was born.
snap40’s simple device is worn by patients in either hospital or their home. The device’s sensors monitor vital signs including respiratory rate, oxygen saturation and movement. Dehydration is also a significant problem, so the founders wanted the armband to incorporate a low-power ultrasound sensor to monitor hydration levels. After a referral from the Digital Health & Care Institute Innovation Centre (DHI), Interface sourced expertise in University of the West of Scotland and advised on funding (a Scottish Funding Council Innovation Voucher). The collaboration with the university created proof of concept data around use of ultrasound to monitor hydration levels.
Detecting deterioration earlier will save patients’ lives. The potential cost and time savings to NHS Trusts are also obvious – snap40’s wearable armband will mean nursing staff can be freed from the manual task of collecting vital signs as automatic alerts are generated when the warning signs of deterioration begin – saving two hours in every twelve-hour shift, while length of stay and readmissions can also be reduced.
Businesses often ask why Scotland’s world-class universities and academic talent would want to work with them – new collaborations, access to additional sources of funding, the chance to test research in a real-life setting, the opportunity for developing impactful academic papers and case studies, and the potential to continue the collaboration with the business are a few reasons.
We need many more people like Christopher, who have a clear vision, are facing a challenge, and are open to collaborating with academic partners as part of their business journey.
This article first appeared in The Times
Research and development is sometimes thought of as the territory of large, multi-national corporations, however one organisation is helping thousands of Scottish small and medium sized businesses access world-leading academic expertise.
Interface was established in 2005 to bridge the gap between the worlds of business and academia.
With a team located across Scotland, the organisation works with all 19 universities in Scotland, as well as research institutes and colleges, finding academic partners for companies in all sectors.
The impacts of business-academic projects are many and varied, ranging from increased turnover, creation of new jobs and identifying new areas of research and product development.
Here are Interface’s Director Dr Siobhán Jordan’s top tips for creating successful business-academic collaborations:
- Finding the right academic partner is key to a successful partnership. We often call it a “meeting of minds” where the business and academic champions have real synergy and almost become one team. We have seen partnerships grow into a synergistic flow of knowledge and ideas from the business to the academic institution and vice versa with significant benefits for both partners.
- Be clear about what you want to achieve from collaborating with a university – the team at Interface can help produce a brief outlining the scope and details of the proposed project.
- Speak to a business support agency such as Interface, Scottish Enterprise or Business Gateway about funding for collaborative projects. Standard Innovation Vouchers up to £5,000 which is matched in cash or kind by the business, are a great way to fund small-scale projects such as feasibility studies or validating benefits of a product which can then lead to larger scale projects and other areas of R&D.
- Keep an open mind – the expertise which could help your business may not be in the same sector as you and could in fact be a discipline that had not occurred to you. We have matched cake manufacturers with hyperspectral imaging experts, and aerospace research with high performance bicycle chain manufacturers, with impressive results.
- Establish intellectual property rights from the start. All collaborative projects produce intellectual assets so it is essential to have a discussion about whether ownership will be with the business or academic institution. The Intellectual Property Office has a free online guide to help with the basics of IP.
- Look around your business to see what else could benefit from academic input. Better waste disposal? Quicker processes? Improved products? As they say, two minds are better than one and you never know where a new collaborative partnership might lead.
More information on partnering with universities, research institutes and colleges can be found here.
It’s World Intellectual Property (IP) Day – a good reason to celebrate Scotland’s amazing history of invention, innovation and long-standing track record of coming up with fresh ways to improve everyday processes.
Although we rarely need an excuse to celebrate our nation’s incredible achievements, it is a good opportunity to highlight the important part which IP plays in business-academic collaborations.
The theme of this year’s World Intellectual Property Day is Powering Change: Women in Innovation and Creativity.
As the World Intellectual Property Organization states:
“The important and inspiring contributions of countless women around the globe are powering change in our world. Their “can do” attitude is an inspiration to us all. And their remarkable achievements are an invaluable legacy for young girls today with aspirations to become the inventors and creators of tomorrow.”
