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Background

Renewable Parts Ltd. (RPL) is one of the leading suppliers of parts for wind turbines in the UK. They are an independent supply chain specialist, providing worldwide delivery of quality parts and consumables direct to site from an extensive collection of centrally held stock.

Challenge

The UK & Ireland market for wind turbines is substantial and growing strongly, with the lifecycle of a wind turbine typically estimated to be 25 years.

Critically, as turbines age, parts consumption rises and customers begin to seek alternatives to long-term service agreements due to shortening planning horizons. This is the point that the need for repair development becomes particularly vital.

Renewable Parts Ltd were looking to develop an innovation programme for the repair of wind turbine parts requiring significant technical expertise from a Scottish university in the areas of market research, technical assessment, design and test before production-ready solutions could be delivered.  Following on from this, they were also interested in setting up a Centre of Excellence hub in the field of wind turbine parts repair. 

The company also wanted the academic partner to identify and work jointly with industry partners to develop these remanufactured component parts on a commercial basis.  

Solution

The company was referred to Interface by Highlands & Islands Enterprise. Interface successfully matched the company with the University of Strathclyde who has expertise across the business and technology areas that the Renewable Parts Ltd project required.

In this collaborative project, the University was looking to apply a multi-disciplinary approach to identify the tasks and areas to be researched.  They believed that the combination of the department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, the Strathclyde Institute for Operations Management (SIOM) and the Scottish Institute for Remanufacture (SIR), hosted at the University of Strathclyde, provided the multi-disciplinary approach needed for the new business models/process that Renewable Parts wanted to investigate, as well as the technology expertise required for remanufacturing of wind turbines.

The project investigated data on wind turbine component failure rates to identify which components could be remanufactured/repaired/reconditioned, and the Strathclyde team completed a report for the company which outlined a number of potential components that might be of interest.

Benefits

Renewable Parts Ltd was successful in not only establishing a partnership with Strathclyde University but in securing funding from the Energy Technology Partnership. The total cost of their initial project was £23,075, with ETP contributing £13,575 in cash, and RPL contributing £9,500 in-kind.

The funding allowed RPL to develop implementation processes for two of these components, enabling the remanufacture/repair/recondition of said parts in-house. This meant that RPL could create a new manufacturing base in their original site of Lochgilphead in Argyll, an economically fragile region of the Highlands and Islands, creating jobs and supply chain opportunities.

In December 2018, the company secured a £171k grant from Zero Waste Scotland.  Renewable Parts, which has an operations centre in Renfrew, will use the money for refurbishment projects developed out of Lochgilphead in conjunction with its research partner, the University of Strathclyde.

Chief executive James Barry said: “The opportunity to improve recycling rates within the wind industry is significant.”  “The award provided a huge vote of confidence in Renewable Parts and the innovation programme it is driving with the university, in what is seen as a growth industry for Scotland.”

Follow-on Activity

RPL are now in phase two of project implementation, pursuing funding opportunities through Government bodies and Industry, and working with University of Strathclyde as their innovation partner.

The company was a finalist for the 2018 VIBES (Scottish Environment Business Awards) in the Circular Economy category, in recognition of their commitment to tackling environmental challenges. They also reached the finals of the Glasgow Business Awards, the Scottish Resources Awards and the Inspiring City Awards.

Impacts of COVID-19 on the business

Certain commitments were pushed back for the initial few weeks of lockdown, however, with a business-as-usual approach, Renewable Parts Ltd continued to grow throughout this time and employed new members of the team in sales, HR, marketing and procurement.

This is (June 2020) a critical time for the business as the first generation of wind turbines are approaching the end of their operational lives – at around 20/25 years old – providing a significant opportunity to capture new business. The company is in the application phase for a second grant with Zero Waste Scotland to continue working with the University of Strathclyde as a partner for developing new capabilities to help its customers reach sustainable business models.

Background

TransK9 situated in St John’s Town of Dalry, Dumfries and Galloway, is a family run company set up in 2003 by Sharon and Robert Marshall who supply dog cages and transit boxes to be fitted in the rear of vehicles.

