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The rECOver group focuses on identifying and developing robotics as a sustainable technology and their potential contribution to a more sustainable world while identifying and working to overcome the social and economic implications associated with their integration by closing the gap between domestic and international policymakers and industrial partners.

The rECOver group comprises of a unique combination of cross discipline researchers including scientists, lawyers, sociologists and engineers.

This ‘Collider Event’ at the National Robotarium in Edinburgh, will bring together these sectors into a multidisciplinary group of experts to engage in discussions that will identify and draw out key principles and issues that should be addressed when using robotics for sustainability and focus on questions such as:

•Robotics in a sustainable world: are they accelerating or hindering the objectives?

•Can the increased use of robotics for sustainable mining affect the critical material supply?

•How does the contribution of robotic technology affect the transition to a circular economy?

•How can potential negative socio-economic or political impacts of robotics use be mitigated?

Robotic technology is increasingly being used to drive us to a more sustainable world, for example, in the offshore wind sector. However, whether and how robotics themselves can be made more sustainable – socially and environmentally – is emerging as an issue of debate. The development and use of these robots require coherent interdisciplinary analysis suitable to understanding their potential socioeconomic and environmental downsides and to create better regulatory approaches to incentivize innovation while avoiding negative externalities.

Initially, rECOver is seeking to initiate conversation and collaboration among scientists, engineers, policymakers and social scientists to analyse the use of robotics in mineral acquisition for and recycling of sustainable or ‘green’ technologies by combining both techno-economic and socio-political analysis.

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The Medical Device Manufacturing Centre (MDMC) is hosting its 2nd Annual Conference which will bring together industry, NHS and academia to discuss the latest services offered by stakeholders in the life sciences and healthcare sector.

This conference is unique in its breadth and offers the opportunity for delegates to find out more about initiatives set by the NHS and government, as well as learn about the latest advances by companies in the sector.

It will provide invaluable networking opportunities and companies will be offered free exhibition space on a first come, first served basis. Academia will have the opportunity to present their research work through a posters exhibition.

If you are interested in the latest MedTech news and tips, or seek further insight into growing your business, come along and be a part of this invaluable opportunity to network with like-minded individuals, companies and stakeholders in the Scottish life sciences and healthcare sector.

Programme:

The morning session focus is on the services that SMEs can access to accelerate innovation.

The afternoon session will explore the activities and services in health and care offered by organisations such as Scottish Enterprise, the Centre for Process Innovations (CPI), and the Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre (DHI-Scotland).

About MDMC

The mission of the MDMC is to provide expert advice on manufacturing engineering, regulatory issues and funding, coupled with technically supported access to manufacturing facilities, to assist small- and medium-sized companies in the translation of medical device concepts through to small batch commercial prototypes. Services provided by the MDMC are free of charge to SMEs, with priority to Scottish SMEs at all times.

A consortium of 4 universities led by Heriot-Watt and funded from the Advancing Manufacturing Challenge Fund (AMCF) and the Edinburgh City Deal, the MDMC offers medical device development and manufacture in Scotland, providing companies with an enabling step towards first-in-patient-studies.

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The Crover – the world’s first robotic device that ‘swims’ through grains to monitor their condition.

Background

Crover Ltd https://www.crover.tech has developed the world’s first small robotic device, known as a ‘CROVER’, that monitors cereal grains stored in bulk inside grain bins or storage sheds.  The CROVER device can “swim” within the grains and uses on-board sensors to measure local parameters, such as temperature and moisture, to build a full map of the conditions within the grains. Unlike current grain monitoring solutions that measure only one variable and have limited reach, the CROVER’s remote monitoring capabilities provide real-time data across a range of measurements allowing grain storekeepers to identify critical conditions, like hotspots early and maintain quality of the grains through proactive management.

Crover Ltd were a start-up when they initially approached Interface in 2019, they have since grown from two co-founders to 20 employees.

