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.

As the internationally recognised governing body for cycle sport in Scotland, Scottish Cycling is the gateway to cycle sport for people in Scotland, with the aim of developing the sport at every level. 

Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland (DMBinS) is a project based within Scottish Cycling which is delivering the world’s first national strategy for mountain biking. The project has an overarching strategic remit to increase participation, grow tourism and develop the sport of mountain biking.

Challenge

DMBinS wanted to develop a new and innovative interactive DVD of Scottish mountain biking trails to use as a prototype product to both attract external sponsorship, and develop a full-length consumer DVD. 

Sporting Chance Initiative referred DMBinS to Interface – the knowledge connection for business – to find out what external support was available to help develop the idea. 

Solution

Interface facilitated a partnership with Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) which led to DMBinS working with a team of academics and graduates to develop a business plan and prototype DVD to engage current and aspirational mountain bikers.  The project was awarded a £5,000 Scottish Funding Council Innovation Voucher.

By working with the eMotionLab at GCU – a world leader in the development and evaluation of emotionally engaging technology – DMBinS was able to utilise the lab‘s processes to ensure user engagement, and develop user-evaluation facilities which would explore the emotional engagement of products. 

The idea of the interactive DVD was developed with the output being made into an App so that it could be distributed digitally. 

Benefits

DMBinS is working with partners in both the public and private sector to to complete the development of the App. The App, based on the original project, features trails across Scotland and was available in the App Store in time for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, which mountain biking is a key event.

“We are grateful to Interface for connecting us with Glasgow Caledonian University.  It resulted in an excellent collaboration, and we now have a prototype which we can use to help attract further investment  and ultimately add value to the Scottish economy by increasing the number of visitors to Scotland to enjoy our fantastic mountain biking,” said Graeme McLean, Project Manager of DMBinS.

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.​

Equal Adventure, located near Aviemore in the Highlands of Scotland, is a registered charity with their main aim being to continue the development of equipment, information and resources, making outdoor adventure, fieldwork and active lifestyles accessible regardless of disability.

Equal Adventure works in a number of areas to ensure that adventure is accessible to people with disabilities which includes; equipment development, training, events and information. The trading arm of the charity operates as a social enterprise to ensure that the products they develop are able to reach the people and organisations that require them through sustainable manufacture, pricing and supply.

Equal Adventure had developed and created a prototype of snow board bindings for double leg amputees and needed to complete stringent laboratory based assessments of the product to validate the bindings.However, they did not have access to such expertise or facilities and required a third party to carry out the highly specialised testing so that the new product could be developed for the market.

Equal Adventure approached Interface – The knowledge connection for business after learning about the free and impartial brokerage service they provide.

Interface worked to translate their needs into a suitable brief for Universities and research centres across Scotland. Having conducted an extensive search Interface identified the required knowledge and facilities within the University of Strathclyde. The University’s department of Design Manufacture and Engineering Management’s Industrial Projects scheme allowed a student to undertake the design, development and testing of the product over the course of an academic year.

The project provided a unique work experience opportunity giving the student direct practical industry experience and resulted in a working prototype which established the design viability.

As a result of the knowledge connection made by Interface, Equal Adventure have proved the bindings are safe for use by double leg amputees and in doing so they have been able to add another product to their range.

Suresh Paul, Principal Advocate at Equal Adventure explained, “Interface linked Equal Adventure to the expertise provided by the University of Strathclyde which has been invaluable to us and enabled us to extend our product range making outdoor adventure even more accessible to all.”

Thanks to this partnership Equal Adventure has been able to authenticate the safety elements of the prototype and have subsequently created a new product which has allowed them to enter new markets, increase sales and safeguard jobs.

Global Sports Innovation Ltd was created by Scottish rugby coach and inventor, Richie Gray, to pioneer the development of training equipment around the advances in the modern game.

A new product, The Maul King, was designed to improve individual and collective roles, movement and tactical awareness.  The company required mechanical expertise to develop the product for the market

Solution

GSI Ltd utilised the Interface service to identify expertise from Heriot Watt University.  Interface – The knowledge connection for business facilitated the partnership between GSI Ltd and Heriot Watt University who provided the necessary mechanical engineering assistance. The project was awarded a Scottish Funding Council Innovation Voucher.  