The TransK9 boxes are constructed from high grade aluminium, with heavy duty galvanised steel doors. Their customers range from domestic users to the UK’s top gundog trainers and handlers, police constabularies, security companies through to numerous veterinary practices. In addition, they export to the USA and Europe.

Challenge

Manufactured locally in Scotland in aluminium, with a durable powder coated finish, TransK9 transit boxes have been designed to give many years of satisfactory service and are available in a range of sizes to suit most estate cars, 4x4s, double cabs, suburban utility vehicles (SUVs) and vans.
It is very important to the company to provide quality, tested and proven materials and components in their cages and boxes to ensure the safety of their clients’ dogs. Therefore, they were keen to collaborate with a university partner to:

Solution

After establishing relevant academic expertise, Interface was able to set up a collaboration with the University of the West Scotland’s (UWS) Engineering Department in Paisley to crash test TransK9’s latest dog cage.  

As a result, TransK9 was successfully matched with Dr Bob Bailey, Senior Lecturer at the School of Engineering and Computing at UWS who led this project.

The School of Engineering and Computing at UWS is home to a vibrant research community carrying out high quality applied research relevant to the research community and industry which underpins and extends the quality of the student experience. UWS is one of the leading players in computing and IT, offering professionally recognised engineering degrees and cutting-edge physics programmes with practical applications.

Business benefits
TransK9 Director, Robert Marshall said:

“The benefits were noticed immediately, in our first full year since undertaking the crash testing our UK sales rose by a staggering 39%; we are now into our second year and we are anticipating another increase in sales of at least 20% for this period.

We would without any hesitation collaborate again with the University of the West of Scotland, their expertise has greatly benefited our business, not only here in the UK but worldwide.”

Additional support

TransK9 Director, Robert Marshall added:

“We are fortunate to have Allan McNaught at the end of the Business Gateway phone line; Allan helped us recently with the part-funded acquisition of a new forklift, for what is becoming an ever increasingly busy loading bay in our warehouse.

We are most grateful to Business Gateway for all their assistance over the last few years, be it financial or just sound advice, particularly on exporting which has been another growth area for us.”

Follow on activity

The company are looking to expand their premises over the coming months to support their logistics, expand the product range and provide smoother operations.

Background

Investment Solver Ltd was founded in 2014 by Manuel Peleteiro.  The company has developed a digital platform called Inbest, a data analytics platform that aims to democratise the access to wealth management. Inbest enables financial institutions to provide a holistic, personal and realistic financial planning service. This solution automates the financial planning process by gathering and analyzing customers’ financial data.

Challenge

The company approached Interface in 2015 with the concept around developing a platform that would help users learn and understand their finances, empowering them to make better financial decisions. At the time, investment providers were launching online investment propositions targeted at digital consumers, but a large majority of this market segment was not engaged with saving and investing.

Investment Solver was looking to collaborate with academics interested and researching the fields of:

• Cognitive science

• Information visualisation

• Computer interaction science

• User interface design

Enhanced Support in the Interim

Whilst the company was refining its business proposition and technical offering, Interface connected them with Edinburgh Napier University who supported them in applying for a RSE (Royal Society of Edinburgh) Fellowship, hosted by the University.  They were successful, and as an awardee, the company were able to focus solely on refining their business ideas, whilst receiving one year’s salary, expert training in entrepreneurship, and access to mentorship from business Fellows of the RSE and other successful entrepreneurs in the business community – all of which are vital for an early stage business.

Interface also connected them to Dr Roberto Rossi, Director of Post Graduate Programmes at University of Edinburgh Business School, as they were looking to develop a sound and innovative marketing strategy.

Dr Rossi’s Project Management students worked with the company to carry out focus groups to test the problems that first home buyers face and evaluate whether HouseUp, one of the company’s applications, would help them.

“I am very happy with the output of the project and I have used their insights for the product road map and in presentations with clients”, said Manuel.

Due to the success of the student project, the relationship developed between Interface, Investment Solver and Dr Rossi, resulting in another collaboration between the company and Dr Rossi’s students the following year.  This was a market-orientated project which would help the company guide decisions on one of their product features.  They provided the students with the working prototype of HouseUp, which they used in customer interviews. As a result of the study, Investment Solver gained a better understanding of the characteristics of potential customers and their needs.

