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Background

Dunnet Bay Distillers is a microdistillery located in Dunnet Bay on the coastline of the North Sea.  They produce award-winning Rock Rose Gin and Holy Grass Vodka.

The aim of this distillery is to develop a range of distilled products with a focus on locally sourced raw materials.

These include locally grown Rhodiola rosea, rowan berries, and seaweed harvested from the nearby coastline.

Challenge

In 2013, Martin Murray, company director and, at the time, an MSc student in the International Centre for Brewing and Distilling programme at Heriot-Watt University, contacted Dr Annie Hill at the University looking to generate recipe and process methodology for both a seaweed vodka and seaweed gin.

Solution

After contacting Interface, the distillery was awarded a Scottish Funding Council Innovation Voucher, administered by Interface, to cover the costs of their collaboration with Heriot-Watt University. 

Research work within this project led to the creation of a wide range of novel distilled spirits. The seaweed sample from the shore by the distillery was found to contain three types of seaweed rather than a single type leading to an increase in the number of distillations performed. Products included vodka distilled using a mixed range of seaweed types and using two different methods of distillation, three vodkas distilled with individual types of seaweed, and nine gins distilled with a variation in the botanicals used. Preference testing was carried out for the gins created including taste panel testing of seaweed gin with a range of commonly used mixers to determine the commercial potential of the products.

Follow-on Activity

Martin and his wife Claire have always been keen to make their distillery as green and carbon neutral as possible. With their production growing steadily, the waste generated also increased in tandem.  After such a successful project with Heriot-Watt University, the couple sought the assistance of Interface to source additional academic expertise to determine new ways of efficiently reducing and dealing with their waste.

Interface matched them with the University of Aberdeen who have since undertaken an initial review of Dunnet Bay Distillers’ berry waste and plan to take this project further to repurpose the waste for other uses.

Another area that generates considerable waste is the plastic packaging which covers the distiller’s iconic ceramic bottles during their long journey to Dunnet.  Martin worked with the University of Strathclyde and a student group to determine alternative uses for this packaging so that it does not end up in landfill.  The project is now complete and Martin is looking at implementing the suggested solution on site.

Another challenge Dunnet Bay Distillers faced as production increased was the ability to know if the water tank for distilling was near empty. Martin’s very basic method of hitting it with his hand to determine how full it was needed an upgrade but he simply did not have the time to research and implement any new technology.  Through working with Shaie MacDonald at Interface, a student from UHI North Highland College was recruited to develop a customised gauge for them.  The project has now been completed and the solution implemented and incorporated into a bigger piece of work by a consultant.

On seeking academic help within your business, never think a project is too small. The expertise out there is vast and until you work with an intermediary such as Interface, it is very difficult and time consuming to find a potential match. Interface can help you define your project clearly and take a lot of the time burden away so that you can get the right expert help when you need it, said Martin Murray, Director, Dunnet Bay Distillers.

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

Founded in the early 1900’s, Bon Accord was a family-run soft drink manufacturer who distributed carbonated soft drinks to households across Scotland until the company ceased manufacturing circa 2000. Using the recognised Bon Accord name, and with a new generation at the helm, the family, led by the great, great, granddaughter of the founder, have re-branded and re-launched Bon Accord soft drinks.

Challenge

Conducting some initial research, Bon Accord was struck by the lack of Scottish all-natural, non-alcoholic drinks available on the market and were looking to fill this gap.

Solution

Interface connected Bon Accord to Food Innovation at Abertay (FIA), who has the technical expertise as well as industry and consumer knowledge to assist Bon Accord in its development of a range of premium, carbonated soft drinks.

Funded by a Scottish Funding Council Innovation Voucher, the FIA team undertook

Benefits

The company now has a range of three new carbonated drinks that can either be used as mixers for alcoholic drinks or be enjoyed on their own; tonic water, cloudy lemonade, and sparkling rhubarb.  It has also benefited from work undertaken by marketing students at Abertay University who helped it with market research on the rebranding of the company.

“Interface put us in contact with the Food Innovation team at Abertay University. From the outset, the team at Abertay were hugely enthusiastic about the project and their knowledge, expertise and first class facilities allowed us to develop our fantastic range of soft drinks and mixers.” said Karen Knowles, Bon Accord.