Dr Daniil Yurchenko from the university worked with Gray over the past three years to develop scientific principles around the science of collision. His models helped Gray to analyse how a typical rugby player’s physique would respond to pressure and charges from various angles and at various strengths.

Benefits

The Company have developed a new product, Maul King, which they have launched and received orders from across the rugby world.

Richie Gray, owner of GSI Ltd commented “I spent a lot of time working out a concept that I hoped could seriously improve teams’ technique in the maul area and with the help of Interface and Heriot Watt University the Maul King was developed”

Follow-On Activity

This initial collaboration gave Richie insight and new knowledge about how players moved, which he has incorporated into subsequent innovations such as the Scrum360 and recently-launched ProScrum. Both have been taken to market by world-leading equipment supplier Rhino.

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.

Whisky making is a long established industry normally associated with the distilleries spread around the Highlands of Scotland, but a local entrepreneur in Dumfries & Galloway has set his sights on breathing fresh life into a distillery which was last in use nearly 90 years ago.

David Thomson and his wife purchased the long-derelict Annandale Distillery based in Lowlands, near Dumfries, which first opened in the 1830’s and remained at the forefront of lowland whisky production until it closed in 1919. Now, almost 90 years later, a newly formed Annandale Distillery Company Limited is a step closer to restoring the historic distillery buildings to its former glory with its new whisky brand and an integral online visitor ‘experience’.

The Business Challenge

Financial assistance secured from Historic Scotland and The Scottish Government through a Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) grant initially helped to get the project off the ground, but of prime importance to David was academic help to undertake historical research pertaining to the locale of the distillery and the culture of its area. This would involve delving into areas such as the evolution and history of the lowland Scots language and emigration patterns from the region.

All this research was central to the brand ethos that he plans to develop and is also important in the context of developing a memorable online visitor experience.

Understanding David’s ‘day job’ was key to sourcing the level of high quality research he required. He is founder and CEO of MMR Research, one of Europe’s largest, independent consumer research businesses. Additionally, he is visiting Professor in the Department of Food Biosciences at University of Reading, UK, where key interests include sensory branding and the development of understanding consumers’ choice behavior.

The Solution

With his knowledge, David identified Interface – The knowledge connection for business, as an excellent source to tap into, partly because the team can access academics with key knowledge pertinent to his project and partly because in David’s own words ‘as well as the quality of whisky, it is important that the brand has some meaning and value’.

Interface rapidly understood and immediately grasped the key elements of David’s requirement and arranged collaboration with three academics specialising in quite distinct areas that would support his aims. The key was to convey much of the evolution and history of the lowland Scots language and written in a style which, in David’s words, had to be light and witty, but also comprehensive and credible, with the scope to offer further enhancement and development.

Interface put him in touch with renowned linguist, John Corbett, Professor of Applied Language Studies at the University of Glasgow with specialism in Scots language studies.  Professor Corbett wrote on the development of the Lowland Scots language and used the language to add descriptions of historical whisky and whisky-related events.

Interface also brokered collaboration with Dr Billy Kenefick, a lecturer in modern Scottish and British history at the University of Dundee, who looked at the history of the area and its migration patterns to other regions throughout the world. This is of particular importance to David, since the Single Malt Lowland Scotch whisky produced at the Annandale Distillery will be sold globally (either through the website or an international network of drinks distributors) and he has identified that a key target will be consumers around the world with Scots heritage and ancestry.

By populating the website with historical facts and figures around the history of emigrant Scots, these consumers could relate to their forefathers migration to the colonies such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA and South Africa. Indeed, the migration from the borders was of special significance, since David’s home town of Annan was a significant emigration port in the 1700s and 1800s, either offering direct sailings to the colonies or as a ‘feeder service’ to larger vessels bound from Liverpool.

The third academic Interface brokered a partnership for was through Dr Malcolm Lochead, a fellow in design, based at Glasgow Caledonian University who contributed to the initial ideas on brand design and development and is designing a signature plaid for the distillery.

“I am so grateful to Interface for bringing together this resource of extraordinary academic talent. Each project has its own challenges and the information and research has been pivotal to keeping the developmental phase on track.  I was intrigued to see if the academic teams were up to the demands of the task, and so far I have been very impressed. Trying to lay my hands on all this information myself, would have taken me a significant amount of time, but the Interface team pulled out all the stops to surpass my expectations.”