Background

Christopher McCann founded Current Health (formerly Snap40 Ltd) which proposed a patient health early warning system for the hospital and community. Christopher explained:

“Research has shown that up to 35% of in-hospital cardiac arrests are preceded by warning signs that are missed by stretched healthcare staff. Current Health has developed a wearable medical device that continuously monitors the health of a patient across a wide range of indicators and then analyses this data in real-time to accurately detect the early warning signs of deterioration.  Notifications are then pushed to healthcare staff through a mobile device, allowing interventions to be put in place earlier. This will save lives, as well as reduce healthcare expenditure and stress on resources”

Challenge

As dehydration is a significant problem in hospitals, accounting for approximately 83,000 bed days at a cost of £0.95 billion a year in the UK alone, Current Health wanted to incorporate an ultrasound measurement into their medical device for non-invasively monitoring hydration levels in individual patients.

Solution

The knowledge, expertise and facilities for producing wearable ultrasound sensors were available at the University of the West of Scotland’s (UWS) Sensors and Imaging Group, who have a long history of developing ultrasound transducers. In particular, Dr. Dave Hughes, a Research Fellow at UWS, has devised a novel method for rapidly fabricating ultrasound transducers that operate at high frequency, vastly simplifying the process. 

With the collaborative project between Current Health and UWS being funded by a Scottish Funding Council Innovation Voucher, administered by Interface, the University of the West of Scotland will demonstrate the feasibility of using Current Health’s current transducers for contact measurements of properties of skin with (a) coupling gel; (b) minimal coupling and (c) no coupling.  The development of the Ultrasound sensor will feed directly into the product design of the Current Health device, with ongoing knowledge exchange between the University and the company.

Benefits

Wearable ultrasound is an emerging field that this project will drive. Currently, ultrasound measurements through skin are undertaken using large commercial scan systems whereas this project demonstrates the use of an ultrasound transducer, developed by the University of the West of Scotland, for portable, wearable, low-power systems. No existing wearable device with the ability to monitor hydration levels was on the market. This will be a significant move forward in the field towards the commercialisation of something completely novel and highly valuable.

The company will benefit via the addition of new value to its proposition, increased ability to sell their product and the revenue generated from this. It will also allow the company to generate a new barrier to competitors entering the market and increase the attractiveness of the company to private equity investment.

The Scottish Economy will benefit through the creation of new jobs, as well as the development of a high growth, high value business headquartered in Edinburgh.

Business Benefits

Academic benefits

Additional Note

In October 2016 Current Health (formerly Snap40) secured £2 million in Seed funding from investment firm Par Equity.

In March 2017, the company was awarded a £1 million SBRI healthcare development contract by NHS England.  The contract supports Current Health to further scale its technology and provides critical validation funding for two clinical studies with NHS Fife and with NHS Lothian’s Emergency Medicine Research Group Edinburgh (EMERGE) based in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.

In 2018 Current Health’s wearable device was selected as one of the exhibits for the Scottish Design Galleries when the new V&A opened in Dundee.

In January 2019, Current Health announced that it had closed a $11.5 million (£9 million) Series A funding round led by MMC Ventures.  Legal & General, the FTSE 100 life insurer and asset manager, is Current Health’s first corporate investor and the largest investor in the round as it continues to invest in the future infrastructure of health and care globally.

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:

Uan Wool is an Angus based, family run business producing and manufacturing pure 100% natural, luxury Scottish woollen cushion pads, pillows and bedding products.

The company was founded by Julie Hermitage, who also successfully runs a separate sheep farm located in Angus and set up 10 years ago.

Uan’s innovative high quality products are made from specially selected Scottish sheep breeds, utilising the wool’s natural properties to create temperature regulating, breathable and naturally flame retardant materials. 

Challenge:

The business owners had taken their products to a prototype stage and required external assistance to further develop its features via antimicrobial enhancement by investigating natural antimicrobial properties of wool. They were seeking an academic group with non-woven textiles and natural antimicrobial textile treatments expertise to assist in the technical development of the wool wadding required for their product prototypes.