“The Bon Accord project was an interesting challenge for the FIA team.  The development of new flavour profiles using natural ingredients which also met with consumer acceptance was achieved after many recipes trials and consumer tests.  FIA was delighted to provide Bon Accord with three initial products to launch onto the market and look forward to working with it again in the future.”  Jennifer Bryson, Food Innovation @ Abertay

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. 

Lightbody is the UK’s leading supplier of celebration cakes to UK multiples grocery shops and supermarkets.

Based in Hamilton Lightbody employ 1,200 people, the business has two cake bakeries plus a European Sales and Marketing operation based in Rennes, France.

For over a hundred years, the company had their own chain of shops, but as the influence of the big supermarkets increased on the high street, they focused on manufacturing high value baked products to supply the retail outlets.

The Business Challenge
Each year 8.3 million tonnes of food and drink is wasted in the UK, of which nearly 800,000 tonnes is bakery waste. Variations in basic ingredients, due to seasonal conditions, and in the production process, due to environmental conditions including temperature, humidity, etc, can result in inconsistencies in product quality and shelf life.  

The company were looking for a more quantitative metric to determine the quality and longevity of their baked goods to specifically:  

The Solution
Interface – The knowledge connection for business matched Lightbody to Strathclyde University who were able to suggest Hyperspectral Imaging (HSI) as a solution. HSI cameras produce large volumes of complex data which require specialist analysis to measure the specific properties of the baked products. The University of Strathclyde’s Hyperspectral Imaging Centre is the first of its kind in the UK and was able to provide the expertise required by the company.

According to Ian Chree, Site Director, “We have built up a strong working relationship with Strathclyde University due to their wide range of expertise, enthusiasm and speed of response.”

In a previous feasibility project, Lightbody provided two different sponge cakes to Strathclyde for HSI. Initial results were positive, indicating that HSI technology could be used to quantify moisture content as well as other properties of the cakes. Due to the results, the company wanted to take this study to the next level.

With the support of Interface Food & Drink and funded through a Scottish Funding Council Innovation Voucher, the project used HSI to analyse two varieties of Lightbody sponges over a period of 40 days to assess the quality and longevity of these cakes. At the conclusion of the test, the HSI data was processed and the results were found to accurately match the results found by a taste panel.

Partnership Benefits
Use of Hyperspectral Imaging will reduce supermarket in-store wastage by quantifying the eating quality performance of sponge over its shelf life and increasing the overall life of the product. This complies directly with Lightbody’s strategy to minimise costs and expenditure through waste. Reduced supermarket waste will improve the cost efficiency of the manufacturing process through fewer production runs and lead to increased profits.

Lightbody plan to use this unique technology directly on the production line helping to produce greater consistency in its products, reduce waste and increase profits. The project has also allowed Lightbody to develop products with an even greater shelf life which is helping to attract overseas markets and increase the companies export potential.

“It has been a rewarding experience seeing our research applied in a real application. This work allows Lightbody to refine their processes in order to increase shelf life and improve consistency. A longer shelf life lets the company export into markets which are further afield.” Professor Stephen Marshall, Dept of Electronic and Electrical engineering, 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

Headquartered in Glenbervie near Stonehaven, Scotland, Macphie is the UK’s leading, independent, added-value food ingredients manufacturer, and has been producing premium quality food ingredients and solutions for customers across 40 countries for over 85 years.

Challenge

The company approached Interface to seek help in finding relevant academic collaborators to provide solutions to a range of challenges facing their business. These ranged from reducing saturated fat content and creating “cleaner label” products to rethinking their packaging and storage.
 

Solution

Interface has facilitated a series of collaborative projects with numerous Scottish Universities to support the business challenges.

Project areas have included:

To date, Macphie has been involved in more than 15 individual collaborative research projects with multiple universities which have yielded cost savings to the business of many hundreds of thousands of pounds.
 

Business benefits

“Innovation is a cornerstone for Macphie, developing new technologies, products, processes and packaging to add value to our business and better meet our customer needs.

Macphie utilises Interface as a Scottish brokering service that brings businesses and universities together. Interface has facilitated a series of collaborative projects across a range of business requirements with Scottish universities. Using the Interface network, we have managed to completely accelerate our innovation agenda.

At Macphie we now have a rich heritage of academic projects across many aspects of our business. These translate into shaping and driving our innovation agenda. Interface is a crucial partner in enabling us to pair up with the very best academic organisations to achieve success. Our ongoing outlook is to continue to invest resources in long-term, transformational projects to ultimately add even greater value to our customer offering.” Martin Ruck, Macphie’s Head of Research and Development.