“As the norm, the students have done a terrific job”, said Manuel.

Interface continued to keep in touch with Investment Solver to make them aware of additional opportunities that existed within the universities and possible research funding grants.

Solution

Connections with the company were enhanced when Dr Rossi drew upon the expertise of his colleague, Dr Raffaella Calabrese.  She was conducting research to investigate models that integrate socio economic indicators to model and estimate property valuations in a given area while Manuel was looking to build an application to automatically calculate a customer’s financial situation.  Together, they were awarded funding via The Data Lab to part fund an industrial doctorate to analyse data such as banking data and user data and preferences, to develop a system which will offer a long term financial plan for the user. This financial plan, which will include advice on savings and spending, will automatically be adapted to changes in markets and/or other user related data.  The PHD student is being supervised by both Dr Miguel Carvalho (School of Mathematics) and Dr Raffaella Calabrese (Business School) who quotes:

“It was great to see how this collaboration developed from student project to a research collaboration with the benefit of seeing how our research directly impacts the company, helping them to develop and enhance their offering. 

Together, this project helps address financial inclusion and financial well-being in society by developing an affordability model to help people to find out how much they can comfortably save.”

Follow-On Activity

As part of their response to the COVID-19 pandemic, over £11k was awarded by the Data-Driven Innovation Programme (DDI) to the University of Edinburgh Business School in collaboration with Investment Solver.  The aim of this project was to support vulnerable people to identify the benefits that they were entitled to and to provide short term affordable lending to bridge the gap that would be repaid once the individuals received their benefits. DDI would support lenders in making such decisions by providing a credit application check that would take into account the amount of benefits that the applicant was entitled to receive.

This would be achieved by developing and applying the Inbest Benefits calculator that uses individuals’ banking data to calculate the income benefits users can claim and monitors their entitlement according to changes in their financial situation.

Background

Norscot is a family owned business which was established in 1984 by chartered surveyor Peter Body and his wife Teda.

The company is headquartered in Bower, Caithness where its factory is equipped with sophisticated computer-controlled machinery which, together with the skilled workforce, produces the widest range of building components and related products available from a single source anywhere in Scotland.

Norscot’s product portfolio includes standard and bespoke timber frame kit homes in a variety of styles and made-to-measure windows, doors, patio doors and conservatories in uPVC, timber, and aluminium clad timber.

Challenge

In the self-build market, clients expect the best service and want to know every detail of their project prior to construction. Traditional paper plans and current 3D CAD (computer-aided design) models are difficult for most people to visualise as finished homes, and do not offer the client the opportunity to walk through the home to ensure it meets their needs.

Due to these visualisation issues, Norscot are often asked if they have a show house. This, however, would clearly be impractical, and of little real value, as the company offers a bespoke design service. At the same time, the existing Virtual Reality based solutions in the market are either not fully integrated with major Building Information Modelling (BIM) design packages or need very sophisticated interfaces from the end users. This makes it impractical for mainstream clients, especially those in remote locations, to fully utilise and appreciate the models generated by these packages, without having specific expertise and hardware.

Solution

Interface was able to introduce the company to the University of Strathclyde, who has a unique track-record of expertise and knowledge of the integration of BIM and gaming software, to create a specialised user experience that would incorporate the needs of BIM, the end user, and the company. 

Building design decisions typically involve several conflicting criteria in terms of decision making that need to be considered. The new product to be developed as a result of this collaboration was software which would bridge between existing BIM software and a newly created phone app into which the house design could be input to create a Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality (VR/AR) rendition of the finished home. The potential of such interfaces is highlighted when communication is needed between an occupationally trained expert (e.g. an architect) who uses a very complicated means of communication (such as conventional drawings) and a client who has no knowledge about their conventions.

A house rendition, once uploaded to the phone app, would then enable clients to ‘virtually experience’ their new home and also provide input/feedback at the design stage rather than down the line when it is more time consuming and costly to make changes.

The University’s role was paramount to this project in providing unbiased advice, helping the company identify particular needs and develop their strategic plan in relation to development of the final product.

