What is it?

Tech Trends is an opportunity to get ahead of the game and discover the key technologies making an appearance in the coming year.

This year’s event will be looking at both pushing the limits of the new, some things that help bridge the gap and, as always, it will take a peek at what is just hype and how trends from previous years have fared.

Giving his rundown of the Top Ten Tech Trends of 2025 will be former Gartner analyst Richard Marshall, whose expertise covers numerous areas of software development including, mobile, low code, web tools, AI and Blockchain.

What can I expect?

Join Codebase in Aberdeen in January for an eye-opening evening where you will be privy to the latest developments in the industry and the expert predictions for 2025.

The distance between technology leaders and laggards is growing ever greater, with increasing numbers of companies finding themselves in transition.

Tech Trends 2025 will take place on 27th January 2025, from 5:30-7:30pm at Pinsent Masons, on 13 Queens Road, Aberdeen AB15 4YL.

This event is open to anyone in the tech and business community in the North East of Scotland.

Don’t get left behind – book your ticket for Tech Trends 2025 today.

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships are turning 50!

The KTP Associate Seminar will showcase the impact KTP has had through past and current partnerships. It will highlight how organisations have benefitted from working with academics and how KTP Associates have advanced their career through the Knowledge Transfer Partnership programme. As KTP is celebrating its 50th year, the Seminar will showcase current projects as well as speakers from completed partnerships.

The seminar provides an excellent opportunity to network with the KTP community and share best practice with knowledge exchange professionals. If you would like to find out more about how KTP can help your business, or demonstrate the real-world impact your academic expertise can have, consider coming along.

This seminar is part of the KTP Centres in Scotland Seminar Series and KTP@50 celebrations.

Heather Rattray and Louise Arnold of Interface will be attending this event.

This event, the first of four regional Innovation Centres Roadshows hosted at Edinburgh College’s Sighthill Campus on 27th November 2024, marks the beginning of a new decade of ground-breaking activity by Scotland’s four national innovation centres. These centres connect Scotland’s academic expertise with industry, public, and third-sector organisations to drive economic and societal benefits:

• Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre (DHI)
• Built Environment – Smarter Transformation (BE-ST)
• The Data Lab (TDL)
• Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IbioIC)

What to Expect:

This is a day of learning and knowledge exchange about innovation activity in Scotland, with engaging speakers, interesting panel discussions and interactive breakout sessions with an opportunity to network with a wide range of stakeholders and organisations.

Why Attend?

• Learn: Discover what the Innovation Centres have achieved over the past decade and get a sneak peek into our plans for the next 10 years.
• Engage and Network: Connect with the Innovation Centre colleagues and explore opportunities for collaboration.
• Influence: Help shape the future of innovation and skills development in Scotland by sharing your insights and ambitions.

Goals:

• Gather Insights: We aim to understand the capabilities, capacities, and ambitions of the college and university sectors.
• Network: Build a strong network to develop a future-focused skills and innovation agenda.
• Support: Positively influence curricula, support CPD for lecturing staff, identify joint funding opportunities, and promote innovation opportunities and funding routes.
  
  Shelley Breckenridge of Interface will attend this event.

Scotland’s largest digital transformation summit for public sector policy and technology leaders takes place on 26th November at the EICC, Edinburgh.

Featuring over 50 speakers, 100 exhibitors and 1,200 delegates, Digital Scotland is the premier event for digital leaders and innovators dedicated to enhancing government services through technology.

In 2024, the conference will tap into the public tech zeitgeist – covering the latest from the global GovTech movement, digital ID, cloud services, payments, AI, IoT and Cybersecurity.

Digital Scotland is the meeting place where government ministers interact with technology upstarts and disruptors engaged and motivated by the goal of creating world-class digital experiences for citizens of the future. Be part of the conversation.

Learning objectives:

• Understand the strategic direction for government digital policy and programmes.
• Hear how GovTech leaders from across the UK ‘home nations’ are pursuing technology-led transformation of government services.
• Experience best-in-class technology projects from across an array of public services, from healthcare to social services, local government, environment and justice
• Learn playbook approaches to tech implementation from experienced public-sector technology leaders.
• Attend industry masterclasses spanning user-centred design, data, AI, cloud, cybersecurity and IoT.