Interface has supported hundreds of women in business as they create new products, processes and services; entrepreneurs like Alison Grieve, whose mission is to change the way we hold things, or the school pupils behind Envirocache, a unique health app designed to encourage young people to walk outdoors and get closer to nature.
We also aim to support academics at all stages of their careers, matching them with business partners who will bring out the best in their research and academic expertise – women like Dr Jane Ali-Knight, Professor Lee Innes, Claire Bereziat, Professor Claire Seaman and Professor Rachel Norman, to name a few.
Businesses often ask us about legal and contractual issues including intellectual property, and how they can protect their ideas when entering collaborations with academia.
Whilst we can’t advise on individual contracts, Interface, working with Universities Scotland, (which represents all 19 universities in Scotland) has produced a suite of standard legal templates including confidentiality agreements which are downloadable and free to use.
We also have information on different options for intellectual property agreements. Find one to suit your business and use it as a basis for discussions with your university partner before the collaborative project gets underway. That way, all partners will be clear on who owns the foreground intellectual property generated from a project, as well as background intellectual property brought to the table.
We have included case studies which showcase some of the great projects, products and collaborations that we have helped to support.
Intellectual Property is important and, with some initial consideration and conversations, will help to strengthen business-academic collaborations. You could say, powering change for good – join us at #worldipday
One dreich day years ago I was confronted by Duane Hanson’s Tourism sculpture in Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art. Hanson was interested in the banality of consumer society. He cast models of figures in ordinary mundane situations, in this case a couple with sunglasses and cameras gazing upwards at some unidentified spectacle with glaikit expressions.
On one hand I agree with Hanson’s point. Travel, for business and leisure, is common place in our society. On the other hand, tourism is a totally remarkable phenomenon – bringing people out of their normal routines, in contact with different places, diverse people, and new experiences. This combination of leisure time and consumer choice benefits tourists themselves and supports businesses of all sizes.
Not only is tourism a well-established and exceedingly important part of the Scottish economy, it directly employs about 8% of our workforce. As the Scottish Tourism Alliance say, tourism is everyone’s business, and everyone in Scotland is an ambassador.* There are many cantie people involved in making a stoater of a holiday.
Consider a visitor journey, they are thinking about where to go, they book, they travel, they experience, they blether about what they did and how they felt. As far as the tourist is concerned, the product is a complete package; encompassing everything from the time they leave home to the time they return. And all experiences are unique to an individual, a culmination not only of products and services they purchase, but also their expectations and emotional responses to something intangible.
Tourism can be defined in terms of demand, which is volatile, and subject to long-term social and economic changes like an ageing population, or shorter-term changes with visas being easier to obtain, favourable exchange rates or destinations becoming unappealing after terrorist events or natural disasters.
Tourism displays high interdependency with other sectors of our economy through its intermediaries and supply chains. This means that developments in other overlapping and separate sectors like transport, food and drink, energy and communications, have a knock-on-effect for tourism and its customers. I’ve heard the analogy that tourism is like a sponge, soaking up innovations. I would add that after soaking up these innovations, our tourism sector adds its own bespoke mix of bubble bath, gets the water just the right temperature and immerses you until your toes go crinkly.
Given the complexity, the Scottish Tourism Alliance Big 5 Questions campaign signposts tourism to the tools and resources available to embed innovative activities through public funded initiatives. Interface is uniquely placed to create a sweet spot for the Scottish Tourism Industry to achieve its ambitions for Tourism 2020. First, individual businesses wanting to be ahead of the curve. Second, groups with ambition to develop and deliver ideas for innovative new products and services. Third, gaps in expertise which are best filled by Scottish academic institutions.
Scottish universities think locally, nationally and internationally. They draw inspiration and work with partners from all over the globe. Through Interface’s free service, canny tourism businesses are accessing this braw bounty.
As an impartial broker, Interface works with individual businesses, forms groups with common challenges and ideas, organises events and learning journeys, sources the best knowledge and expertise and advises on funding sources. In discussions with universities, research institutes and colleges, we also invest time in exploring the application of new research and knowledge to enhance the tourism sector’s back and front of house.