Solution:

With help from Interface, Uan Wool, was successfully matched with Dr Lisa McIntyre from the School of Textiles and Design at Heriot-Watt University who had the crucial expertise in this field. This research project was funded by a £5k Scottish Funding Council Innovation Voucher.

Business Benefits:

Julie Hermitage, the founder and owner of Uan Wool, said:

“Interface were brilliant at taking me through the first stages of working with a university, helping to identify which one best suited my needs and going that extra bit to ensure successful engagement.  It can be hard at times especially with limited resources and time for both business and academia.  Since our initial engagement we now established a good working relationship with Heriot Watt and working with them in the future is key to our research and innovation needs for our business.”

Academic benefits:

Jim McVee, Business Development Manager at The School of Textiles and Design at Heriot-Watt University, added:

“The School of Textiles and Design at Heriot Watt has a strategic mandate to enhance and develop its knowledge exchange mechanisms. We very much appreciate the opportunity that the Interface vouchers presents in allowing us to work with Scottish start-up companies and entrepreneurs.

Working with Uan Wool has given us the chance to bring the clients’ product closer to market providing tangible outcomes while developing our own expertise.

Post project we will continue to provide Uan Wool with any further assistance it may require.”

Additional note:

Uan successfully launched their products earlier this year at the Royal Highland Show product in Ingliston.

The business is now seeking an independent seal of approval from the Allergy UK, to affirm the products health benefits to allergy and asthma sufferers.

Following this successful collaboration, the company is currently exploring any future opportunities of working with the same team at Heriot-Watt 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.

Background

One of the biggest problems IT companies have when it comes to sourcing new business is the cost and the time it takes to search for businesses looking for their services. Many IT companies spend a great deal of money by advertising in magazines and media that may not bring them the return they need or target the correct market. Company Connecting has been set up to provide a business to business service connecting companies. It helps IT companies be found by prospective partners and suppliers so that they can grow their business and it saves other companies time and effort by helping them find the IT skills to meet their business needs and aspirations.

Challenge

Company Connecting were looking to create a new online platform for matching businesses based on requirements. In order to develop a prototype for this platform, expertise in interactive search and interface design was essential.

Solution

Janice Grant Shaw, the owner of Company Connecting, had been working with Business Gateway in Aberdeen on the overall concept. Her Business Gateway advisor referred the company on to Interface. After sending out a search to various universities in Scotland, Interface matched the company with Dr Martin Halvey, Department of Computer and Information Sciences at the University of Strathclyde, who has extensive knowledge of research in both recommender systems and interactive information retrieval. The collaboration enabled a Proof of Concept which was funded by a Scottish Funding Council Innovation Voucher. Company Connecting used the initial prototype as a framework for company data along with the skills/attributes. The intention was to get companies to try out the attribute and search mechanism to prove the overall concept and to develop the search mechanism to enable companies to find other companies who could help/complement their business. Company Connecting then used the feedback to develop the full product and take it to market.

In speaking about the process, Janice said:

“Without Interface it would have taken us considerably longer to launch Company Connecting.  Business Gateway introduced us to Interface to see if we could get help from any of the academic institutions in Scotland. We submitted our proposal to Interface and received offers from four universities. 

It was apparent that the University of Strathclyde understood the premise for Company Connecting and what we were trying to do, and, after receiving the grant from the Scottish Funding Council, we rapidly moved onto the development stage. Dr Martin Halvey of Strathclyde and  I worked together and defined the full specification. Martin helped me to understand the options available for faceted searches and the various methods that could be used.  Searches of data are becoming increasingly complicated. The issue for many people is the sheer volume of data available and the quality of the data returned.

From the outset, Martin understood the importance of the very focused search required and the need to up the quality of the returned items – over anything else currently available. I continued to work on the data side of things, whilst Martin developed the options for searches and educated me on the technical aspects. Company Connecting had no in house resources available to help with this experimentation stage.

Interface helped bring Company Connecting to life”. 