Academic benefits

Following a successful masters project with Abertay University on computer and web Enabled Food Product Evaluation System:

“Abertay has a specific interest in pursuing links with industry as part of the University’s Strategic Plan. The work with Macphie is an excellent example of how Abertay can be recognised for developing graduates equipped with the attributes and attitudes to contribute significantly to future economies. 

The work has also been conducive for developing pathways to impact, allowing Abertay to generate an excellent track record with respect to KE activities that generate further income and reputation for the University.”  Dr Nia White, Head of the Graduate School, Abertay University.

Interface also supported Macphie and the University of Edinburgh to develop and test a series of emulsions to use in a commercial setting. This led on to further studies on the role of fat crystallisation in the process of stabilizing emulsions and foams which enabled the company to increase the unsaturated fats in their products.

“It was very interesting for us to apply our expertise in the physics of emulsion technology to support a company developing healthier products.”
Dr Tiffany Wood, Director of the Edinburgh Complex Fluids Partnership, The University of Edinburgh.

Additional notes

Macphie have worked with the following Universities and Research Institutes: University of Edinburgh, Glasgow Caledonian University, University of Strathclyde, Heriot-Watt University, Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health at the University of Aberdeen, Robert Gordon University, Abertay University, Queen Margaret University.

Nairn’s wanted to investigate improving the shelf life of its products, particularly where rancidity remains a challenge whilst reducing saturated fats, and ensuring there is no compromise on quality and flavour.

Nairn’s met with Interface – The knowledge connection for business, to explore possible opportunities of developing partnerships with a University or research institute with the necessary expertise required to assist Nairn’s two-fold concerns. Interface introduced Nairn’s to various Scottish universities and research institutes before opting to partner with the James Hutton Institute. Nairn’s has commenced a collaborative research and development Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with the James Hutton Institute.

UWI Technology Ltd was set up in 2009 to develop a patent pending elapsed time indicator (ETI) known as the UWI Label.  Inventor Pete Higgins came up with the idea of a smart label which would indicate how long any jar had been opened for and, therefore, whether or not the food inside had gone off.

Challenge

The company was looking to establish a collaborative project with an academic group to help advance the technology of the label and develop its commercial potential, ultimately providing a working demonstration of the UWI label for investors.

Solution

Through Interface, UWI was introduced to Heriot-Watt University, who had renowned expertise in micro-engineering and colour chemistry.

Besides having the huge potential to be an effective consumer food waste reduction solution, it was soon realised that the idea had significant global applications such as the pharmaceutical industry, medical science and aeronautical manufacturing.  The collaboration received Scottish Funding Council Innovation Voucher funding, followed by further funding support from the EDTC/Product Realisation Centre Scheme for expanding the work to meet additional commercial demand.

Benefits

Company update 2021

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.

Aqualife Services, based in Stirling, is the largest dedicated fish vaccination company in the world.

Business Challenge

Aqualife recognised the need to address issues with the current vaccination process which can lead to repetitive strain amongst staff and limited accuracy in vaccinating the fish.

Solution

Interface facilitated a partnership between Aqualife and the University of the West of Scotland (UWS) and a project looking at design options for a new vaccination gun was funded through the UWS Inspired Scheme.   It soon became evident that a much bigger project was evolving looking at the whole fish handling process.  Aqualife have embarked on a two year £100k Knowledge Transfer Partnership with UWS to develop the ideas.

Invereach, based in Inverness, were looking to diversify their business and had developed a caffeinated, carbonated ‘pick-me-up’ drink. The new product is intended to appeal to the female market and it needed to have branding to reflect this. The drink comprises of naturally derived ingredients and they wanted to strongly draw on this association in its branding.

Business Challenge

In the early stages of development, the company identified a need for academic support to provide the expertise and research to create, build and develop a new brand.

Solution

Interface – The knowledge connection for business facilitated introductions between Invereach and the University of Strathclyde’s Department of Marketing. The project formed an opportunity for students to use it as part of their dissertations. The company worked with two sets of students, as part of their undergraduate course, who were able to develop a suitable brand for the energy drink and the brand ‘Super!Natural’ was developed for the product.

Benefits

Invereach launched the energy drink and it is now available across the Highlands and in a number of outlets in Scotland. The students were able to develop product branding specifically to the target market and provided the company with the research and branding development to access an entirely new market. A long term partnership has been established between Invereach and the University of Strathclyde.