For example, Blockchain is subject to much discussion, but pioneering research and development is taking place on our doorstep. Some applications of Blockchain are for payments, cryptocurrencies, digital assets, tax, compliance and record management. The predicted intermediary reduction could be highly disruptive to industries providing services, but could provide those currently relying on them with another option bringing time and cost savings. With help from Interface, it’s over to our best brains in the industry and universities to commercialise new products which place Scottish-based travel technology businesses at the forefront.
The Scottish tourism industry is making great efforts to improve Scotland’s inclusive tourism offer. VisitScotland and destination organisations have promoted access audits, staff training and emphasise not only the social good these initiatives produce, but how consumer appreciation and loyalty bring financial benefits to businesses. To complement this awareness raising and recognition of efforts of the industry, there is still much need for innovation and opportunity for entrepreneurship. Interface is here to harness academic expertise. We have already sourced facilities to adapt and test sports equipment for amputees, engineering students to improve wheelchair accessible vehicles, collaborative research into the needs of individuals with sensory impairments, and effective signage for people with dementia. However, there are many more opportunities to connect universal design, adaptive and assistive technologies and digital technology expertise found within universities and colleges with our tourism sector.
So overall, I’d like to end with a couple of wishes for the tourism industry and the academic sector. Please keep an open mind towards new ideas and new collaborations in true #ScotSpirit. Let’s work together to better understand our growth markets, provide authentic experiences and improve the customer journey. We all have a lot to offer so that Scotland is never mundane in the tourists’ gaze.
* http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Business-Industry/Tourism
Professor Andrea Nolan has been appointed Chair of Interface Strategic Board, taking over from Professor Sir Pete Downes.
University Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Edinburgh Napier University and Convener of Universities Scotland, Professor Nolan is a strong champion of business-academic collaborations.
Dr Siobhán Jordan, Director of Interface, welcomed the appointment, which comes as the organisation looks to strengthen its Strategic Board with a call for new members.
Dr Jordan said:
“Professor Nolan brings a wealth of experience which will greatly help Interface in its quest to enable more business-academic collaborations. I look forward to working with her and the other members of the board in bringing the strategic vision and our developing plans to reality. We were very fortunate to have Professor Pete Downes as chair of the board for five years leading us to grow and adapt in an ever changing political and social environment and I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for his tremendous input.
Working with Professor Nolan, we can draw on her experiences so we can continue to add value to the economy and society fulfilling our ambitions to have a catalytic influence on the Scottish Government’s vision as a “nation with ambition”, with Scotland designing and making the products of the future, boosting the economy and creating jobs.”
Professor Nolan said:
“I look forward to my term of office as the new Chair of Interface Strategic Board. The Interface team working alongside universities, research institutes and colleges are key to ensuring that the sectors continue to make an ongoing contribution to Scotland’s economic success. I am passionate about building closer relationships between businesses and universities and the potential impact that these partnerships have on business, third sector and people across the world.”
Interface is also calling for up to four new members to join its Strategic Board. The Interface Strategic Board is formed of representatives from industry, partner university and research institutes, funders of knowledge exchange, and other relevant organisations that support business – academic engagement.
Dr Jordan added:
“We are seeking up to four new volunteer Board members who have a passion for innovation and collaboration between businesses and higher and further education to enable even greater economic and social impact.”
To apply for a board member postition please go to: http://interface-online.org.uk/about-us/vacancies
More information on Professor Andrea Nolan can be found here.
“Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than the one where they sprang up” – so said the US writer, Oliver Wendell Holmes.
This is very true of the environment in which Interface operates, matching business to universities, research institutes and colleges to create innovative products, services and processes.
We have seen the results of this “meetings of minds” approach many times, where the commercial partner has a challenge which presents a new research topic or application of a technology or opportunity to trial a university specialist facility in a new way. There is often a “one team” approach in the collaborations we have been involved in, where ideas spark and the beginnings of highly productive relationships take root when we introduce business to academic experts. One-off projects can open the door to a stream of collaborations spanning several years, and it is this transformational impact on a business and its sector which is the ultimate prize for all involved.