This project was funded by a Scottish Funding Council Innovation Voucher.

Benefits

The idea of having a VR game-like fully customisable showroom which is integrated with BIM, and is available through an affordable smartphone, is something unique and makes it distinctive from any commercial product currently available in the market.

It is anticipated the project will ultimately result in a product/service which will assist the company to expand its market throughout the UK, resulting in increased sales and employment. This effect will be magnified through commercialisation of the product/service to other house builders, architects and so on.

Follow-On Activity

Norscot obtained funding from CSIC (Construction Scotland Innovation Centre) to enable them to continue with the development of the software to proof of concept stage.

A KTP from Innovate UK has been approved for Norscot to implement the software development. This will be a three-year project that imbeds the technology into the company and ensures it is market ready.  The KTP will also help to strengthen the relationship between Norscot and the University of Strathclyde.

“We were very satisfied with the way this project was managed and its outcome. Having never worked with academia before, we weren’t sure what to expect. There was a clear synergy between our objectives and the University’s capabilities and this project has given us the confidence to move forward with the development of the product / service under consideration. As a consequence of this project there is a clear focus and ambition on behalf of both the academic partner and ourselves to create something which we see as having significant value to the self-build housing market.” Peter Body, Chairman, Norscot Joinery Ltd

“This project provided a great opportunity for the Architecture Department to work with this company, and acknowledge the support of the Scottish Funding Council in making this possible. The company’s vision and insight was incredible and we had a great collaboration in formulating their needs based on our prior knowledge and the further research that we conducted. This project opened new avenues for us to collaborate on further projects, and applications for a CSIC-funded nine-month project and a KTP application have already been approved to further develop the collaboration.” Dr Farzad Pour Rahimian Leilabadi, University of Strathclyde

Please note that Interface administers the Innovation Voucher Scheme on behalf of the Scottish Funding Council. All funding applications are reviewed on a case-by-case basis by the Scottish Funding Council. Guidelines can be found here.

Background

Yekemi Otaru (founder of YO! Marketing, now merged with Doqaru Ltd) had an innovative idea to use machine learning to identify the marketing activities that generate the greatest impact on business growth. This would result in a world’s first machine-learning marketing algorithm. This was created with collaboration from cyber-security and machine-learning experts from Abertay University.

Challenge

Conducting marketing activities can be a constant challenge for many businesses that are time-constrained, have limited resources, little marketing expertise and a budget that only goes so far. Yekemi’s idea was to design an intelligent solution, based on a data model, of using a machine learning algorithm to identify the marketing activities that generate the greatest impact on business growth.

Machine learning is an application of artificial intelligence (AI) that provides computers with the ability to automatically learn over time without being explicitly programmed. Machine Learning had not previously been used by Marketing companies in this way. 

Yekemi approached Interface to help her find the necessary academic expertise in Machine Learning, Dataset Modelling and Data Mining to solve this challenge.

Solution

After conducting a search across various universities, Interface matched the entrpreneur with Dr Xavier Bellekens, Assistant Professor and Lecturer at Abertay University within the Division of Cyber-Security, where he leads the Machine Learning Research Group. Dr Bellekens was a perfect match for this project as he has a strong interest and extensive expertise in this field.

Abertay University offers extensive expertise in big and small data analytics, machine-learning, critical infrastructure protection, and the Internet of Things (IoT), both on security and the development side.

This collaborative project was set up to develop the intelligence behind Yekemi’s prototype (GO YO), an integrated online platform for marketing purposes.

The project was split into two parts: the first activity was the development of a dataset used to train the algorithm to predict the best routes to create impacts for a business. The second was the evaluation of the algorithm, ultimately leading to a highly intelligent platform that learns with time, taking into consideration the product lifecycle, giving tailored advice and helping businesses to manage the performance of their products in the marketplace, informing action plans and marketing strategies.

Machine learning focuses on the development of computer programs that can access data and use it to learn for themselves. It is based on learning by example, finding the right algorithm for the task and obtaining accurate results. This is a challenging task which can be achieved only through the assessment and research process.