This year’s Social Enterprise Summit, Scotland’s largest annual social enterprise event, is on Thursday 7th of November, 2024. The event will take place at the Surgeon’s Quarter Quincentenary Conference Centre, Edinburgh, from 10am until 4pm. The theme of the conference will be “Catalyst for Change: Social Enterprise Driving a Wellbeing Economy”.

This year’s summit is part of a broader programme of events running from the 6th to the 8th of November. On the 6th of November, a number of partners will host a series of Community Learning Exchanges, with spaces for up to 45 participants. The Social Enterprise Summit and the Social Enterprise Scotland Awards will take place on the 7th of November. The celebrations will conclude on the 8th of November with a special EDI Social Enterprise Celebration and Showcase, an event dedicated to honouring the outstanding contributions within Scotland’s diverse social enterprise community.

Join Social Enterprise Scotland for a day of dynamic conversations, powerful presentations, and real-world insights from some of the most inspiring leaders in Scotland’s social enterprise sector.

Speakers include:

• Tom Arthur MSP, Scottish Government Minister for Employment and Investment
• Neil McInroy, Global Lead for Community Wealth Building at The Democracy Collaborative
• Calum MacPherson, CEO of Inverness and Cromerty Firth Green Freeport
• Miriam Brett, Co-Director of Future Economy Scotland
• Barbara Elborn, from Newcastleton & District Community Trust

Plus, don’t miss the Social Enterprise Showcase, featuring speakers from; Tayside Upcycling & Craft Centre CIC, Studio Lutalica and The Usual Place!

Whether you’re a seasoned social enterprise professional or just starting out, this event is packed with actionable insights and opportunities to collaborate.

For more information, click here.

The Edinburgh Futures Institute will host AIMday Tourism & TravelTech as an in-person event on 26th March 2025 at the Edinburgh Futures Institute building, 1 Lauriston Pl, Edinburgh EH3 9EF.

What is AIMday?

AIMday® (Academic Industry Meeting day) is based on workshops where challenges submitted by participating organisations around a central theme are discussed with experts from different areas of expertise.

After the event, participating academics and researchers can apply for funding from an exclusive funding call, to work with an AIMday participant on their challenge.

Read more about the AIMday Concept.

AIMday Tourism & TravelTech

Some of the most interdisciplinary, intriguing challenges are found at organisations working in the Tourism, Travel, & Festivals sector.

Examples include:

• How might AI and enhanced automation be integrated in your business, while maintaining a good customer experience?
• How might we overcome productivity and staff shortages in the tourism and travel industry?
• How might tourism become more sustainable, circular, or even regenerative for communities and the environment?
• How might residents have a voice in managing the visitor economy?
• How might we use forecasting and data analytics to improve decision-making for creating more impactful experiences in tourism?
• How might visitors be encouraged to go beyond just the well-worn paths and hotspots?
• How can the tourism industry leverage gaming technologies?

Addressing challenges connected to this sector is key to the Edinburgh Futures Institute’s contribution to the £1.3 billion Data Driven Innovation programme. Collaboration between organisations and academia, utilising EFI’s diverse interdisciplinary expertise, is key to understand, break down, and tackle these challenges. We will convene expertise in Design, Informatics, Engineering, Forecasting, Circular Economy and others from across the University of Edinburgh, providing alternative and novel approaches to these challenges.

How to participate

To participate in AIMday as a challenge-holder, you need to submit at least one challenge phrased as a question, which you wish to discuss in a small workshop setting. We welcome challenges in all aspects of Tourism, Travel, and Festivals. We would be happy to discuss your challenge idea further. Feel free to e-mail joshua.ryan-saha@ei.ed.ac.uk

Join AIMday Tourism & TravelTech to access expertise at the University of Edinburgh. Participating organisations meet teams of researchers to explore and address the specific challenges each organisation faces. Each question submitted is tackled by a multi-disciplinary group of academics and researchers with the aim of finding pathways to solutions. Get in touch with joshua.ryan-saha@ei.ed.ac.uk to help you come up with or phrase appropriate question(s).

One question, one hour, a group of academic experts: that is the AIMday format!