Besides the obvious business benefits such as developing new products or services, improving processes, increasing turnover and expanding into new markets, sharing knowledge in this way brings results far beyond what either partner might achieve on their own. The development of talent and skills for both the business and academic institution is immensely valuable. Small-scale feasibility studies can morph into an opportunity for enhanced student learning through a PhD or Knowledge Transfer Partnership, which in turn can lead to full-time employment.
Bringing academic thinking to real-life industry challenges is one of the benefits of the 25 food and drink companies which are part of the Resource Efficiency Industry Advisory Group, brought together by Interface, Zero Waste Scotland and Food and Drink Federation (FDF) Scotland in 2012.
The group (which includes bakers, brewers, salmon producers and soft fruit growers, among others) reap the benefits of pooling resources to tackle the challenges of the sector around environmental sustainability, which aim to contribute to the ambitious revenue target of £30bn by 2030 set by Scotland Food & Drink.
One of the large companies in the group carried out a feasibility project with Edinburgh Napier University to recycle heat generated from a food drying process. The business expects to save £600,000 a year as a result, and the results have been shared among the group members to explore the viability of adopting the same process in their own businesses.
In another multi-party project, six companies working alongside University of Aberdeen shared data to enable a deeper understanding of what their value their waste could generate through anaerobic digestion or other processes. This led to the Scottish Salmon Company winning an Interface Challenge competition to undertake more in-depth work with the university assessing viability and return on investment for converting their waste effluent into energy and by-products. The company now have the evidence to make an informed commercial decision on investing and integrating the processes across their Scottish operations, which has saved them considerable resource, both staff and financial.
Pooling resources on a smaller scale can bring tangible results as well. The Gorbals Community Group wanted to recreate a clock tower and fountain which had been removed in the 1930s to make way for the trams expansion, however rebuilding the landmark proved to be difficult since all original drawings and measurements were lost after its demolition.
The plan took an important step forward when two businesses in a wider group successfully applied for Innovation Voucher funding (a funding source which Interface administers on behalf of the Scottish Funding Council to encourage first-time partnerships between business and universities and further education colleges). It enabled them to draw on the expertise available at Glasgow Caledonian University’s School of Engineering and the Built Environment to produce a replica of the clock tower and fountain using innovative 3D laser scanning techniques and photogrammetry data.
Voyages of discovery often start with a problem which is preventing a company from flourishing or a community project from taking flight, so it makes sense to tackle them with shared knowledge and resource from more than one source.
To end on another quote, in the words of George Bernard Shaw: “If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.”
What ideas can we exchange to ensure they take flight?
The Highlands and Islands of Scotland has a fascinating story to tell its visitors, and four projects rich in heritage are being brought bang up to date with help from Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
Rural life in Carloway; the Calanais Standing Stones, (both in the Outer Hebrides); the Highlanders’ Museum collection and the history of illicit whisky in Speyside are all the subject of digital projects being supported as the Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology draws to a close. Working with latest technology each will open up new ways for visitors to experience history.
The Tomintoul and Glenlivet Development Trust; The Highlanders Museum; The Carloway Community Association; and the Calanais Visitor Centre have each secured £25,000 from HIE’s 2017 Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology Digital Adoption Scheme. Three of the groups are accessing expert academic support through Interface, which connects businesses and organisations with 23 of Scotland’s higher education and research institutes.
Glasgow Caledonian University and St Andrews University will bring their expertise in the field of digital heritage to help develop some fantastic cutting edge digital projects.
The technology rich projects include digitisation of the Highlanders’ Museum’s complete collection and archives; cutting edge digital 3d modelling and virtual reality technology at Calanais; bringing a digital aspect to the Carloway Rural Life Centre which will allow visitors to be immersed in the past through Virtual Reality; and re-creating what life was like in the whisky industry of the past at the Tomintoul and Glenlivet Discovery Centre. (See below for more details on each project).
“There are some amazing new technologies available to businesses and groups working in the heritage sector which can really bring our historic sites, collections and attractions to life. We’re delighted to support these four groups with their plans to learn about using these in practice, and helping them create interactive visitor friendly products,” said Ann Marie Reid of HIE.
