Fusion Fest is the headline event of Glasgow’s Tech Week, this years Fusion Fest is a half-day crossover event connecting the creative and tech sectors across Glasgow through a dynamic programme of ideas, experimentation, collaboration and performance. Delivered by Glasgow City Innovation District in partnership with Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Glasgow School of Art, the festival brings together artists, designers, technologists, entrepreneurs, researchers, students and industry leaders to explore the growing intersection between creativity and innovation.

Through talks, performances, installations and live demonstrations, Fusion Fest will showcase the people, projects and ideas redefining the relationship between the creative and tech communities- from AI and immersive storytelling to digital design, gaming, music, performance and creative entrepreneurship.

Fusion Fest is designed to inspire new partnerships, spark conversation and open up fresh possibilities for how creative thinking and technological innovation can work together to shape industries, communities and culture.

The agenda for the event is based around the themes of Flow, Expand and Amplify. Flow: Every great idea begins in motion; Expand: When ideas move, they grow; Amplify: Ideas reach their greatest impact when they are shared.

Heather Rattray of Interface is attending this event.

Reinventing Product Authentication with Quantum Science

Background

Quantatrace is a Glasgow-based deep-tech start-up building physical authentication technology that binds a product’s optical signature to its digital identity, closing the gap between digital serialisation, which proves a code is valid, and true product authentication, which proves the physical item is genuine. The company’s founder has been part of multiple enterprise system deployments, most recently DEUTZ in Germany for their S/4HANA implementation across their China and Germany plants, and is certified in SAP ICSM and serialisation (SAP ATTP), an origin that shaped Quantatrace’s central thesis: today’s systems verify the number, not the product.

Turning that thesis into a working system required a validated library of luminescent nanoparticle formulations, characterised against the real substrates used across Quantatrace’s target sectors. As an early-stage company without in-house chemistry infrastructure, this meant finding an academic partner combining specialist nanoparticle synthesis expertise with appropriately equipped laboratory facilities, a combination that could not be sourced through a commercial contract research organisation.

The Challenge

Counterfeiting is a persistent, costly problem across global supply chains, and in pharmaceuticals it is a matter of patient safety: the World Health Organisation estimates that around one in ten medical products in low- and middle-income countries is substandard or falsified, with falsified medicines linked to hundreds of thousands of deaths each year.

The specific challenge facing Quantatrace was threefold: developing quantum dot formulations with consistent, tunable optical properties; applying them reliably across a commercially representative range of substrate types with widely varying surface properties; and characterising each formulation-substrate combination to a standard of documentation suitable for future patent filings, investor diligence, and Fraunhofer CAP optical reader calibration. The work demanded wet chemistry infrastructure together with expertise in nanoparticle handling, extraction and stabilisation, beyond anything the company could assemble in-house at this stage.

The Solution

Interface’s matchmaking identified Dr William Peveler, UKRI Future Leaders Fellow in Molecular Engineering, Nanomaterials and Biosensing at the School of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, as the right academic partner for this work. Dr Peveler brings extensive hands-on experience with luminescent nanoparticles, including quantum dots and other materials, applied to sensing and biosensing research.

His laboratory provides wet chemistry facilities, including compressed gas systems, fume cupboards, dedicated chemical storage and disposal infrastructure, and spectrometry equipment, and is one of very few facilities in Scotland capable of supporting this work safely and to the required scientific standard.

Supported by Interface and funded through an Innovation Voucher, Quantatrace partnered with Dr Peveler’s lab to develop and characterise a diverse library of luminescent nanoparticle formulations for authentication use. The nanoparticles were modified and incorporated into proprietary formulations, and deposition optimisation was carried out within the Peveler Lab, giving Quantatrace a materials pipeline that is not dependent on a single formulation approach. Multiple deposition approaches were developed and validated for applying formulations consistently across substrate types, supported by dedicated in-house equipment for application and rapid quality control.

Formulations and substrate samples were developed in direct, three-way coordination with Fraunhofer CAP, who are concurrently developing the optical reader system for Quantatrace’s authentication platform, ensuring the materials library was calibrated to the reader hardware’s detection specifications from the outset, rather than adapted to it after the fact.

Company Benefits

• A validated TRL4 materials library, advanced from TRL3 through this project, is a core technical asset underpinning Quantatrace’s wider R&D programme.
• Experimental data from the project shaped a UK patent application filed in January 2026, with a second pharma-specific application now in preparation (detail withheld pending prosecution), strengthening Quantatrace’s IP position ahead of further fundraising.
• Physical prototype samples produced during the project now support early commercial conversations across pharmaceutical and other critical supply chains.
• The collaboration gave Quantatrace access to specialist wet chemistry infrastructure and expertise in quantum dot handling, extraction and stabilisation that an early-stage company could not have built or bought in-house.
• All project milestones and deliverables were completed on time and within budget, to a standard of scientific documentation Quantatrace can rely on for future patent, investor, and regulatory purposes.