After the event, our academics can apply for funding from an exclusive funding call, to work with an AIMday participant on their challenge.

Register your attendance at AIMday Tourism & TravelTech by submitting your question(s) on the registration page for organisations by Monday 4th November 2024.

Edinburgh Innovations are hosting a webinar showcasing research expertise in AI Frontiers on 24 October at 2.00pm- 3.00pm (GMT+1/UK time).

Prof Themis Prodromakis, Director of the Centre for Electronics Frontiers will deliver a talk on “Innovations across AI and Semiconductors”, while Emily Lekkas, Program Director in AI at Edinburgh Innovations will introduce the latest research and expertise at the University. There will also be an opportunity to hear from an industry partner who participated in AIMday Digital Frontiers 2023.

Explore Digital Frontiers is a series of webinars showcasing research expertise in AI, data science, quantum computing, robotics and more from our leading researchers.

Our next webinar in December will focus on Data Science Frontiers. Details and registration will be available soon!

Perhaps these webinars inspire you with questions?

Are you looking to collaborate with our leading experts on Digital Frontiers? You can explore answers with experts from the University of Edinburgh by registering your challenges for our AIMday Digital Frontiers event! Participate in this hybrid event on the 26 February 2025 by submitting your questions by the 13 December 2024!

Revolutionising gluten-safe food production

Background

Prozymi Biolabs Ltd, an Edinburgh based biotechnology start-up was founded with a mission to revolutionise gluten-free food production. With a significant portion of the UK population affected by gluten-related disorders, including coeliac disease, gluten sensitivity and IBS, there is an increased demand for gluten-free products. However, existing gluten-free options often lack the taste, texture, and nutritional value of traditional gluten-containing foods, posing challenges for consumers.

Scientists from Prozymi Biolabs are testing a new enzyme technology that degrades gliadin, the protein that causes food sensitivities.

The Journey

Since its inception in early 2021 Prozymi Biolabs has experienced rapid growth and made a significant impact in the biotech world – more specifically in gluten-safe technology.

Co-founders Ioannis Stasinopoulos and Andreas Andreou were awarded their PhD’s at the University of Edinburgh and came up with the idea of developing a pioneering method of making gluten-safe bread while baking sourdough bread in their spare time. Receiving seed funding through the University of Edinburgh’s Data Driven Entrepreneurship program, which supports high growth start-ups associated with the university, gave Prozymi Biolabs the kick-start required to embark on their journey revolutionising the gluten-free bread experience.

Following an introduction via the student enterprise team at Edinburgh Innovations, Louise Arnold, Business Engagement Executive at Interface, has supported the Prozymi Biolabs team since they started, helping them navigate the academic research and development landscape, making relevant connections into universities, support networks and funding.

Some of these connections and projects include:

• Queen Margaret University and the SRUC Thrive Programme in support of product development, planning, marketing, pitching, nutrition, food legislation and access to general business support information.
• The Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) Accelerator Programme, to guide and assist them on best practice, direct innovation support and peer to peer learning. They continued to collaborate with IBioIC, through the scale up of the gliadin-degrading enzymes using IBioIC’s scale up facilities at Heriot Watt University.
• Two projects with University of Aberdeen’s Applied Health Science students: one to identify the causes behind gluten disorders, the parts of gluten responsible, the key symptoms, diagnostic methods, and potential treatments used. And the second on gluten awareness, researching gluten-related topics such as gluten intolerance, celiac disease, and gluten-free diets analysing data collected to identify patterns, trends, and key insights regarding gluten-related issues.
• A collaboration with University of Stirling’s Business School students on developing marketing strategy and market and competitor analysis.
• A partnership with the Proteomics and Metabolomics Facility at the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute, funded via the Healthier Products Innovation Fund, allowed Prozymi Biolabs to use their mass spectrometry equipment to develop a robust process for sequencing and characterizing gluten-degrading enzymes. This collaboration enabled the identification and expression of candidate enzymes, with a focus on specificity and efficiency in degrading harmful gluten peptides while preserving the integrity of bread’s texture and flavour.