Rhiannon Merritt, Business Engagement Executive at Interface, said:
“We were delighted to be involved in supporting these incredibly varied digital projects which bring fresh and exciting developments to each of the organisations.
“Academic expertise can add new knowledge to some of Scotland’s most ancient treasures such as the Calanais Standing Stones and traditional industries including whisky production by tapping into a range of disciplines and technology in Scotland’s universities.”
Calanais Visitor Centre: The Calanais Standing Stones are regarded as a hugely important cultural asset to the local heritage sector. The arrangement of standing stones is placed in a cruciform pattern with a central stone circle, dating back to the Hebridean Neolithic historical period. With a sharp increase in visitor numbers to the Calanais Visitor Centre in recent years, the facility is undergoing an ambitious redevelopment to turn it into a world class visitor centre.
The HIE fund supports Calanais (Callanish) Visitor Centre to work in collaboration with The University of St Andrews to use digital technologies to 3D scan the stone circles and to map buried features associated with the site. This will create a digital interactive experience of how the stones looked at various stages throughout times while bringing them to life. The digital remote sensing techniques will also provide information for the reconstruction of the entire landscapes surrounding the stones and place them in their original context.
Dr Richard Bates from The University of St Andrews, said:
“We bring together a team of geophysical, archaeological and landscape reconstruction experts to investigate Calanais in an attempt to understand more about the people who lived there and erected the stone circles. The concentration of stone circles around Calanais is remarkable, but it is also intriguing that there is the lack of other sites that could tell us about the people who lived there. By reconstructing the Neolithic landscape we hope to be able to find further evidence of the people and so ultimately to better understand the stone circles themselves.”
Victoria Harvey, Project Development Officer at Calanais Visitor Centre, said:
“Relatively little is known about the lives of our Neolithic ancestors some 5000 years ago. The ‘Beneath the Peat’ project will allow The University of St Andrews to delve underneath the current landscape to understand life in the Hebridean Neolithic. Visitor numbers have grown rapidly at the famous Callanish Stones and here at the visitor centre. This has given us an opportunity to not only redevelop it but, to boost the heritage focus by sharing the story of the stones through modern technology. This fund helps us to develop and implement a highly innovative digital experience which helps us diversify as a social enterprise while offering more opportunities for local people and visitors to engage with their local cultural heritage.”
Carloway Community Association (CCA) is developing a new Rural Life Centre on the site of the former Carloway School. The centre will offer a unique digital heritage experience using a combination of virtual and augmented reality, projection mapping and hologram technology. This will create a full sensory journey to transport the visitor back in time to experience island life in the past to the present day, and will include a focus on Hebridean education and Gaelic. The group is currently working with Comann Eachraidh Charlabhaigh, Gearannan, and Glasgow Caledonian University as well as a digital company to develop the fully digitised immersive experience.
Don Mackay from the Carloway Community Association, said:
“Our ambitious Rural Life Centre will bring the heart back into Carloway, largely lost when the local primary school closed four years ago. We have already acquired the school building which is fantastic and we are delighted that funding from HIE allows us to drive forward our digital interpretation project. We are progressing well on content creation with our partners, as well as developing the technology and associated hardware. We look forward to this project going live in Spring 2018 when it becomes a key visitor attraction for local people and visitors – making the Carloway area a better place to live, work and visit.”
The Highlanders’ Museum: The Highlanders’ Museum is a five – star rated Museum located in Fort George near Inverness and is the largest regimental museum in Scotland outside Edinburgh. The collection of the Highlanders’ Museum has recently been recognised as nationally significant to Scotland. The Recognition Scheme, administered by Museums Galleries Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government, ensures that Scotland’s most important collections are identified, cared for and promoted to wider audiences.
The HIE fund will allow the museum to digitise its entire collection which includes medals, textiles, silver items and paintings. The online archives will be easily accessible and will enhance displays to make the museum experience more interactive to an international audience. It is expected that a permanent post will be created to oversee the digital archive project.