Since 2019 they have secured significant investment, raising over £600k in innovation prizes and grants (including Scottish Enterprise and Innovate UK). They then opened a seed funding round for investors and hit their £150k target.

The Challenges / Solutions

“When we initially met Interface, we didn’t have a specific R&D challenge as we were focused on developing our product inhouse. An obvious area for support would have been in the areas of design and engineering, however, through discussions with Louise, she assessed how our business worked and proposed that we undertake a project with the Scottish Financial Risk Academy (SFRA). The project with the SFRA helped us determine precise financial estimates of the value of Crover data to grain storekeepers and its impact on the grain storage economics. Understanding the financial impacts of Crover’s monitoring capabilities, had wider implications such as being able to quantify monetary value to grain insurers, and the potential to reduce insurance premiums for farmers and grain merchants.” Lorenzo Conti, Co-founder Crover Ltd

Following on from this initial project, one of the main technical challenges Crover Ltd faced related to the precise location tracking of the device within the grain bulk. Conventional signals, such as GPS and WiFi, did not work due to their inability to penetrate the solid grain bulk so a novel approach was required. Crover Ltd had undertaken some initial testing of different solutions, however they needed to tap into academic expertise in ultrasonic waves, positioning systems, electromagnetic signals, wireless sensor network (WSN) and Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM), to help improve the accuracy of the device location.  Interface connected them to the University of Glasgow who undertook an initial feasibility into a means of measuring and identifying the location of the robotic device in bulk grain storage.  This was initially funded by an Impact Accelerator Account fund of £10k, which then led onto a further project where University of Glasgow and Crover Ltd secured a further £27K to continue the project to a successful conclusion.

Since the initial collaboration Interface has assisted Crover Ltd embark on several other successful collaborations focusing more on the future enhancement and performance improvement of the robotic device, by tapping into design and engineering expertise from several Scottish Academic Institutions.  These involved:

The Benefits

The benefits resulting from the numerous collaborations which Interface have helped broker have undoubtedly helped Crover Ltd in both product development and business growth terms.  Interface has helped open doors for Crover Ltd and helped Lorenzo and his team to establish strong links with academia resulting in some innovative and exciting developments.

Since its inception in 2019 Crover Ltd has grown from 2 employees to over 20 employees, has raised significant investment and secured over £600K in innovation prizes and funding.

Background

Every year our planet uses more than 27 million tonnes of natural and synthetic rubber, making more than a billion tyres and more than 50,000 other rubber products that we use every day. Much rubber is simply burned after use and the rest scattered far and wide as a filler in other products. The scale of the waste is vast. However, as demand for rubber grows each year, we continue to plant more rubber trees and use more oil to make more rubber, wasting our planet’s valuable resources, causing deforestation and unnecessary damage around the world.

Edinburgh based Recircle, has created a breakthrough technology that allows rubber to be effectively recycled into high-quality applications. It’s a world first, which combines patented innovation, protection of our environment and economic viability. The Recircle technology relies on effective surface devulcanisation of rubber powders (the breaking of cross-linking sulphur bonds) derived from waste rubber.

Challenge

Recircle were looking to develop rapid testing techniques suitable for high throughput screening in industrial application for the vulcanised and devulcanised rubber powders in order to assess the effectiveness of the devulcanisation process. The company was seeking universities with appropriate facilities to do this, with the aim of conducting long-term research on the optimisation of a biotechnological devulcanization process.

This would be essential for improving the company’s quality control procedures, as well as for application testing with new waste feedstocks provided by customers.  The new standards would help the company provide higher levels of quality assurance to all customers, regardless of the materials being processed for them, and further cement its reputation as the provider of the highest quality materials in the market.

Solution

Louise Arnold from Interface successfully partnered Professor Nick Christofi, Chief Scientific Officer at Recircle, with Professor David Bucknall, Chair in Materials Chemistry at Heriot-Watt University. Together, they successfully applied to Innovate UK for KTP (Knowledge Transfer Partnership) funding and were subsequently awarded £125k to fund a two-year project utilising the services of a post-graduate associate to develop rapid testing methods for the assessment of surface chemistry on polymer surfaces. 