In August 2015, Company Connecting Limited officially launched their new website. The mission of the site is to help IT tech companies talk with one another, as well as to provide a showcase for companies to show their skills, services, and products.

It is anticipated that the company and University will continue to work together.

Benefits

The project resulted in getting the prototype to a ‘Minimum Viable Product’ stage, which could have the impact of:

• Creating new search and matching mechanisms

• Enabling the prototype product to be tested across Scottish companies

• Generating sales

• Creating employment.

The benefits of the project to the University and the Scottish economy are:

• Provides visibility of Scottish technical companies and their skills globally

• Provides a mechanism for Scottish companies to find partners to join up skills and win bigger contracts

• Access for students to all tech companies and what they do, in Scotland initially and then internationally

• Creates jobs in a new business

• Potential to go global, which is good publicity for Scotland and its educational institutions.

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

Stuart Speake founded Soltropy Ltd in 2012 to bring to market an innovative solar thermal panel system.

Solar thermal heating systems reduce CO2 emissions by displacing the use of fossil fuels. According to the Energy Saving Trust (EST), a solar thermal panel saves between 230kg and 510 kg per year depending on which fuel it is displacing.

Most solar thermal systems have a separate antifreeze filled loop for protection against freezing and require a new tank fitted with a heat exchanger. When retrofitting, a perfectly good tank (usually copper) needs to be replaced. The Glasgow‐based company, Soltropy Ltd, has developed an innovative solution that allows the fluid in the panels to freeze without causing system damage, allowing the system to be set up to heat water directly, negating the need for a new hot water tank and potentially reducing the system cost by 50%. 

Challenge

The company was looking for academic expertise to provide solid data on the overall system performance.

Solution

After hearing about Interface at an event, Louise Arnold was able to put the company in touch with Dr Tadhg O’Donovan from the Energy Academy at Heriot Watt University.  Thanks to the University’s support, Soltropy was awarded a £5,000 Scottish Funding Council Innovation Voucher, administered by Interface, which helped to offset the cost of the project.

The project is now finished with the software model developed. This has proved to be very useful to the company, indicating clear areas where the design can be modified, resulting in different characteristics.

Follow On

This collaboration lead to a grant of £6.5 K from the ETP consultancy fund being secured to build a prototype and carry out comparison testing with an incumbent solar thermal system.  Testing was carried out at the Heriot-Watt University Renewable Energy Test site with the installation of two evacuated tube solar panels.  One panel was modified to incorporate the Soltropy technology; with instrumentation installed to measure fluid flow rates and fluid temperatures so as to determine an accurate thermal performance for the duration of the project. The work was carried out by two Mechanical Engineering students, funded by student bursaries, as part of an MSc programme in the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences. 

In December 2014, Soltropy, along with project partners Heriot-Watt, succeeded in securing Innovate UK (formally Technology Strategy Board) funding with a grant of almost £175k as part of the Early Stage Energy Catalyst.

Tests at Heriot‐Watt University have shown that the Soltropy system behaves differently from the “old style” systems and requires a different control strategy.  The main aims of the year long project is to investigate what type of strategy would be appropriate along with some new innovations to further reduce the cost of the system. The project partners have received a grant of £90k which will fund a Research Associate full time, and ultimately extend their collaborative project.

Benefits

Soltropy Ltd has benefited from the collaboration with a more optimised system through theoretical modelling.  It now has data to back up claims it will make when convincing potential investors and, ultimately, installers and consumers, of the superiority of the system.

The initial project brought the University increased understanding of solar thermal systems and gave them the opportunity to work with Soltropy under a larger funded programme to further develop the project.

As this system will be manufactured in Scotland and sold worldwide, the Scottish economy will benefit from an increase in employment and revenue.

“Interface has helped immensely with my journey from my initial idea to a validated tested product. They were the initial help in partnering us up with academia to help in taking it from this idea, through software modelling and then actual lab and onsite testing.”  Stuart Speake, Soltropy

“I can honestly say that without Interface I doubt that my innovation would have gotten off the ground” said Stuart after winning the Sustained Partnership award at the 2016 Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards.