This project was funded through a Scottish Funding Council Innovation Voucher, administered by Interface.

Business benefits

This project provided the former YO! Marketing with a world’s first machine learning marketing algorithm, setting the business apart from other marketing companies in the marketplace, making the decision-making process easier for business owners with limited marketing experience.​ 

Academic benefits

Economic benefits

Yekemi Otaru’s aim with this project was to help businesses with limited marketing expertise grow their business with advisory, planning and performance planning without the large cost outlay of trying multiple marketing techniques. 
YO! Marketing has now merged with Doqaru Ltd.

Please note that Interface administers the Innovation Voucher Scheme on behalf of the Scottish Funding Council. All funding applications are reviewed on a case by case basis by the Scottish Funding Council, guidelines can be found here.

Background

Interface has a strong track record of successfully matching businesses to academics with an overall aim of enabling companies to be more competitive in national or global markets. Innovation can lead to transformation within an industry sector, not only for individual businesses but also for groups of businesses working together to address common challenges.
Many economic reviews, testimonies and new and existing interactions demonstrated that facilitating opportunities for academics to work with groups of companies is an effective way of increasing the impact and reach of innovation on the Scottish economy.
 

Introduction
The Resource Efficiency Industry Advisory Group for Food & Drink (REIAG) was set up in 2012 as a result of a partnership between Interface Food & Drink, Zero Waste Scotland and the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) Scotland. The aim was to raise awareness and promote opportunities related to environmental sustainability and to stimulate innovation in the food and drink industry. 
The membership comprises of 25 prominent Scottish food manufacturers of all sizes and food types, from bakers to brewers and fish processors to fruit growers. The group has a flexible structure where members attend meetings and participate in collaborative projects with academic partners depending on the theme and its relevance to their own business challenges. 

Challenge 

The Scottish Government’s new Circular Economy Strategy has set ambitious goals such as the new food waste reduction target. There is a need to change the way things are currently done from developing new processes to changing the culture of the workforce, so innovation is key in meeting these targets. Measures to reduce and reuse energy and waste support companies to improve efficiencies in a sector where in general, prices are remaining competitive but costs are rising. The sector has become increasingly competitive but can’t just rely on developing new products and markets to flourish and achieve the ambitious target of £30bn in revenue for the Scottish food and drink industry by 2030. 

Solution 
The aim of the REIAG is to drive activities which will improve the environmental sustainability of the businesses and the wider industry. This is achieved through delivering innovation projects with academia, learning journeys and by providing a forum for direct interaction between businesses and experts to share best practices in issues such as waste, water and energy efficiency. Companies with a common purpose are encouraged to collaborate around innovation and can gain easy access to academic and business expertise in a nurturing and supportive environment. 

Key outcome
A selection of impactful projects are listed below which have de-risked early stage concepts, providing independent evidence of new ways to enhance the sustainability of the Scottish Food and Drink Industry.

Bacterial removal from recycled water – Shellfish Processors
This project was led by the Scottish Shellfish Marketing Group who collaborated with the University of Edinburgh and the James Hutton Institute to carry out research into the effectiveness of UV lighting to kill bacteria in the wash process and by doing so to increase the number of times the water can be recycled. This has led to a further project using UV and filtration techniques to further enhance the water treatment system.   

Heat recovery
This feasibility project was carried out with one of the large companies in the group and Edinburgh Napier University to recycle heat required in the drying process. By deploying the outputs of the project in house, savings of £600,000 a year are forecasted. In addition, the results were disseminated to the other members of the group to explore the viability and application for their own business. 

Bio-treatability of food industry effluents 
This project was a collaboration with the University of Aberdeen on bio-treatability of waste effluent with six of the companies providing quantitative data and a deeper understanding of what their waste could generate in value whether through anaerobic digestion or other processes. This led to the Scottish Salmon Company winning an Interface Food & Drink 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 data to make a commercial decision on investing and integrating the processes across their Scottish operations, which has saved them considerable resource, both staff and financial.   

Business benefits
By working together, groups of companies can share best practice, partner on projects of scale with a broad range of academics and industry experts and access funding that encourages new ways of collaborating.

