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The Sustainability Institute are running a second cross-cutting theme workshop to define the focus of the new Binks Institute for Sustainability on NetZero.

The term Net Zero means achieving a balance between the Carbon/Green Houses Gases (GHG) emitted into the atmosphere, and the carbon removed from it. This balance – or net zero – will happen when the amount of carbon we add to the atmosphere is no more than the amount removed. The UK Government has set a legislative target of achieving Net Zero by 2050. This will mean fundamental changes to the way we live and in particular how energy is generated, transported, and used in all aspects of UK living/businesses.

The Net Zero cross cutting theme focuses on meeting the UK and Scottish Government NetZero policies and achieving the targets, engaging with the priority industries and bringing expertise from across 4 themes (Food, Feed & Fibre; Natural Resources – Energy & Water; Engineering Sustainability; Sustainable Design & Futures Thinking) together to address some of the challenges which need to be overcome.

The workshop will provide an overview of the policy environment and funding landscape including a specific focus on the EPSRC Engineering NetZero priority, presented by Janette Wark, EPSRC Regional Engagement Manager Scotland. It will also consider the contribution the Binks Institute can make to the Dundee Climate Leadership Group and the University’s Climate Action Planning Group.

Participants will be asked to speak briefly about their research interests in relation to sustainability and NetZero. The Institute are looking for a wide range of disciplines and perspectives to guide the direction of the Institute under this cross cutting theme.

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CeeD Trading Zone event is coming to Dundee this November, hosted at the Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc (MSIP) on Tuesday 7th November 2023.

“An event to help convert ideas into real, commercially viable products through the power of collaboration.”

This unique one day event is intended to create new business opportunities through partnership working. With each partner able to concentrate on their core competences, we believe that organisations can significantly increase the chance of successfully realising new products, innovations and business ideas.

“No matter what your skill or technology there is sure to be an opportunity that needs it!”

This session will provide a forum for using the power of collaborating to overcome common business challenges such as obtaining funding, design issues, effective supply chain management and market intelligence. Or you may just be looking for new ideas to be a part of.

How will it work on the day?

The format will be professionally facilitated using interactive activities and discussions, designed to bring together small teams of potential collaborators around a business opportunity. The underlying theme is ‘Innovation’ and the day will bring together Start-ups, SMEs, Multinationals, Commercialisation partners, Academia, Funders & Investors.

A select few of the audience will be pitching while others will be supporting and involved in the discussions and break-out sessions afterwards.

How do I join in?

Do you have something to offer or something to ask …

Come along with an open mind and a willingness to participate.

Lorna Watson from Interface will be presenting on the day.

Learn More

Background

Family-owned Arbikie Distilling Ltd is aiming to be one of the world’s most sustainable distillers.

The Arbikie Highland Estate distillery is a genuine field-to-bottle operation – the ingredients for all their spirits are planted, sown, grown and harvested on the farm within a stone’s throw of the distillery. Records show distilling on this site dating back to 1794 – it is the field-to-bottle culture used by these ancient distillers that inspired Arbikie’s distilling ethos. Premium spirits can only come from the highest quality ingredients and drawing from decades of farming experience, they grow all the raw materials to make their award-winning range of whisky, vodka and gin.

The Arbikie Highland Estate has always been farmed with absolute respect for the land. The addition of a distillery has not changed their commitment to minimising any environmental impact.

The soon-to-be hydrogen-powered distillery at their Angus farm has always had a focus on sustainability. Production began in 2014 with the goal to add value to the potatoes which were deemed to be too ‘wonky’ for the farm’s bigger customers. Tattie Bogle Potato Vodka was born and from there they have gone on to release a range of award-winning gins, vodka and whisky including their climate positive Nàdar spirits made from peas.

The Challenge

The Scotch Whisky Association has set an ambitious target for the Scotch Whisky industry to reach carbon neutrality by 2040.  In order for the industry to reach this goal it is vital that sustainability is improved across the supply chain, including both agricultural practices and malting.

To reach these sustainability goals Arbikie needed to look beyond the distilleries four walls and consider both upstream and downstream emission sources. A major contributor to the carbon footprint of barley-based alcoholic beverages such as Scotch Whisky is tied within agricultural practices (e.g., the use of nitrogen-based fertilisers) and in the processing of raw barley into malt. Conservation barley varieties have been introduced into the farm rotation as they are known to have the potential to reduce emissions, whilst utilising low input agricultural regimes. The challenge addressed here was to look further down the production chain and producing malt from these varieties in a more sustainable way.