Academic Benefits

• The project gave Dr Peveler’s lab a directly applied, commercially grounded research challenge at the intersection of nanoparticle chemistry and industrial authentication need.
• A paid researcher in the laboratory was retained and was able to gain hands-on, industry-linked experience as part of their research training, whilst developing their knowledge of materials chemistry.
• The three-way collaboration with Fraunhofer CAP added a systems-level dimension to the lab’s work, grounding materials research in practical deployment requirements.
• The relationship has continued beyond the funded project, opening avenues for longer-term translational collaboration.

Next Steps

• Phase 2 collaboration, covering encapsulation and durability, materials library expansion, and Fraunhofer CAP integration testing, is being formalised through an Interface Advanced Innovation Voucher.
• Quantatrace is progressing the validated materials library toward TRL5 and industry pilot readiness.
• Building on the materials library developed in Dr Peveler’s lab, reader technology with Fraunhofer CAP, platform software integration, and the machine vision verification pipeline are now progressing, alongside integration with established GS1-based serialisation infrastructure.
• Longer-term academic collaboration opportunities are being explored and further work packages scoped.

Quantatrace is building toward supply chains where physical proof and digital identity verify each other. Quantatrace is the physical layer of trust.

Across two days, Innovate UK and partner organisations will share insights and learning from projects focused on innovation skills, workforce readiness, and future talent development.

The showcase will explore how innovation capability, workforce foresighting and technology roadmaps can support the UK’s future innovation economy, with sessions covering:

• Innovation skills and capability development.
• Workforce readiness for emerging technologies.
• Innovation literacy and talent readiness.
• Private sector innovation roles and skills planning.
• Data-driven approaches to future workforce development.

Day One – Innovation Skills in Action – City of Glasgow College
10:00-16:00
Venue: City of Glasgow College,City Campus, 190 Cathedral Street, G4 0RF

Kick off the Showcase with a deep dive into the skills that power innovation. Day One focuses on building capability- from understanding the core skills needed to innovate, through to embedding them at scale across regions, organisations and education providers.

Hear from leading practitioners as they explore the Innovation Skills Framework, share insights from the Greater Manchester Innovation Literacy Programme, and demonstrate how regions like Glasgow are integrating innovation skills across their ecosystems. The day also introduces work to professionalise innovation practice, helping to define the roles, standards and career pathways shaping the future workforce.

Expect practical insights, real-world examples and opportunities to connect with peers working across the talent and skills landscape.

Day Two – Workforce Futures & Frontier Technologies – Glasgow Kelvin College
10:00-16:00
Venue: Glasgow Kelvin College, Springburn Campus,123 Flemington Street, Glasgow, G21 4TD

Day Two shifts focus to the future – exploring how workforce insights, data and technology roadmaps shape the skills needed for emerging industries.

Sessions will uncover who is driving innovation in the private sector, highlight the importance of aligning technology strategies with workforce readiness, and showcase how organisations are turning foresight data into actionable skills planning.

From understanding innovation roles to preparing for future technologies, this day offers forward-looking perspectives and practical approaches to ensuring the UK workforce is ready to thrive.

Scotland’s biggest sporting moment in more than a generation is here. As the country prepares to cheer on the national team at the World Cup — and Glasgow prepares to host the Commonwealth Games — a new wave of technologies is changing how we understand the human body. Not just for elite athletes, but for everyone. 

From wearable devices to AI-powered health tools, innovations once confined to specialist settings are now helping people monitor their health in real time, detect illnesses earlier, and gain deeper insights into their wellbeing. 

This Art of Possible session explores how Glasgow’s innovators are developing the next generation of health technologies — and how advances in sensing, diagnostics and data-driven insights are transforming the way we understand and manage human health.  This will be a valuable session for researchers, entrepreneurs, founders, clinicians, technology leaders, investors and anyone interested in the future of healthcare.

Transforming paediatric neurodiagnostics through AI‑enabled clinical data analysis to improve how childhood diseases are identified, diagnosed, and managed

Background

Seluna Ltd is a Scottish med‑tech startup whose work focuses on paediatric healthcare and transforming how childhood diseases are identified, diagnosed, and managed—starting with sleep‑disordered breathing. Through a collaboration with the University of Glasgow supported by Interface and an Innovation Voucher, Seluna has taken a major step toward enabling accurate diagnosis of childhood obstructive sleep disordered breathing through AI‑driven analysis of wearable and hospital device data.

