Innovative companies commit £4.7m to R&D projects in Scotland

Two Scotland-based companies, Sciencesoft Limited and SHE Software Limited, are collectively committing over £4.7m to their R&D projects in Scotland to improve their global competitive advantage and increase revenue. The two projects are being supported by £1.9m of Scottish Enterprise R&D grants and will secure 56 jobs for Scotland.

The news comes on the same day that Paul Wheelhouse MSP, Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy visits both companies to recognise and endorse their investment.

Oil and gas software company, Sciencesoft Limited, is to embark on a new research and development project which it hopes will increase its revenue by over £21m on completion of the project, securing 28 jobs.

The software engineering firm based in Glasgow has received £1.5m R&D funding from Scottish Enterprise towards its £3.6m project to develop an integrated solution for chemical enhanced oil recovery (CEOR) reservoir simulation.

The project will supplement Sciencesoft’s existing software offerings with four novel products allowing engineers to build, control, simulate and analyse reservoir simulation models within a single software solution.

East Kilbride-based SHE Software Limited specialises in highly configurable cloud-based health and safety software. It receives £415,000 in R&D funding towards its £1.1m R&D project to help accelerate development of its next generation software solution, Assure 2.0 and will secure 28 jobs.

SHE’s current market is mainly SMEs and smaller corporates where those with legal or functional responsibility for operations find traditional approaches to managing health and safety are no longer adequate. SHE’s cloud-based solution is highly cost effective as it reduces the administrative burden associated with achieving and maintaining health and safety compliance.

The company’s ‘Assure’ solution is used by more than 160 organisations with half a million users worldwide. SHE expanded its presence into the Asia Pacific region in 2015 with Scottish Development International support.

Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy Paul Wheelhouse said: “Promoting innovation is an incredibly powerful way of supporting economic growth and creating a sustainably prosperous society - through boosting productivity, improving efficiency in use of resources and potentially enabling higher wages to be afforded.

"The sheer diversity of innovation that already exists here is something to be strongly commended and I want to reiterate that the Scottish Government want to support more ambitious and innovative companies in every corner of the country.

"I am delighted to confirm today that, thanks to funding such as has been awarded to Sciencesoft and SHE Software of £1.5m and £415,000, and ongoing support from the Scottish Government's Enterprise agencies, more companies are being enabled to develop and profit from innovative new products."

Focussed on supporting higher levels of innovation activity in Scotland, Scottish Enterprise firmly believes that putting innovation at the heart of a business will lead to increased efficiency, productivity and sales as well as open up additional growth opportunities through improved competitiveness.

Jim Watson, Director of Innovation and Enterprise Services at Scottish Enterprise, said: “Increasingly the oil and gas sector needs to look outwith Scotland for growth opportunities. To do that, it needs to be globally competitive – innovation is the key.

“Together with the Energy Jobs Taskforce and Industry Leadership Group, supporting higher levels of innovation is a priority for us. That’s why in February we prioritised £10 million to help more oil and gas companies reduce the risk of investing in R&D. Sciencesoft is a great example of this type of company, already attributing 90 per cent of its turnover to international activity.

“As Scotland’s innovation agency, we want every company in every sector to embrace innovation and reap the benefits it brings. Companies like Sciencesoft and SHE Software have built a persistent and sustained culture of business innovation and it’s this approach that is keeping them ahead of their competitors. These are commercialised products that will generate revenue for the company. Both companies have ambitious growth plans and we wish them every success with their latest projects.”

Sciencesoft Director of Sales and Marketing, William Wood, said: “Our previous innovation projects, also supported with Scottish Enterprise innovation grants, resulted in technologies that are now integrated into our commercial products. We’re confident that this latest project will deliver even more business value, potentially up to £21 million in revenue for us.”

Matthew Elson, Chief Executive of SHE Software, commented: “This R&D grant means we can accelerate delivery of our R&D project by 24 months, helping us secure our market leadership and increasing our global opportunities to grow. We already operate in a number of countries throughout Europe and the Americas, and we’re keen to further expand into Asia Pacific.“