Updates

In June 2016, Soltropy were awarded the £100k Scottish Edge Higgs award.

Higgs EDGE is a special award aimed at entrepreneurs who have a company that has applied leading edge technology to an innovative product, or product under development in the Science, Technology or Engineering sector, which is potentially world leading and also has the potential for large scale global commercialisation.

Soltropy also received an Energy Technology Partnership fund of £6.5k to build a prototype and carry out comparison testing with an incumbent solar thermal system.

Two further projects involving Soltropy have recently been funded by the Innovate UK Energy Catalyst scheme:

1.       Reducing the Cost of Solar Thermal: Integrating a Novel Freeze Tolerance Approach with Flat Plate Solar Thermal Panels

2.       Reducing the Cost of Solar Thermal: Integration of Thermal Storage with Solar Collector Design

The combined funding for each of these projects totalled £200k.

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.

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

Established in 2011, StEPS Podiatry, run by Vicki Cameron, is an award winning private podiatrist clinic covering Ayrshire and Glasgow.

Currently the official podiatrist to the Scottish Football Association (SFA), Vicki has also worked with Celtic Football Team and the Scottish Athletics Team giving her an in depth understanding of the demands placed on professional athletes. Keen to position her practice at the forefront of sports injuries, Vicki was aware that there was a need for specialist preventative equipment that could only be developed through pioneering research.

The Business Challenge

More than 80% of sports injuries are caused by repetitive strain to muscles, bones, tendons and ligaments and there is a 70% chance of re-injury within this group, leading to significant health and cost implications for players and teams alike. Current treatments are aimed at limiting this strain through functional foot orthosis such as special insoles, but Vicki wanted to create a screening tool to catch symptoms early and so prevent injury development in the first instance.

The Solution

Having worked with Strathclyde University in 2014, Vicki was well aware of the support and facilities available through Scotland’s universities and after meeting Mari Findlay, Business Engagement Executive at Interface, at a local 1:1 Business Support Clinic, she was keen to work with academia again.

Mari worked with Vicki to explore the project objectives and was able to identify a number of academic partners who would have the right expertise and the right facilities to conduct the research. Mari also identified a number of funding options which would help offset the costs of the project and allow Vicki to work with her chosen institution.

As Mari explains, “I often meet entrepreneurs with really great ideas who don’t know how to get them off the ground. They either don’t have the expertise in house or the finances to approach external support. At Interface we have connections to industry experts in each of Scotland’s universities and we can identify funding which will cover their costs.”

Thanks to Mari’s support, and with £5,000 of SFC Innovation Voucher funding, Vicki was able to embark on a project with the University of Strathclyde giving her access to highly specialised equipment including the Vicon Motion Analysis system, a 3D gait analysis machine which, in addition to video, uses both lasers and micro cameras to create a highly detailed 3D image of the foot. A range of information obtained from the scan, such as arch height and the alignment of the Achilles with the leg, is assessed and has provided Vicki with valuable data which she can use in the development of her preventative screening equipment.

As Vicki comments:

“Working with Interface has enabled me to access the most innovative equipment at Strathclyde University.

That’s been a big innovation for us; really being able to use the most cutting edge technology with the most elite athletes, to do something that has never been done before in podiatry.

I found the application process really easy, these pieces of equipment are normally housed in academia and so for a small business to get their hands on them is quite unique – Interface made that possible.”

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:

• On-line study support environment which the company can easily update (www.brightredbooks.net).
• On-line tests with drag-and-drop games.
• On-line videos, links and activities for related material.
• Calculators for worked examples.

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.

he Company

StudioLR is an award-winning design agency based in Leith, Edinburgh.

The Business Challenge

Dissatisfied with existing ‘way-finding’ products for dementia, and sensing an opportunity for a fresh and novel approach, the company wanted to access Scotland’s academic expertise to use the latest research to inform their design, ensuring an effective, as well as an attractive, finished product.