The Solution

Funding through The Scottish Food & Drink Net Zero Challenge Fund, from Scotland Food and Drink, administered by Interface allowed the collaboration between Arbikie Distilling Ltd and Heriot-Watt University’s International Centre for Brewing and Distilling (ICBD), to take place.  

The project focused on characterising the behaviour of conservation barleys upon exposure to industry-typical malting regimes and sought to exploit some of the known resilience present in such barley to reduce water and energy input into malt production.  Within its scope, the project successfully identified conservation barley varieties that could be used to produce malt of favourable quality.  Further, the results indicated that malt quality was similar between the typical and low input regime, highlighting potential for reduced input malt production.

Bringing together Arbikie’s knowledge of agriculture with Heriot-Watt’s malting expertise has resulted in the inherent qualities of older barley varieties being applied to the malting process to successfully develop lower input regimes.

Benefits

The Scottish Food and Drink Net Zero Challenge Fund

This project benefitted from The Scottish Food & Drink Net Zero Challenge Fund, a key initiative of the Scottish Government’s Industry Recovery Plan, first launched by Scotland Food & Drink Partnership and Interface in October 2021, with the aim of encouraging businesses to take action on their environmental impacts through collaborative projects with Scottish universities in order to accelerate their journey to net zero. The fund supported 17 projects across a range of sustainability themes and companies.

Sign up for a day of inspiration, insights, learning and networking. Supply chain resilience, industry 4.0 technologies, leadership & culture, operational excellence and sustainability will all be covered. Find out how the manufacturing sector responded to a global pandemic, how it can recover and how we will reimagine the future.

The conference, previously known as the Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service (SMAS) National Manufacturing Conference, will arm manufacturing sector and supply chain businesses with the ambition, vision, knowledge, tools and networks to increase productivity and maintain future competitiveness.

Making Scotland’s Future is a partnership between Scottish Government, public agencies, industry and academia that are collectively taking forward a programme of activity designed to secure a strong, sustainable future for Scotland’s manufacturing sector, aligned to the Scottish Government’s ambitions in the National Strategy for Economic Transformation. The power of Making Scotland’s Future lies in harnessing all of its collective networks, channels and support to help drive productivity, innovation and competitiveness, maintain and create high-quality jobs, and attract and develop talent, while embedding low carbon and sustainable manufacturing as its core. The vision is for Scotland to be a country inventing, designing, developing and manufacturing world-leading products and technologies. Through continuing support and investment, we are making Scotland’s future today.

The Making Scotland’s Future Conference is being led by Scottish Enterprise on behalf of the Making Scotland’s Future partnership.

Interface are exhibiting and we’d love to see you there!

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DigitalScotland: Tayside, supported by The Times Scotland, will bring together policy makers, business leaders, educators and community stakeholders to explore the opportunities and challenges of economic growth and digital transformation in Tayside.


Like many parts of Scotland and the UK, the region is remaking itself in a new era. The digital age is disrupting industries old and new, with Tayside seeking its own place in the firmament of global digital pioneers. With government support through city region deal funding, civic leaders are determined to bring to bear new skills and press their economic advantages to become more productive, competitive and ambitious to connect to global markets.


We will be joined at the conference by the Estonian Ambassador H.E. Mr. Viljar Lubi who will highlight the policy and local government levers that have inspired and led enormous growth in the Estonian life sciences, gaming and cyber industries, and will share how Tayside, and the rest of Scotland, can learn from these experiences.


The full day conference will also provide:
• An update on the progress of the Tay Cities Region Deal
• A focus on key sectors, skills and infrastructure investment to stimulate the region’s digital economy
• An insight into locally funded programmes that are helping to boost jobs, productivity and innovation
• An insight into the local tech ecosystem, start-ups and funding opportunities for growth
• Understanding how regions can learn from one another, work together and partner with local and national agencies
• Networking opportunities and sharing best practice

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The Get Set Yeti app is in development, themed around a clan of yeti characters, that allows younger children to understand their emotions, through discovering ‘emotion beasties’, enabling difficult concepts to be put across in an age accessible and engaging way.

Background

Get Set Yeti is a Digital Education business, that specialises in using storytelling and character-based learning to make Growth Mindset accessible to younger children at school and at home.  They aim to level the ‘educational playing field’ by helping children from all walks of life develop the skills to become confident, resilient learners.  They also provide materials for parents to build their confidence and capacity to do the things at home that have an impact on creating solid school foundations in Early Literacy and Early Numeracy.  

