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HAS Technology (parent company of CM2000), created ARMED, an Advanced Risk Modelling for Early Detection service which – through the development of a mobile platform – enables health professionals to be identified in a Service User’s home to ensure the right care is delivered at the right time. 

Their technology has been designed so that both Service Users and Care Workers are completely protected, for example, sending alerts when a visit is running late so that advanced action can be taken. The service evidences a range of Service User improvements, tracks the impact of interventions and helps assess customer satisfaction levels. Linking to ARMED’s Family Portal module allows Service Users and their families to monitor the care and gives them opportunities to answer questionnaires that can be communicated back to the Care Provider, Local Authority and NHS.

Challenge
ARMED records around 10 million community care visit logs each month, and also collects a great deal of data on the needs of Service Users. They approached Interface looking at how this data could be used to evaluate the long-term health of an individual, further supporting those administering the care, as well as those receiving it.

According to Brian Brown, Director of ARMED:

“We approached Interface because they have an excellent reputation for linking business and academia.”

Solution
Interface worked with ARMED to develop their brief, sending it to the most relevant universities and research institutions in Scotland. They received a number of notes of interest but decided to work with Prof. Bill Buchanan, Professor of Computing, and Adrian Smales, PhD Researcher at the Institute for Informatics & Digital Innovation at Edinburgh Napier University.

Thanks to support from Professor Buchanan & Adrian Smales, the business secured a £5,000 SFC Innovation Voucher, administered by Interface. This extra funding helped to offset the cost of the project allowing them to process large amounts of data which gave them the ability to assess the likelihood of the onset of illness. This enabled at-risk clients to be easily identified and closely monitored, thus reducing the need for medical interventions.

Follow-on activity

ARMED were so pleased with their initial project with Edinburgh Napier University that they wished to continue the relationship and, in collaboration with Professor Buchanan and Adrian Smales, developed a second project focussed on building a more robust evaluation platform. Their overall aim was to gather additional information on patients’ conditions, in line with NHS and Local Council requirements, developing predictive techniques which help identify those at risk. In doing so, ARMED’s technology is able to pre-empt expensive hospital-based care, helping healthcare providers across the world to save millions of pounds and improve the quality of service to vulnerable Service Users.

The detailed research and development work in both stages was undertaken by Adrian Smales, a Research Fellow at Edinburgh Napier University, and whose research work has been focusing on the detection of frailty using data from a range of sources. Adrian commented:

“We have a long-term vision of using data to detect the early signs of illness, and apply new methods that should lead to improved care and better outcomes for all.”

Due to the nature of the project, and to cover the cost of the research team who were needed to develop the state-of-the-art predictive tools, ARMED once more approached Interface to apply for SFC Follow-on Innovation Voucher funding. The Follow-On Innovation Voucher allows companies to apply for up to £20,000 of funding which requires to be matched with cash from the company. Thanks to support from Professor Buchanan they were again successful and received almost £20,000 of funding which allowed them to progress with the project.

According to Professor Buchanan:

“Currently, patient information can only be effectively captured in controlled environments such as hospitals, care homes or a GP surgery. This project has significantly extended the effectiveness of ARMED’s mobile platform and by applying our research into advanced predictive analytic techniques we have successfully incorporated patient focused data capture with real-time personalised feedback.”

Brian Brown, Director of ARMED, added:

“By working with the University the time to market has been reduced. The development of this new technology has huge commercial benefits and we expect to significantly increase revenue. It also strengthens our export potential. We expect both quality and cost savings benefits for our customers.”

Since working with Edinburgh Napier University, HAS Technology have gone on to work with the Digital Health and Care Institute (DHI). The objective of this project was to apply advanced predictive analytical techniques to the data captured during homecare visits in East Dunbartonshire in order to identify markers which are indicative of the early onset of illness. Leveraging expertise from ongoing work in Primary Care in England will accelerate the integration of the ARMED mobile application into the Frailty Framework in Scotland, providing a unique opportunity to mine data across the boundary between health and social care. 

This collaboration has already been hailed a success in the East Dunbartonshire Health and Social Care Partnership Care Inspectorate Report, where it scored 6 or excellent in the ‘quality of care and support’ category.  The report from the July 2016 Care Inspectorate told us:

“The people involved in the project were extremely positive about its benefits.  These included being more knowledgeable and aware about their activity, fitness and heart rate, and more informed about their general wellbeing.”

This is an example of how big data, machine learning and predictive analytics can be used in healthcare, and the collaboration between Edinburgh Napier University, the DHI and ARMED is an example of great Scottish knowledge exchange between commercial and academic partners.

With a proven success rate, ARMED has quickly expanded, deployed internationally, gained Microsoft recognition and created 5 new jobs, demonstrating how AI and deep learning can revolutionise preventative care. ARMED is an example of how SMEs can contribute to Scotland having a globally competitive, entrepreneurial, inclusive and sustainable economy. 