Les McArthur, Operations Director at Dean’s of Huntly commented:

The group provides an excellent platform to work together, sharing knowledge and experiences which, along with technical expertise brought in by the organisers, allows us to develop and implement new sustainability measures in our businesses and saves us time and money. These measures range from high to very low cost so there is something for every type of business. The merit of being able to meet with your peers is also invaluable as we can discuss and collectively solve issues. Many of the topics covered can then be supported by onsite surveys meaning that only some time needs to be invested to establish if a particular topic can save your business money whilst also becoming more sustainable.

Academic benefits
The benefits for academia gained are also significant, including establishing new areas for research and knowledge exchange, collaboration with other academics across other disciplines and institutions and greater visibility of academia to industry. 

Professor John Currie, Director of the Scottish Energy Centre at Edinburgh Napier University added:

“Edinburgh Napier University and the Scottish Energy Centre have benefited enormously from our involvement in groups such as the Resource Efficiency Industry Advisory Group and the Scottish Craft Distillers Association.  Through Interface, they have provided us with the opportunity to work in collaboration with a variety of companies and bring academic thinking to real-life industry challenges.”

Background

Ecometrica is an end-to-end environmental software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider that is recognised as one of the world’s top sustainability brands. Incorporated in 2008, the company has unrivalled experience in helping businesses and governments identify risks and opportunities by combining satellite earth observation data with local information and business intelligence on the award-winning Ecometrica Platform. Ecometrica now has over 250 corporate clients, including ARM, Pearson, Compass Group, Etsy and Hertz.

Ecometrica brings together recognised experts in environmental and sustainability accounting, and their software supports all aspects of sustainability planning, operations and reporting. Their data and services are available from all their worldwide locations. Founded in Edinburgh in 2008, they also have offices in Montreal (2009), London (2012), Boston (2014) and Mexico (2017).

In 2013, a project team, led by the University of Edinburgh and comprising of local SME partners, LTS International and Ecometrica, successfully applied to the DFID (Department for International Development) Hectares Indicator Project – International Climate Fund (ICF) forestry programme.  DFID awarded £32,000 to the team to review and suggest improvements to their methodology for quantifying hectares of avoided forest loss and forest restored as a result of international development finance.

SFC Innovation Voucher Follow On Funding

In 2014, a Scottish Funding Council (SFC) Follow On Innovation Voucher of £11,600 was awarded to Ecometrica and Dr Edward Mitchard from the University of Edinburgh (UoE) for a project titled Earth Observation support for assessing the performance of the UK government’s ICF forest projects.

This follow on funding allowed Dr Mitchard to undertake additional analysis over Brazil to test the suitability of different earth observation (EO) satellite products for monitoring forest change. The project results gave Ecometrica a better understanding of the accuracy of the EO products, and enabled them to improve their testing and performance assessment offerings to institutions such as DFID, DECC, DEFRA, World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank.

“The Innovation Voucher is a fantastic scheme that made it really easy for me to work with a local SME and conduct research with real and immediate impact. My relationship with Ecometrica has grown since the Follow On Innovation Voucher was awarded, with it contributing to the development of ideas towards our current much larger collaborative projects. I would strongly encourage other academics to engage with Interface, who administer this SFC  programme”, said Dr Edward Mitchard, University of Edinburgh.

Benefits of the Collaborative Project

Edinburgh University and Ecometrica will continue to establish a leading position in Europe for this type of work. The benefits to the University of Edinburgh will be felt in terms of its international research and innovation ranking, and its reputation in the fields of forest ecology and the application of space technology. Ecometrica expects to continue its growth in this area:

Background

Whilst two and a half times more heat is consumed than electricity globally, new developments in heat have not been the focus on considerable innovation in recent years.

Sunamp Ltd, which is based in East Lothian, was founded in 2005 by successful technology entrepreneur, Andrew Bissell, who wanted to produce an innovative solution to develop heat batteries that store energy as heat, which can be released on-demand to provide heat and hot water.  
 

Challenge

As over half the world’s population live in densely populated cities and countries there is a clear need for heat energy stores in homes to move beyond gas and for homeowners to adopt solar and heat pumps without compromising on space requirements. Therefore Andrew set out to develop a truly practical heat energy store that was much more efficient and compact than hot water tanks and physically small enough for people to easily store in their homes.