Kirstin Mackay from The Highlanders’ Museum, said:
“We are delighted with the funding from HIE. It allows us to take advantage of the growing market demand for digital technologies which help us to diversify our museum in a new and innovative way. The Highlanders’ Museum is a significant asset for the region and we are ambitious to grow our visitor numbers and trading income for the sustainable future of the museum.”
Tomintoul and Glenlivet Discovery Centre: The new Tomintoul and Glenlivet Discovery Centre which was formerly known as the Tomintoul Museum and Visitor Centre is officially opening in spring 2018. The current refurbishment is being funded through the Heritage Lottery Funded Tomintoul & Glenlivet Landscape Partnership and Cairngorms LEADER. It is owned and managed by the Tomintoul and Glenlivet Development Trust (TGDT).
The HIE fund will enable the new centre to provide a fully immersive visual experience focusing on the past local illicit whisky industry, capturing the illicit stills which were at work during the 18th and early 19th Centuries. This immersive experience will also incorporate 360 degree video of the landscape of the area today, encouraging people to explore the areas ‘hidden’ landscapes. The virtual reality experience will sit alongside oral and photographic histories which have been collected by local volunteers which will also be presented interactively as part of the museum display via sound pods and digital photo frames.
Uncut versions of oral history and photos will be catalogued in the archive area of the Discovery Centre and virtual reality technology is being developed as well as a 360 degree experience of an illicit still. Through Interface, TGDT is accessing expert academic support from Smart History, The University of St Andrews.
Oliver Giles (Local Development Officer) from TGDT, said:
“The funding from HIE will help us to provide an interactive and immersive experience that draws on the heritage of the area as well as helping us to further celebrate the landscapes of today. It will be a dynamic experience within the new Tomintoul and Glenlivet Discovery Centre using the latest technology, encouraging more people to go out and explore the area’s rich cultural and natural heritage and bring our local history to life.”
Digital Heritage Workshops
To mark 2017 as the Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology, #hellodigital from HIE delivered a series of 5 workshops on Digital Heritage in Orkney, the Western Isles, Dunoon, Moray and Inverness. With support from Interface the series brought together leading academics working in the field of digital heritage and demonstrated a range of areas where digital technology has been used in the heritage sector. A number of subjects were covered ranging from laser scanning, emerging virtual reality and augmented technologies, to virtual recreations of the museum experience and artefact preservation. The workshop sessions are now available to watch online here.
Looking to the future, a family-run oyster farm on Lismore wanted to diversify by introducing a new product which would help offer local employment and more economic security.
Poaching oysters in unusual flavours such as artisan gin, white wine, champagne and lemon was the brainwave of Mairi Hawkes, whose father started farming oysters from the Isle of Lismore, 25 years ago. Before launching the new product range, Mairi wanted to carry out some research to ensure that the shellfish didn’t shrink during the process, had as long a shelf life as possible and develop the flavours.
Lorraine Thomson, who heads up Interface’s Highlands and Islands team, met Mairi at an event in Oban. Lorraine scoped up a brief of the project requirements which was sent out to universities and research institutes throughout Scotland for consideration. Mairi chose to collaborate with Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), which has expertise in food production and whose chefs helped the business work on the technical challenges presented.
Through SRUC, the project was awarded a £5,000 Innovation Voucher from the Scottish Funding Council which Interface administered to help offset the costs of the collaboration.
The business is now working on the logistics of producing the poached oysters and is preparing for the launch of a range of cocktail-inspired drizzles using similar flavours to complement their fresh oysters.
Interface has introduced almost 2,700 businesses in all sectors across Scotland to academic partners, from kitchen table enterprises to family run companies and community groups.
Lorraine explained:
“We are here to support businesses through their collaboration with academic expertise and make the process of finding a suitable partner as straight-forward as possible; we really are matchmakers for businesses.”
Among the businesses Lorraine and the team have supported locally are Craine Communications, Zing Organics and Staffin Community Trust, which were connected with Heriot-Watt University, University of Strathclyde and The University of the Highlands and Islands respectively, for projects to develop their business or organisation.
And it is more than just academic expertise on offer; business can also access specialist facilities including 3D printers, microscopy, human performance labs, wave tanks, virtual reality and textile printing, which come with the know-how at the university or research institute.