2020 Updates

In accordance with the Medical Device Directive (MDD), ARMED has been certified as a medical device and can now be used in clinical settings.

Brian Brown, director of ARMED at HAS Technology, said: “We are delighted that ARMED has received certification as a medical device. Technology has a huge role to play moving forward and with so much evidence to support the benefits of early detection, this places ARMED in a much more credible position, especially within NHS spheres, to help make a real difference.”

The ARMED clinical evaluation stated that a “proactive approach to falls is considered crucial” and “significant reductions in falls” have been observed in trials when a risk of falling is identified, and the risk is managed.

It also highlighted that evaluations to date have identified clinical trends in patient groups including dehydration, weight loss, restlessness nocturnally, muscle wasting and reduced grip strength, all of which can be monitored by ARMED.

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.

The Company

Bright Red Publishing is a multi-award winning independent publishing company which develops and produces high quality Study Guides for the new National 4, National 5, CfE Higher and Advanced Higher qualifications.  They collaborated with Edinburgh Napier University to create a unique on-line Digital Zone (www.brightredbooks.net) to further support students and teachers during a time of immense educational change in Scotland.

The Business Challenge

The company, wanting to produce the very best resources for Scottish students, was looking to support their publishing plans with on-line support across a number of subjects.  Although the company had the expertise to create and tailor the very best possible content, they did not have the experience to develop the digital strategy required to fully capitalise on the work they had done. 

The Solution

Bright Red Publishing approached Business Gateway, who referred them on to Interface.  After working with Bright Red to develop their initial brief, Interface put out an enquiry, searching through all of Scotland’s universities to find the right expertise.  Reviewing the resulting proposals from the universities, Bright Red felt that Edinburgh Napier University and, in particular, Professor Bill Buchanan, had the extensive expertise and support to get their digital project off the ground.  The collaboration was supported by a Scottish Funding Council Innovation Voucher, providing £5,000 to cover the cost of Professor Buchanan’s time.    

According to John MacPherson, Director of Bright Red Publishing

“Working with Interface has been a brilliant experience for Bright Red.  We have been able to access some amazing expertise and really step up our digital plans.  The creation of the Digital Zone has proved a game changer for our business and paves the way to a lot of exciting new developments.” 

The original aim of the project was to create a prototype interactive testing system.  The tests were to be developed in one subject area initially (Physics), to support the new qualifications being introduced in Scottish schools in 2013.

The project, supported by the Innovation Voucher, achieved this and delivered much more besides including:

Follow-On Activity

Building on the success of their original collaboration, Bright Red Publishing and Edinburgh Napier University applied for, and received a Follow-On Innovation Voucher for £20k, which the company matched in cash. 

The key challenge for the follow-on project was to scale-up the integration of fun elements and challenging on-line materials from within the area of Physics to a wider range of subject areas for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher grade books, creating innovative web-based materials to reinforce textbook learning.

The ground breaking Digital Zone currently offers a broad range of on-line supporting resources to students approaching their National 5 and CfE Higher qualifications.  The content, links, videos and games integrate completely with Bright Red’s best-selling Study Guides and the pioneering on-line tests allow students to check their progress and identify problem areas.  This is an absolute first for S4 and S5 students approaching these all new qualifications.

A key part of the innovation was the development of a website which aims to reinforce teaching-focused learning, but also provide new ways of supporting student learning. The infrastructure created scales across all the books, from Maths and Computing Science to English and French, in a consistent way. The site integrates key features for each subject, such as the range of calculators for Maths and language translators for French. 

The Benefits:

Company

This project proved to be very successful.  In terms of technical innovation, the approach offered by the digital test materials offered a distinct competitive advantage to the company in the market space in which it operates. The web-based materials offer a flexible, fully user-friendly and engaging product for both students and teachers. No other provider in this market offers in depth interactive tests designed specifically for the Scottish curriculum, which are both fun and educational with full explanations associated to each answer. The digital materials also provide adaptable support and guidance for both students and teachers dealing with brand new qualifications, during a period of great change and upheaval in the Scottish education system.

The Digital Zone (www.brightredbooks.net/subjects) has now sold over one million books, has more than 100,000 registered users and has had over two and a half million tests taken. Feedback from both students and teachers has been excellent.

John MacPherson, Director of Bright Red Publishing said:

“Collaborating with Professor Buchanan on this project has been incredibly exciting.  To enhance our printed content through the Digital Zone in the way we have has had a great effect on our business.  It has also opened our eyes to many more ideas and opportunities than we might not have considered before.” 

University

The benefits to Edinburgh Napier University were the further developments of its excellent portfolio of research and industrial expertise in building the novel software architectures related to testing for educational purposes.