Childhood sleep‑disordered breathing, particularly obstructive sleep apnoea, is a common yet under‑diagnosed condition with significant short‑ and long‑term health consequences. Seluna Ltd was established to address this unmet clinical need by combining advanced software, data science, and machine‑learning expertise with clinically grounded innovation.

The Challenge

Approximately 4% of children are affected by obstructive sleep apnoea, yet an estimated 80% remain undiagnosed. Current diagnostic pathways rely on hospital‑based overnight sleep studies that are slow, expensive, labour‑intensive, and dependent on scarce specialist staff. These constraints place significant pressure on NHS services and mean many children never receive a sleep study or appropriate treatment.

Seluna had already developed machine‑learning software capable of automating sleep‑study analysis, tackling a major bottleneck in the diagnostic process. However, the challenge remains that an accurate diagnosis still requires an in-hospital study.

The Solution

Through an Interface‑funded Innovation Voucher project running from November 2024 to February 2025, Seluna partnered with the University of Glasgow to develop a novel AI algorithm pipeline, capable of identifying sleep apnoea from wearable cardiorespiratory signals. This was a feasibility study to show that Seluna’s custom AI data analytics, paired with existing wearable technology, may allow for accurate, home-based testing in children.

Interface played a critical role by initiating and funding the collaboration, enabling Seluna to access world‑leading expertise and facilities that were not available in‑house or commercially. The academic team – led by Dr Jack Radford and Professor Daniele Faccio’s Extreme Light Group—provided specialist knowledge in biophotonics, signal processing, machine learning, light–tissue interaction, optical signal acquisition, and experimental design. Their laboratory infrastructure and academic expertise enabled rapid feasibility testing and optimisation.

The collaboration was highly synergistic, combining Seluna’s strengths in AI, signal processing, and clinical data analysis with the University’s deep expertise in biosensors. The project was further supported by clinicians from NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Royal Hospital for Children, Sleep & Respiratory Medicine, ENT, and Clinical Physics, exemplifying a strong industry–academia–healthcare partnership.

Company Benefits

• The proof of concept generated through the Interface‑supported project directly contributed to Seluna securing £580,000 in private investment in June 2025, enabling the creation of two new full‑time roles and safeguarding four existing positions.
• The collaboration strengthened Seluna’s credibility in deep‑tech medical innovation and supported the award of £267k in additional public funding, including the Innovate UK Women in Innovation Award (£70,000, December 2024) and a Scottish Enterprise implementation grant (£48,000, July 2025).
• Clinically, the work enabled Seluna to launch a 500‑patient Phase 1 clinical validation study with NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde and to establish new collaborations with NHS Sheffield, NHS Southampton, and leading paediatric hospitals in the United States.
• Also it allowed Seluna to establish a long-lasting collaboration with the University of Glasgow, which continues to drive and accelerate R&D activities today.

Academic Benefits

• The project delivered significant academic impact, particularly for Dr Radford, for whom it represented the first opportunity to secure and lead an independent grant – an important milestone toward academic independence. It provided clear evidence of translational research, demonstrating how biophotonics expertise can address actual clinical and industrial challenges.
• The collaboration expanded the research group’s engagement with industry‑partnered funding and international networks. Follow‑on funding supported research visits to Boston in March 2025, strengthening links with MIT, Harvard University, and major US paediatric hospitals.
• The Interface project led directly to an extended consultancy agreement with Seluna, the award of an SFC QuantumARC grant, and the University of Glasgow’s involvement in a wider Innovate UK programme with Seluna, reinforcing long‑term strategic collaboration.

Next Steps

• Seluna and the University of Glasgow will continue working through an ongoing consultancy to deliver a research prototype device in 2026, supporting further investment and clinical validation.
• Seluna is planning a UK‑wide multicentre Phase 2 clinical study beginning in February 2026, alongside parallel preparations for US‑based studies.
• From an academic perspective, the results of the Interface project are supporting fellowship applications and a proposed co‑funded PhD studentship aimed at translating biophotonics research into commercial IP and product development. These next steps ensure sustained impact for both Seluna and the academic partners.

Join Dr Katherine Gunderson, founder and CEO of Grand Bequest, for the next GCoSI Deep Dive at Glasgow Science Centre — exploring how data, regeneration and technology could help reimagine vacant buildings across Glasgow and beyond.