Sunamp’s innovative idea was to create heat storage systems, using Phase Change Materials (PCMs) that are capable of storing and releasing heat as they change phase. In this way excess energy, which would normally be wasted, can be stored as heat for later use. The patented, non-toxic Sunamp Heat Battery stores and provides heat to warm a building or deliver hot water. The energy is released in much the same way as a hand warmer works. 

The issue that Sunamp faced with PCMs is incongruent melting, which affects the PCMs ability to store and release heat over a long lifetime. As a consequence, this was hampering the performance in Sunamp’s heat batteries.
 

Solution

Through Interface, Sunamp was successfully matched with Colin Pulham, Professor of High-Pressure Chemistry and Head of the School of Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh, to analyse the PCMs to develop systems that store renewable energy as heat. They did this by developing additives, which would reduce the effects of any incongruent melting and, therefore, significantly improve the PCM’s heat storage properties. This initial project was funded through a Scottish Funding Council Innovation Voucher and although provided some early results, it was only in the close out meeting that the discussions led to further areas to be investigated. The resulting project proposal was successfully awarded an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Case studentship which subsequently resulted in the PhD student upon graduation joining the Sunamp team as their Materials Scientist.
 

Benefits

Since the initial partnership that Interface brokered with the University of Edinburgh in 2008, Sunamp has continued to develop their relationship with Professor Pulham and commenced a new relationship through Interface with Dr Tadhg O’Donovan, School of Engineering and Physical Sciences; Mechanical, Process and Energy Engineering at Heriot-Watt University. The value of the relationship between University of Edinburgh and Sunamp has supported career development and employment for post graduate and undergraduate students, a new area of research into phase change materials, leveraged several £100k of funding and facilitated access to facilities such as the Diamond Light Source UK facility. The collaborative partnership will be submitted as an Impact case study to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 highlighting the significant benefits that have been realised.
 

Professor Colin Pulham stated:

Follow on Projects

Under an Energy Technology Partnership ​(ETP) student agreement two significant discoveries in relation to Sunamp have been published. Professor Pulham now has a Sunamp focussed team working within the University and some of the collaborative projects have secured EPSRC Impact accelerator and Innovate UK funding. 

In 2014 Sunamp secured a Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Heriot- Watt University which aimed to integrate and optimise Heat Batteries with Solar Thermal and Solar Hybrid PV-T (Photovoltaic-Thermal) Panels to develop a competitive, on-demand heat supply solution for domestic households.

In April, 2016, Sunamp raised £3.2m for its sales and manufacturing function in its latest funding round led by an international private investor in the energy market.

“The global thermal energy storage market is expected to reach $1.8 billion by 2020 and we are excited about the potential of our product to solve a worldwide problem,” said Chief Executive, Andrew Bissell.

In August 2017 a consortia, which includes Professor Colin Pulham ​with Sunamp and Vantage Power, was awarded £250k from Innovate UK for a project that will look to develop a novel vehicle thermal management solution that addresses hybrid electric bus cabin warm up and thermal loads in stop/start and all electric modes.

In 2017, Sunamp and the University of Glasgow’s School of Engineering partnered on a £2 million project linked to clean power and heat generation from the China-UK Research and Innovation Bridges programme, a joint UK/China initiative under the Newton Fund, developing solutions for agri-food, energy, healthcare, and urbanisation.

Andrew Bissell from Sunamp and Prof Pulham from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Chemistry won the Powerful Partnership Award at the Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards 2019. 

Sunamp signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Chinese company Trina Solar, the world’s largest solar solutions company. Trina Solar aims to jointly address the 66m Chinese homes that are heated by coal, converting instead to solar PV-powered heat pumps backed up by energy storage in Sunamp heat batteries so heat is available whenever needed. The excellent performance, quality and stability of the PCM developed early in the University of Edinburgh/Sunamp partnership was foundational to Trina selecting to work with Sunamp. There is potential for very large orders benefiting Sunamp, University of Edinburgh, the inventors and the UK and Scottish economies, and also benefiting the environment via decarbonisation and improved air quality. 