According to Professor Bill Buchanan:

“The impact has been massive, especially as it properly supports our children in new methods of learning, while still keeping a focus on printed material, and in integrating teacher-led approaches. Everything we learned from the project has now fed back into creating enhanced teaching environments for undergraduate and postgraduate modules. Basically it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, which Bright Red and the University took full advantage of. To think that we help to support our children’s education, every minute of the day, is an impact that few could dream of.

“We are so proud to have worked with such an innovative and forward looking company, who significantly contributed to Scottish society, and who will have an increasing role. Seldom have I seen such amazing vision from a company, and for one who have delivered so perfectly from every single angle. For me, I’ve learnt so much, while it has also been an opportunity to put in-place academic developments which fully support a child’s education, in an on-line environment.

“For an academic team to have the opportunity to help in the foundation education for our children is a unique opportunity, which can only bring benefits to all in our country. Many new projects have spun-off from the original project, including with us leading on an EU project which creates an engaging educational environment within Cyber Security.”

Scottish Economy

By fully developing this new business strand, the company has increased revenue and been able to offer employment opportunities.  In 2014 they recruited a Sales and Marketing Consultant to implement their new digital marketing strategy and also a Publishing Assistant to work closely with Edinburgh Napier on the on-line materials.  Initial expectation in the Follow On Voucher application was for sales of Bright Red Guides to increase from £190k in 2012/13, to £300k in 2013/14 and £500k in 2014/15.  The driving presence and popularity of the Digital Zone meant that in 2013/14, revenue leapt straight to £500k and is well on target to better that figure in 2014/15.

In a broader sense, the development of the Digital Zone represents the start of an integrated print and digital offering from Bright Red that will continue for many years to come.  The company have committed to an ongoing consultancy contract with Edinburgh Napier University and hopes to work with Professor Buchanan on other future projects.  In 2017 Bright Red Publishing announced further development to the Digital Zone to incorporate GOAL (Game Of Active Learning) which is being designed in collaboration with Professor Buchanan funded through a Scottish Enterprise SMART award. 

The project has allowed Bright Red Publishing, a wholly independent Scottish company, to compete in their market on an equal footing with rivals based outside Scotland.  Once they have developed this product further, it will be easily adapted for use overseas, particularly in markets such as India, China and Africa where the Scottish Qualifications Authority is a growing presence. This will require a greater staff resource and lead to an increase in export revenue.

MacPherson concludes:

“There can be little doubt that the opportunities arising from this collaboration are many.  We feel that our work with Professor Buchanan at Edinburgh Napier has really propelled Bright Red into a different space, and has great potential to launch our brand and product well beyond the Scottish border.” 

For more information on Bright Red please visit SMEs Rule! – A Case Study in Enterprise and Innovation – a blog by Prof Bill Buchanan, Edinburgh Napier University.

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.

Scottish Ballet is Scotland’s national dance company and one of five national performing companies in Scotland. It is a registered charity, employing 36 professional dancers, a dedicated support staff, and a freelance orchestra of up to 70 musicians.

The mission of Scottish Ballet is to produce world-class dance and learning opportunities designed to engage and excite diverse audiences in Scotland, the UK and internationally. This is achieved by presenting modern work and unique interpretations of the classics, making them relevant to audiences today. In support of this, Scottish Ballet designs and creates costumes, sets and unique dance environments, together with a focus upon education initiatives centered around dance.

Challenge
Widening access to the arts is both a national priority and a challenge and capable of being addressed by employing novel applications of technology and “new to the field” innovations.  The company approached Interface to establish a collaboration to evaluate the potential of using augmented reality in a dance context.   This innovative project combines dance with novel technological approaches to choreograph, produce and capture in 3D a “movie” of bespoke dance sequences to widen public dissemination and participation in the arts.

Solution
A pilot project with the renowned Digital Design Studio (DDS) at Glasgow School of Art was brokered which sought to demonstrate that the use of visualisation and presentation technologies can enthuse existing and new audiences to engage with the arts. The core aim of the collaborative project is to create a high definition film which will show dancers in a short choreography, mixed in with the motion capture data “vapour trail”. This initial project tested the idea in the promotion of Scottish Ballet’s input to the 2013 Edinburgh International Festival.

Outcome
The collaboration and product development journey jointly taken by the partners has resulted in a better mutual understanding of each other’s area of expertise and has opened wider dialogue around future collaborations of this nature. The production of the unique HD film has allowed dance to be viewed in a novel way, creating a new method through which wider audiences can engage with the arts.  The impact for DDS is that it now has a potential new market within which to develop new techniques and products, for example, to use its expertise to promote the visual and acoustic arts. This is likely to lead to new project with Scottish Ballet and others including ventures into data capture and live streaming of events. For Scottish Ballet, the main impact relates to the development of a novel way to showcase their performances, reach new audiences and explore further new ways to use interactive digital technologies to supplement traditional promotional methods.