Get Set Yeti supports educators and parents to help children develop learning resilience and confidence through building a growth mindset, and through emotional literacy. They offer a range of programmes and resources themed around a clan of yeti characters.  

The company came into existence through recognition of a need in the field and has been developed by its founder Carol Arnott. An experienced practitioner both in Primary and Community Education, Carol employed Growth Mindset techniques initially to develop a rhyming story to help local families struggling with learning confidence. The story of “The Yeti’s Roar” was born, developed into a book which grew into a learning programme that was successfully trialled in several local schools and nurseries in the Dundee area.  

Developing the programme became a passion of Carol’s and with the help of Business Gateway and the Elevator Business Accelerator, where Carol was introduced to Interface, her business began and demand quickly developed to the stage of looking to grow the team and expand into other cities – then Covid hit.  Unable to get into schools due to closures and distancing regulations and with other contracts put on hold it became apparent that digital learning was the way forward.  A new site was built and ‘Get Set Yeti’ evolved and grew. 

The Challenge

Get Set Yeti was created to provide Growth Mindset resources for children under 8 due to the lack of material available. In the educational climate, there was a growing need for children to learn to be more resilient in learning and it was widely recognised that learning to develop a ‘Growth Mindset’ could successfully meet this need. 

Get Set Yeti was interested in developing an app or platform that could help young children understand and process emotions using Growth Mindset to help maintain positive mental health.   

The Solution

Through the Accelerator in Dundee, Carol met Lorna Watson of Interface who identified University of Dundee’s Dr Michael Crabb (School of Science and Engineering) and Dr Alexia Barrable (School of Education and Social Work) who had the required academic expertise to develop an app that could help younger children develop emotional literacy and self-regulation. This initial project was taken forward with a £5000 Standard Innovation Voucher.  

The team at the University of Dundee helped initialise ‘The Yeti Field Guide to Feelings’ app to help children develop emotional literacy, supported by parents and educators.   

Based on the premise that deep in the forest on top of Yeti Mountain the yetis sometimes come across ‘Emotion Beasties’ that have escaped from children in the villages below. Once caught, the yetis learn how to look after them using their special book ‘The Yeti Field Guide to Feelings’.  They learn that caring for feelings takes practise and learn techniques to manage them through online interaction and additional printable activities and resources.   

The app will incorporate: 

This innovation sits right at the heart of Get Set Yeti’s core strategy as it uses process design to help children and families understand difficult concepts and gives them the tools to develop skills to learn successfully using Growth Mindset techniques. 

The Benefits

The Next Steps

Get Set Yeti have transitioned through the restrictions brought about by Covid19, transforming from a localised, face-to-face delivery company to an online-learning portal with international potential.  

Following on from this initial project the relationship between Interface and Get Set Yeti has continued to grow and there have been several more successful student projects/placements for a range of things from marketing to behavioural analysis as follows: 

Due the restrictions brought about through Covid19 Get Set Yeti pivoted to produce a digital version of their material and with the help of Abertay University the company developed a digital marketing strategy to promote their digital offering and transform from a localised business to offer their products nationally and develop a marketing campaign to appeal to local authorities, head teachers, infant teachers and parents. 
 
A successful student placement project with the University of West of Scotland helped Get Set Yeti achieve a targeted marketing campaign appealing to potential clients and partners; utilising social media and other appropriate available channels. 

The University of Stirling undertook some behavioural analysis to help Get Set Yeti understand and develop customer personas to allow them to enter new markets and target their future campaigns for maximum impact.  
 
University of Highlands and Islands students are currently working directly with the Musical Director and CEO to help devise a digital marketing and social media campaign to promote an album of original ‘Yeti Songs’ to enhance the delivery of Growth Mindset learning to younger children and their families. 
 
 

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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This event will unpack what Techscaler means for you and your region.

Open to everyone, connect with CodeBase representatives, regional partners, ecosystem stakeholders, and members of the tech community.

Representatives of CodeBase will be joined by regional partners and members of our community to discuss how Techscaler activity will provide support, enable collaboration, and facilitate growth within the Scottish tech ecosystem.

This event will feature a panel discussion and a Q&A session with the audience, followed by an opportunity to network with fellow attendees.

This event is taking place in-person at:
The Abertay CyberQuarter
Abertay University
Bell Street
Dundee
DD1 1HG

For more information go to https://www.techscaler.co.uk/

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The Transform Business Festival is coming to Tayside

The Transform Business Festival will connect entrepreneurs, start-ups and businesses of all shapes and sizes and will support you in developing your Tayside business.

What’s happening:     

For more information and to register

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