The company also secured £2.2 million in funding from Japanese energy provider Osaka Gas.

Sunamp also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Jiangsu Gomon Renewable Energy Development Co which aims to create an “innovative and unique” heat pump water heater for household use. The partnership aims to develop an innovative and unique heat pump water heater for the residential market, using Gomon heat pumps and Sunamp high energy-density, high power-density Heat Batteries.

Watch the interview with Professor Pulham and Andrew Bissell here: 

Please note that Interface administers the Innovation Voucher Scheme on behalf of the Scottish Funding Council. All funding applications are reviewed on a case-by-case basis by the Scottish Funding Council, guidelines can be found here.

Ivan Wood & Sons Limited is a small, family run business based in Fife.  It is a wholesaler of fruit and vegetables, principally to the catering trade.  It has been developing and growing its processing facility for vegetable preparation, always trying out new ways to extend shelf-life and to provide the best possible product to its customers. 

Challenge

With new legislation coming into force in January 2016, intending to stop the disposal of starch from foods like rice and potatoes going into the water supply and blocking pipes, businesses such as fish and chip shops, fast food outlets, and Chinese takeaways will need to have a mechanism in place to restrict the amount of starch that is going down their drains.

To comply with this new legislation, Malcolm Wood, Managing Director of Ivan Wood & Sons, developed an affordable starch filtration system design so that his business, which processes 30,000 kilos of potatoes a week, would meet the requirements of the new legislation.

Its suitability for broader use, however, soon became apparent, with Malcolm identifying a gap in the market for an affordable filtration system to help other small businesses.

He said:

“When I first started working on this design, I had no idea it was going to have so much potential.”

Whilst developing a working prototype, Malcolm was put in touch with Interface who would be able to connect him to academic experts from across Scotland for further development of the prototype. The connection was established through a referral to Food Health & Innovation Service (FHIS) by Business Gateway.

Solution

After sending out a search to various universities within Scotland, Interface connected Malcolm with Abertay University.  The partnership submitted a joint application for funding and, ultimately, secured a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) from Innovate UK and the Scottish Funding Council.

Regarding his invention, Malcolm Wood says that:

“Although there are systems that exist which do something similar, they are priced far too high for most businesses to be able to afford them.”

“I certainly couldn’t, so I’m really pleased to have been awarded this KTP with Abertay, as it means my invention will be able to help other businesses that would otherwise be struggling to find a way to comply with the new legislation.”

Business Benefits

Dr Jon Wilkin, Senior Food Technologist at Abertay’s food & drink business support service, Food Innovation @ Abertay, said that the KTP

“means we’ll be able to build Malcolm’s model commercially, ensure that it works and also investigate new ways to make use of the starch that’s extracted through the process so that nothing goes to waste”.

He added that with more than 10,500 fish and chips shops in the UK, and an equal number of Chinese and Indian takeaways who will need to meet the new legislation, this is a huge business opportunity for Ivan Wood & Sons.

“The hotel and restaurant trade will also have to adapt, so Malcolm has really hit on a great idea with this model, as there is a genuine commercial need for it,” he continued.

Dr Jon Wilkin, who leads the project with Professor Joe Akuna from the University’s Urban Water Technology Centre, also noted that Malcolm Wood’s business has already been contacted by third parties interested in purchasing the final product.

“We’re looking forward to getting started on this new project,” Jon said.

Following the project the KTP Associate from Abertay University was employed full time by Ivan Wood & Sons Ltd. A second KTP project with Abertay University is on the horizon for Ivan Wood & Sons to investigate how PeelTech could be used for domestic use.

Academic Benefits

The benefits to academia on working on such a collaboration are many:

Company update 2020

Peel Tech units are now being utilised in clearing and collecting algae for medicinal purposes as well as use in the green energy sector and is being trialled in the fish processing sector. 

Awards

Ivan Wood and Sons are now working with the University of Edinburgh on a Resource Efficiency Common Interest Group project looking into how PeelTech can be used in UV water filtration to remove bacteria in the recycling of water from fisheries.