One of the UK’s leading salt traders, Peacock Salt, turned to Scotland’s academic sector to help in the technical challenge of designing a new, natural, green and economically viable method to make (sea) salt domestically.

Initially a shipping company, J C Peacock & Co Ltd is a small family business based in Ayr, which was established in 1874, evolving into a salt trading firm. Peacock salts are used for general de-icing and water softening properties as well as for industrial use in the food, agriculture, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.

Keen to investigate salt production in Scotland, the company met with Interface – the knowledge connection for business – to help source an academic partner that could provide the right mix of experience required for the project. 

With help from Interface, Peacock Salt was able to connect with Dr Carl Schaschke from the University of Strathclyde’s Department of Chemical and Process Engineering.  Dr Schaschke had experience with natural salt production methods, such as purification of brine from volcanic craters and solar evaporation.

The Business Challenge

Earlier methods of making salt in Scotland were uneconomical; therefore Peacock was keen to lead the way in developing a new, industry-leading method.  Ultimately, they envisaged a new salt production plant being built – similar to innovative new plants in other parts of the world, such as Bad Salzuflen in Germany.

The main challenge in production terms was turning sea water (ca. 3% saline solution) into a concentrated solution of ca. 26%, which is when salt crystals start to drop out of solution.  The quality of the crystals is affected by the latter stages of the evaporation procedure. 

Peacock Salt offers the largest variety of salts available in the UK.  With over 6,000 customers, the company’s range includes salts from around the world such as Rock, Sea and Manufactured salts. 

Peacock Salt’s operations manager, Gregorie Marshall, was keen that the process used as natural a method as possible:  “Ideally we wanted to develop a salt production process that used green energy, where little additional input of heat and electricity is required, while also developing a new plant which itself would become a tourist attraction.

“We needed expertise in the areas of chemistry, chemical technology, chemical or process engineering to carry out research which would investigate and design the most suitable method of producing salt in Scotland. We also wanted to identify and analyse suitable sites using geographical and meteorological data.” 

Three universities came forward as potential partners for the project but ultimately, Peacock Salt chose to move forward with Strathclyde as Dr Schaschke had direct experience in salt production.

Initial discussions were leaning towards taking the project on as a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP), however it was decided that an initial financial feasibility study was required before progressing the KTP.  

The Solution

Peacock Salt was introduced to Carrie Shaw from the Strathclyde Links project, who was able to assist the firm source funding for the feasibility study, which was completed by Professor John Finch, of the University of Strathclyde Business School’s Department of Marketing.

Professor Finch, working with PhD student Emma Reid, provided Peacock Salt with a market/business viability report that provided in-depth analysis of the market for a sea salt produced at a facility in Scotland, including developing business scenarios in order to assess product positioning, price and current competitors in the market place.

A KTP to investigate a Scottish salt production facility took place in 2011.

Follow On activity

Following this successful project, Peacock Salt got back in touch with Interface to seek an academic partner to develop chemical brine which would allow them to extend their current offering of liquid de-icer.

This required the development of an additive that lowers the freezing point of the brine, and therefore the working temperature of the de-icer, without having any detrimental impact on the handling of the material. The additive would also enhance the salt or brine’s ability to adhere to the surface it has been applied to, offering a longer residual effect whilst not impairing the de-icing capabilities.

Interface successfully matched Peacock with Dr Mohammed Yaseen and Professor Andrew Hursthouse from the University of the West of Scotland to lead on this project. The team investigated the additives that can be applied to de-icers and examined performance improvements such as freeze-point suppression, reduced environmental impact and increased residual effect.

As a result, this would deliver an enhanced product offering for the business in the relatively innovation-free winter maintenance market. It will also have a positive impact on the business operating in the UK and potentially open up new market opportunities further field.

In addition, Peacock Salt is currently working on another collaboration project facilitated by Interface. 

As a key supplier of de-icing salt and winter equipment to local authorities, businesses and private individuals, Peacock Salt were keen to tackle another industry challenge. During winter, de-icer salt is spread on the roads every day when the weather conditions dictate, mostly when the temperature is predicted to be below a certain level. When spreading for multiple days no account is taken as to how much de-icer salt is left on the road.

The company was keen to develop an innovative method to measure the amount of di-icer salt on the road as the vehicle moves along, so it can be determined whether any more de-icer salt is required. Additionally, they wanted to develop a method of reporting this information back to the vehicle driver/equipment to enable them to alter the spread rate of de-icer.

Interface successfully matched Peacock Salt with Professor David Flynn from Heriot-Watt University, School of Engineering & Physical Sciences, to draw on his experience in research and knowledge exchange and guide the project. The project is funded by the Scottish Funding Council Follow-On Voucher, administered by Interface.