Benefits

By providing the company with an innovative quality control process, the KTP will underpin the professionalisation and worldwide expansion of its current process capabilities; opening up a large opportunity for growth for the business in terms of materials they can process and global expansion of the customer base.

Impacts

This collaboration has directly resulted in an increase in turnover as well as additional employment within the company.

Follow-on Activity

An additional project to come out of the partnership was a consultancy with Zero Waste Scotland under a Circular Economy programme that aims to stimulate innovation amongst Scottish businesses to help them adopt more circular business practices, which treat all resources as assets – keeping them in use for as long as possible to extract the maximum value from them. Making available European Regional Development Funds, Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) is aiming to stimulate new business activity to identify, develop and bring to market new circular economy products and services.  Through Professor Bucknall, Recircle received consultancy funding to examine the recycling of waste water from the Recircle devulcanization process and to generate new products from its waste streams.

If you would like to find out more about partnering with a university or college, please contact us.

Background

Floco (formerly Lilypads Group Ltd) is a mission driven company that manufactures and sells reusable sanitary pads and provides menstrual health education. Founder and CEO of Floco, Alison Wood, strives to end period poverty and stigma by providing affordable reusable sanitary pads and education to communities around the world.  They currently work in Malaysia and Kenya, with preparations to start working in Cambodia and Nigeria.

There is a growing market opportunity for natural, sustainable, durable, and reusable sanitary products in the UK and current reusable sanitary pads are limited by several factors including leakage, lack of absorbency and the very high price point.

The company aim to develop a product suitable for the UK market, with the long-term aim that profit from this product can subsidise the cost of their international pads, ensuring they are affordable to all.

Challenge

During the product development phase, Floco trialled their product and learnt that the consumers found it more comfortable than their conventional sanitary pad. However, for these women the pad’s thickness was imperative; ideally the women could wear the pad all day and it be no thicker than standard disposable pads. With the current materials available on the market this looked unlikely and therefore the pad would need to be much thicker, limiting its attractiveness.

The company were also keen to look at ways to make reusable pads more affordable and environmentally friendly.  They recognise that absorbent textiles are key to this development along with being able to ensure the current attributes of pads are maintained. 

Floco approached Interface in the hope of undertaking a feasibility study with a research team to establish initial options and the key design principles for absorbent textiles that would offer the following attributes:

Solution

Following a search of Interface’s academic partners, Dr Danmei Sun, Associate Professor of Textile Materials & Engineering at Heriot-Watt University was introduced to Floco and undertook the initial feasibility project funded by a Scottish Funding Council Innovation Voucher. The results identified two materials – a quick drying fabric that was soft and felt like underwear and an absorbent middle layer than holds the moisture so even when pressure is applied it does not leak. The constructed pad is discrete, easy to use and wash and fits the user needs perfectly.

Benefits

Floco tested the product and identified a manufacturer. The pad was launched to the market in July 2020 by Crowdfunder with sales in the UK subsidising Floco’s work internationally to ensure no one is limited by their period.

Follow-On Activity

Following this initial project Floco returned to Interface to undertake a consultancy project around Strategy and Business growth. Working with a student at the University of Stirling, Floco have explored: the potential of targeting the pads at a specific demographic, behavioural attitudes towards buying sustainable products, analysing the sustainability of the whole business, not just the product, and optimising supply chain opportunities.

To learn more about Floco, please visit their website.

Background

Go Upstream provides a practical training and design programme for transport providers, helping to make services more inclusive for people living with dementia. They bring people with dementia together with people who provide travel and transport services, putting their voice at the heart of future mobility service design.

Challenge

Travel connections can be challenging, potentially creating barriers to travel, and if the challenges lie in the spaces in between services, how do we discover them, how do we go about reducing barriers, and who is responsible for making improvements?