The Benefits

Prozymi Biolabs are creating employment opportunities, generating collaborations with university facilities and provide experiential learning opportunities for students through Interface support. The project outcomes could yield multidimensional benefits in the future as follows:

• Social: Consumers will benefit from high-quality gluten-free products at lower prices, making them affordable for low-income social classes.
• Economic: The low production cost of gluten-free products made with their technology will alleviate NHS financial burden for prescribed goods to coeliacs and help products of those higher in the supply chain, such as local wheat and barley suppliers to reach the gluten-free market.
• Environmental: Reduced reliance on imported naturally gluten-free materials, used for existing gluten-free products, will minimise transport fuels and align with government priorities for carbon footprint reduction.
• Political: Support the government’s strategy for locally sourced wheat and barley grains to increase nation’s self-sufficiency and resilience.

Benefits to Prozymi Biolabs

• Collaboration has fostered an innovative environment, leading to the development of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) through identification and characterisation of the gluten degrading enzymes. This has also enhanced overall productivity within the company.
• By pooling resources and expertise across the university networks, has led to increased R&D efficiency, cost savings and faster project completion. The collaborations have improved Prozymi Biolab’s market position enabling the development of cutting-edge solutions, while increasing their market valuation.
• Potential applications in brewing, animal feed, and pharmaceutical industries.
• This innovation has also led to the selection of Prozymi Biolabs for IBioIC’s Biotech Innovators incubator, University of Edinburgh’s Venture Builder Incubator, Barclay’s AgriTech Bridge program and Carbon 13 Venture Launchpad program opening avenues for further academic and research collaborations.
• Awarded Innovation of the Year at the Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards 2024.

Benefits to Academics

• The partnership has provided the University of Edinburgh’s Proteomics & Metabolomics Facility with an opportunity to apply analytical chemistry tools in the food sector.
• Collaborating with the organisation has opened additional funding opportunities for the universities, allowing for expanded research capabilities.
• The collaboration has offered students the chance to engage directly with industry, enriching their learning experience and professional development.

Next Steps

Prozymi Biolabs’ innovative approach to gluten-free bread production has the potential of transforming the food industry, offering consumers high-quality gluten-free products with improved taste, texture, and nutritional value. Through collaboration with academic partners and participation in incubator programs, the company is poised to further advance its research and development efforts, paving the way for a new era of gluten-free innovation.

Next steps for Prozymi Biolabs include:

• Continued collaboration with the University of Edinburgh’s Proteomics and Metabolomics facility and Edinburgh Genome Foundry has resulted in an established pipeline for screening and expression of gluten-degrading enzymes which could be further developed to generate new promising candidates in the future for the needs of beer, pharma, or animal feed industries.
• New academic collaborations with Queen Margaret University Scottish Centre for Food Development and Innovation, to provide equipment and expertise for small-scale proof-of-concept gluten-free bread production; the School of Physics of the University of Edinburgh for potential collaboration for testing the rheological properties of initial gluten-free bread batches.

On Wednesday, 2nd October 2024, Heriot-Watt University is staging the Health Ageing Showcase an afternoon dedicated to research that promotes health and wellbeing as we age.

The Healthy Ageing Showcase offers an opportunity to hear from the people leading and participating in a range of research projects. These include developing and trialling new and innovative technologies that support and enhance healthy lifestyles, to the ways our homes and urban environments can be designed to encourage opportunities for healthy ageing, to robotic and assistive devices enabling people with different needs to live independently for longer.

The event will be opened by Professor Linda Bauld (Chief Social Policy Advisor to the Scottish Government), followed by researchers representing the breadth and depth of activities in healthy ageing at Heriot-Watt. The event will also include a special session led by Katherine Crawford (Chief Executive Officer of Age Scotland) celebrating the involvement of people in shaping research.

Event Schedule: Main Programme Commences: 14:00 in the James Watt Auditorium

During the event, there will be an extended break to allow participants to engage with interactive demonstrations and stands. These will cover research from Heriot-Watt as well as opportunities to meet with our community and charity partners. Refreshments will be provided during the break.

The event is being hosted by Heriot-Watt’s Health and Care Technologies Global Research Institute. The institute’s goal is to deliver innovative, sustainable, and user-inspired solutions through a co-creative approach. To learn more about Health and Care Technologies at Heriot-Watt, visit https://www.hw.ac.uk/uk/research/health-and-care-technology.htm.