Fresh from speaking at London Tech Week, Katherine will bring fresh insights from one of the world’s leading technology conferences.

Thousands of buildings across Glasgow lie empty long-term — from former homes and shops to historic properties and unused spaces. They are silent reminders of changing industries, shifting populations and untapped potential.

This GCoSI Deep Dive asks a big question: could emerging technologies such as AI help reimagine these spaces and bring them back into use?

Join an audience-led conversation with Dr Katherine Gunderson, founder and CEO of Grand Bequest — Scotland’s first PropTech B Corp and the world’s first AI-driven platform for redeveloping vacant buildings. Through her work combining data, conservation and sustainability, Katherine will explore how we can rethink empty properties not as problems, but as opportunities to create community value, support social and affordable housing, preserve heritage and unlock long-term impact.

Glasgow has a long history of innovation, and today that same spirit is pushing the boundaries of how we design and interact with technology. This GCoSI Deep Dive explores a different perspective: what happens when we create technology not just for humans, but for animals too? 

Focusing on the field of animal–computer interaction, this session explores how animals engage with technology — from building the “dog internet” to parrots video-calling each other and interactive environments for zoo animals. What does this reveal about intelligence, behaviour and how we design?

Join Dr Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas, an Animal-Computer Interaction researcher at the University of Glasgow and Director of the Animal-Computer Interaction Lab for an open, story-led conversation exploring how animals interact with technology — and what it means to design for users beyond humans.

This special Art of Possible session explores how the Glasgow City Region is positioning itself as the UK’s 3D content creation capital. With dynamic industry–academic partnerships, world-class studios, ambitious start-ups and global investors choosing Glasgow, the region is blending creative heritage with cutting-edge capability to compete on a world-stage.

From film, television and gaming to immersive technologies, simulation and virtual production, the panel will explore the tools, talent and infrastructure driving Glasgow’s next creative chapter — and the commercial opportunities accelerating its growth.

From screen to simulation, from analogue roots to augmented realities, discover how Glasgow is transforming creativity into high-growth innovation — and shaping the future of content creation.

What to Expect?
🎤 Lightning Talks – Insights from industry pioneers.
💬 Panel Discussion & Q&A – Expert discussion on industry trends, challenges & opportunities — ask your questions during registration or live.

Why Attend?
🤝 Network with leading creatives, producers, technologists and investors shaping the future of 3D content.
👍 Connect with Glasgow’s growing digital creative industries and tech ecosystem.
🎙️ Gain insights from experts driving innovation in 3D, XR, simulation and digital storytelling.
🚀 Discover the technologies and talent positioning Glasgow at the forefront of creative tech.

Who is Speaking?

• 🎤 Dr Stephen Breslin – Chief Executive, Glasgow Science Centre (Host)
• 🎤 Professor Pauline Mackay – Professor of Robert Burns Studies and Cultural Heritage; Co-Director, Realities & Immersion Glasgow, University of Glasgow (Chair)
• 🎤 Pauline McCloy-Turtle – Creative Director of SUUM Studio
• 🎤 Professor Neil McDonnell – Professor of Philosophy and XR Technology, University of Glasgow
• 🎤 Douglas Liddle – Curriculum Head of Games and 3D Computer Animation, City of Glasgow College

About Art of Possible
Now in its 9th year, this award-winning series connects innovators, creatives, and industry leaders to explore how unexpected tech collaborations drive new ideas and solutions. It’s also an official primer for Scotland’s CAN DO Innovation Summit.

Join Dr. Dave Hughes for the next GCoSI Deep Dive at Glasgow Science Centre, exploring entrepreneurship, invention and building deep technology in Glasgow.

Glasgow has always been a city of ideas — from engineering breakthroughs on the River Clyde to scientific and medical innovations that have shaped industries worldwide. Today, that inventive spirit is carried forward by founders, researchers and innovators turning ambitious ideas into real-world companies.

This GCoSI Deep Dive explores what it really takes to build a startup in Glasgow — tracing a line from historic invention to modern deep technology and wearable innovation. It looks beyond theory to the lived realities of spinouts, entrepreneurship and scaling technology from a Scottish base.

Join an intimate, audience-led conversation with Dr. Dave Hughes, deep-tech entrepreneur and consultant, as he reflects on his journey from academic research to company creation. Drawing on experience building wearable and sensing technologies, Dave will share the moments that mattered most, the challenges behind the headlines, and how Glasgow’s unique innovation mindset continues to shape what gets built — and how.

This isn’t a lecture — it’s a conversation shaped by you.