In 2018, Transport Scotland called for ideas for projects to address some of the challenges identified in Scotland’s Accessible Travel Framework.  This became the focus of a new project that brought together a broad group of partners, led by Go Upstream and funded by Transport Scotland*, called ‘Making Connections: the spaces in-between’. The project idea was to bring disabled people together with transport staff to explore connections from rail stations to ferry terminals and then collaboratively design solutions to these challenges. 

It was an ambitious proposal that required a partnership with many different skills. 

The project partners tapped into the expertise developing here in Scotland around improving environments and services for people with dementia. Making Connections has benefitted from the growing network of projects and organisations funded by the Life Changes Trust.  Partners include StudioLR who are working on improving signage, Paths for All who are changing the way that we think about inclusive outdoor environments and the British Deaf Association who will ensure that the views of deaf people who are affected by dementia are included.

Transport Scotland placed a large emphasis on evaluation and it was important for Go Upstream to bring in specialist expertise to ensure that they could track and describe the project’s impact. 

Solution

Referred by Business Gateway, Interface introduced Andy Hyde of Go Upstream to Catharine Ward Thompson, Professor of Landscape Architecture and director of the OPENspace Research Centre. 

OPENspace is an international research centre, based in the universities of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt, which contributes evidence on why inclusive access to the outdoors matters.

It is a collaborative, multi-disciplinary team, bringing together experts in landscape architecture, environmental psychology, human geography and forestry.

Addressing the full spectrum of open space environments – from city parks and squares to remote rural landscapes – their work informs policy on health and wellbeing, social inclusion, countryside access and sustainable urban development.  They focus on the benefits to be gained from getting outdoors and the barriers currently experienced by different users, particularly those from disadvantaged groups.

It was OPENspace’s previous experience of working with people in different outdoor environments, as well as taking a qualitative approach, that was key to tracking the project’s impact.

Benefits

A key benefit of having the OPENspace team involved in the Making Connections project was the ability to use their monitoring and evaluation results to inform the design of the project approach and tools as the project progressed. By taking this reflective approach, Go Upstream ensured that they were able to keep aligned with their guiding document, Scotland’s Accessible Travel Framework. 

*The new fund provides support to projects which enable the central vision outlined in the Accessible Travel Framework – that all disabled people can travel with the same freedom, choice, dignity and opportunity as other citizens – with a particular focus in encouraging more sustainable active travel options.

Background

Independently run since 1797, Johnstons of Elgin makes beautiful knitwear, clothing and accessories from luxurious wools. The company is synonymous with unique heritage, craft and style; yet, it continues to lead the way in technical innovation, using state-of-the-art techniques and tools to create timeless products for the world’s leading luxury fashion brands.

Challenge

In 2011, with increasing pressure on companies to curb carbon emissions, together with spiralling energy costs, Johnstons of Elgin wanted to analyse its energy usage across the main business units of dyes, weaving, logistics, finishing and yarns. At the time, it was very difficult to differentiate across the company the exact costs associated with each of these utilities and energy costs.

An initial consultation with Interface and a site visit led to a project scope designed to investigate options to improve company performance whilst reducing costs through energy and carbon management.

Solution

Interface identified expertise in six universities and subsequently brokered a partnership between the company and The Energy Academy at Heriot Watt University.

Through a PhD studentship, a project was initiated to review strategies that would enable the company to reduce energy costs and market the carbon footprint in each area of the business as well as each product.

Follow On

To further elevate its own brand, improve its global competitiveness, and improve productivity, Johnstons is now innovating in the quality control and measurement of the finish on high-end cashmere fabrics. 

Challenge

A reliance on human touch and feel in assessing the quality of such luxury products has traditionally been standard in the industry and is estimated to be a direct contributor to the 25% rework rate recorded in Johnstons’ finishing process. This existing subjective measurement approach leads to product variability and waste.

Solution

An Interface enquiry resulted in a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with the University of Strathclyde to carry out pioneering research into innovative techniques and technologies for objectively measuring traditionally subjective finish attributes of its woven cashmere pieces.