The Solution

After meeting at an industry event, Interface was able to identify extensive research expertise in the care of people with dementia at the universities of Edinburgh and Stirling, and introduced both universities to StudioLR.  After discussions with both universities, it was agreed that a collaborative approach to the project would be the best solution to provide the company with access to the most wide-ranging expertise.  A Scottish Funding Council Innovation Voucher, administered by Interface, was awarded to support this project.

Benefits

As a result of this successful business-academic collaboration, StudioLR developed a set of design guidelines for creating consistent signage to increase independence and wellbeing for older people and dementia patients in care homes, hospitals or other related environments.  Lucy Richards, Creative Director at StudioLR, said: 

“The collaborative process we have experienced working together with the universities of Edinburgh and Stirling on the Innovation Voucher has been both stimulating and fruitful, with exciting new thinking emerging throughout the process.  As the project builds in momentum, our purpose has become clearer and more worthwhile.”

Follow-on Activity

Following further brokerage services from Interface, StudioLR have been accepted into The Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities (SGSAH) Doctoral Internship programme, which matches doctoral researchers with industry partners. The company are keen to establish research in the area of “impact and consequences of the use of complex language in everyday settings”, particularly in the Care system and across public services, i.e. in hospital and clinical settings.

The outputs from the researcher will be a report outlining key findings and recommendations on the unintended consequences and negative impact of the use of this language.

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.

Solar Bear is an award winning multi discipline theatre company based in Glasgow.

Established in 2002 their aim is to produce inclusive theatre that is exciting, pioneering and accessible to performers and audiences alike.

As well as producing and delivering unique stage productions Solar Bear also offer several tailored training and creative learning programmes aimed at young people, adults, schools, local authorities and arts organisations across Scotland. So far they have delivered over 500 workshops nationwide and in January 2008 launched Scotland’s first Deaf Youth Theatre integrating audio description and British Sign Language into on-stage performances and workshops.

Challenge
To build on the success of their existing training programme, and to increase engagement in their newly formed Deaf Youth Theatre, Solar Bear approached the Royal Conservatoire Scotland to create a partnership project that would promote access and engagement opportunities for individuals who are deaf and wish to pursue a career in the performing arts.

Solution
Through RCS, Solar Bear applied for Scottish Funding Council Innovation Voucher funding which was administered by Interface. The funding allowed Solar Bear to create a 10 week pilot to test the concept of a deaf theatre short course. The success of this pilot led to the creation of a full short course and summer school programme. Now in its second year the short courses run 40 weeks of the year and now have 9 regular student participants.

Due to the success of this pilot, and the subsequent short courses and summer school programmes, RCS and Solar Bear continued their partnership increasing their scope to investigate the possibility of creating a full time BA Degree Course.

According to Gerry Ramage, Artistic Director, Solar Bear Theatre Company, “Solar Bear is delighted and proud to be working with our partners at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland to establish formal pathways into the profession for young deaf actors. Our pilot training programme, has already resulted in new and ground-breaking opportunities for a new generation of deaf actors and audiences alike. Our shared vision will reflect and celebrate Scotland’s cultural diversity by ensuring that talented young deaf people have access to quality training opportunities at the highest level.”

As part of the extended partnership Solar Bear received further funding from RCS to create an apprentice programme designed to help RCS shape the course by providing a greater understanding of the needs of deaf students; the needs of deaf audiences and ultimately to understand the employability opportunities for newly graduated deaf actors.

The three apprentices conducting the research found that interest in visual theatre is becoming increasingly prevalent and audience numbers are continuing to rise. There is also more and more demand from other main stream theatre companies who are looking to bridge international language gaps by incorporating visual theatre into their programmes.

The apprenticeship programme is due to finish in August 2014 but it is ready evident that there is a desire for and from visual performers and therefore the new course has been agreed and is due to launch in September 2015.

Gerry says, “British sign language is beautiful, visual and accessible and with increased interest from more traditional theatres for deaf actors we are confident that demand for visual theatre will continue to increase. Thanks to the initial Innovation Voucher funding we know that the new BA Degree course will give deaf actors the skills and confidence to succeed in what is a very competitive market.”

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.