As a result of the KTP brokered by Interface, Johnstons went on to partner with a nationally recognised leader in measurement through A4I (Analysis for Innovators) to design and develop a system for objective and quantitative assessment of its product finish. The system developed will not only help Johnstons to drive down its costs associated with reworks and remakes, but it will also verify the potential for scaling up to 100% inspection of product moving at speed through Johnstons manufacturing line.

These projects were partly funded by £60k of Innovate UK funding. 

Impacts

Company – This measurement system has increased their accuracy by 30%, reduced their rework rate by 90%, their rework waste by 30% and reduced the cost of producing their quality fabrics by 80%.  In a world where finish is artisan and considered subjective, being able to satisfy high-end designers with more precise specification of choice of finish is invaluable.

Academic – The KTP Associate has since been employed by the company in the role of Technical Director.

April 2021

Johnstons of Elgin’s commitment to sustainability recognised with Queen’s Award. Scotland’s second oldest family business has been awarded in the Sustainable Development category for its 360-degree approach to sustainability and leading the way in ethical manufacturing.

Background

Scotland accounts for 70 percent of the UK’s total gin production, which is being largely driven by the growth in craft distilleries, 35 of which have opened in Scotland in less than three years, offering over 100 gin variations. Many distillers produce gin while they wait for whisky to mature.

There is a vast array of botanicals that may be grown in Scotland and therefore a wide palette in terms of flavour and aroma that may be incorporated into Scotland’s distilled products such as gin.

Challenge

The use of local or novel botanicals has become a popular method to create gins with a unique selling point and several members of the Scottish Distillers Association, (SDA – previously called the Scottish Craft Distillers Association), have worked with Heriot-Watt’s International Centre for Brewing and Distilling (ICBD) on new product development experimenting with botanicals that may be sourced close to their distilling operations.

The recipe development process can be very complex, particularly when working with novel or large numbers of botanicals. To simplify the process, it is useful to distil individual botanicals to determine their flavour and aroma attributes to predict their contribution in the final recipe.

The Botanicals Library was created to address this challenge and reduce the time and cost of recipe development and widening the possible options for botanical choice.

Solution

Originally, Interface supported the partnership between Heriot-Watt University’s world-renowned International Centre for Brewing & Distilling with the Scottish Distillers Association that enabled the development of a unique library of over 40 botanicals grown in Scotland. The initial funding from Interface was supported by R&B Distillers, Strathearn Distillery and Glasgow Distillery Company, representing the Scottish Distillers Association.

Interface supported the further development of the Botanicals library by the ICBD and SDA partnership which allowed extension of the library to include a range of botanicals not cultivated in Scotland, but with significant importance in gin production. The extension to the library was supported by Ncn’ean Distillery (formerly Drimnin Distillery), together with Glenshee Distillers, Glasgow Distillery and Verdant Spirits, representing SDA.

Heriot-Watt’s International Centre for Brewing and Distilling has distilled each botanical individually, assessing the flavour and aroma profile as well as mouth feel. It now features 72 botanicals that can be grown in Scotland, including nettles, lavender, dandelion and chaga fungus, which grows on birch trees.

Today, the Botanicals Library is available for the members of the Scottish Distillers Association to utilise and exploit in their innovation and production of new recipes.

Business benefits

Matthew Pauley, Assistant Professor at the ICBD and a drinks industry consultant, who led on the distillation of all the botanicals, said:

“Our botanical library will help gin producers create Scottish gins with locally available botanicals that are available in dried form, from a sustainable source, to ensure consistency and availability.

“The library enables us to tell producers how a botanical will perform under the conditions used in gin production.

“Several members of the Scottish Distillers Association have already used the botanical library to create new gins. By coming to the lab, they can experiment and explore new flavour palates, with less ‘trial and error’.”

One business which benefited from using the Botanicals Library is Highland Boundary, a craft distillery based in Alyth. Co-founders Marian Bruce and Simon Montador identified a gap in the market for Scandinavian-inspired spirits with the botanicals sourced from local woodlands. Marian Bruce, said:

“By accessing the expertise at Heriot-Watt University we were able to try out different botanicals to produce new flavours of spirit with distinct Scottish flavours reflecting Perthshire’s “big tree country.”

“Now that we have launched our first product, Birch and Elderflower Wild Scottish Spirit, we want to build the company and create employment in an area where manufacturing jobs are few and far between.”

David Wilkinson, Edinburgh Gin’s Head Distiller, said:

“Seaside Gin was the first of our collaborations in partnership with Heriot-Watt University’s Brewing and Distilling MSc course. Such has been the success and popularity of Seaside Gin, we have had to transfer production from the small 150 litre still to our larger 1000 litre still at our second site. We will now be producing 1300 bottles per distillation, with at least 4 distillations per month. Testament to the success of developing and using a fantastic botanicals library resource for the benefit of the industry in Scotland.”

Professor Alan Wolstenholme, Chair of the Scottish Distillers Association, added:

“Over the last few years there have been a large number of Distillery start-ups in Scotland. Whilst several spirits are being successfully produced, the one which has been most prominent has been gin with many new brands achieving a well-regarded status amongst customers whilst raising the profile of the entire sector.”

Academic Benefits

To date, over 30 distilling MSc projects have incorporated use of the library to create new gins and botanical liqueurs which will continue to increase with future projects.

The main impact of the MSc projects and the Botanicals Library has been a reduction in product and process development time so there is less “trial and error” for companies. It has also enabled greater understanding of both the production process and botanical behaviour, which is now included as part of their teaching.

Additional/Key outcomes

The Botanicals Library is a shared resource designed to benefit distillers across Scotland. The collaboration across distinct geographic areas in Scotland has been vital in identifying a broad range of potential botanicals.

Initially developed to help Scotland’s gin producers create unique, new products, the library is now being used to ensure Scottish gin meets the import standards of countries like the USA. Several members of the Scottish Distillers Association have already used the library to create new gins and botanical liqueurs and support export activity.

With 70 percent of the UK’s gin produced in Scotland, and sales expected to hit £1.5 billion by 2020 (according to Scotland Food and Drink), the library is good news for producers who are eyeing the domestic and international markets.

The Botanicals Library team won the Multiparty Collaboration category of the Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards 2019 hosted by Interface.

Background

Highland Boundary is a craft distillery based in Alyth, near Blairgowrie founded by Marian Bruce and Simon Montador who identified a gap in the market for Scandinavian-inspired spirits with the botanicals sourced from local woodlands. The name comes from the geological feature, called the Highland Boundary Fault, on which their farm lies – they have one foot in the Highlands and one in the Lowlands of Scotland. By combining botanicals from the Highlands with grain spirit from the South the company are crafting a new generation of Scottish spirits firmly rooted in the Scottish Landscape.

Challenge

Although both Marian and Simon have significant experience in scientific research and business, they were keen to tap into academic expertise to support the development of their new products.

Solution

Heriot-Watt University’s International Centre for Brewing and Distilling expressed an interest in working with the company and Lorna, Interface’s Business Engagement Executive for the Tayside region, introduced the teams.

An MSc student at the university investigated ways of including the woodland botanicals to maximise flavour and consistency.

The project was funded by a Scottish Funding Council Standard Innovation Voucher which is administered by Interface.

Business benefits

“By accessing the expertise at Heriot-Watt University we were able to try out different botanicals to produce new flavours of spirit with distinct Scottish flavours reflecting Perthshire’s “big tree country.
Now that we have launched our first product, Birch and Elderflower Wild Scottish Spirit, we want to build the company and create employment in an area where manufacturing jobs are few and far between.” Marian Bruce, Highland Boundary

April 2019 – Highland Boundary Wild Scottish Spirit Awarded Gold at San Francisco World Spirits Competition. 

Academic benefits

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.