The future's clean for Scotland's latest innovators

The nine projects span a variety of industries and were chosen for support as they have the greatest potential to result in spin-out companies and/or licensing agreements to existing businesses, which will ultimately help grow Scotland’s economy.  Each project awarded support has to demonstrate the quality of the research idea and the existing market demand for the resulting product or service.

Eleanor Taylor, head of the Proof of Concept Programme, comments, “We firmly believe each of these projects has the potential for commercial success in the near future.  Businesses help to grow our economy, and this just one of the ways Scottish Enterprise helps innovative, globally competitive, new Scottish businesses.  We need Scotland’s universities, research institutes and businesses to embrace innovation as the foundation for competitive advantage.

“Interestingly, we are seeing more and more ‘clean technology’ projects coming through the application process, with three projects in this announcement.  Rising fuel costs, reducing carbon footprints and creating sustainable businesses are high on the agenda for both businesses and investors.  

“While the ‘clean tech’ sector is relatively new, market forecasts predict growth of between $6 and $20 trillion in the next 20 years.  Scotland’s researchers have picked up on this, and are delivering some cutting edge ideas as a result.  I believe Scotland has a real opportunity, based on experience in areas like the energy sector, to lead the ‘clean tech’ charge.”

Through the Proof of Concept Programme, Scotland’s world-renowned research is being transformed into companies with the potential to grow and become world leaders in their fields.  One project from the University of Aberdeen, ‘Human derived repellents against midges’ which secured Programme support in 2003, entered its latest test phase at the weekend at the First Monster Challenge in Loch Lomond, where 1,000 athletes were protected from midges, demonstrating the commercial application of the technology.  

Commercialisation of research has also resulted in companies such as Lumicure, Brinker and Biopta, which were created from early Proof of Concept Programme projects and have achieved commercial success as spin-outs.  

Since the Programme started in 1999, almost 900 applications have been received with £41 million of support given to 217 groundbreaking projects.  These have resulted in 42 new spin-out companies and 44 licensing deals, creating over 500 jobs, and leveraging over £235 million of public and private investment which would not otherwise have happened in Scotland.

The projects being announced today, by industry sector, are:

Enabling technologies and engineering

• Novel biologically-inspired DNA fingerprinting and analysis system for verifiable digital forensics (Napier University)

Digital Forensic (DF) investigations are an increasingly common result of security incidents within a wide range of organisations. Thus, due to the increased importance, and sensitivity, of the data stored on distributed systems, common questions as to who, what, where and how, are asked for legal prosecution, and for auditing/compliance activities.  This project is a novel method of collecting and analysing data to provides a ‘genetic’ fingerprint of system activity, and can provide a level of assurance in the use of DNA evidence.

• Compostella – a novel high precision position measurement system (University of Glasgow)

Compostella (field of stars) is a disruptive technology which permits position to be measured with extremely high precision at very low cost.  This system will be the first single device capable of measuring in six axes and will interest all users of microscope and optics stages. These are used in scientific research as well as by manufacturers of consumer electronics, machine tools, robotics and the automotive, astronomical, semiconductor, life and health sciences, defence and aerospace sectors. The precision measurement market is large, global and growing.

Energy – Renewables

• Renewable energy from novel environmental waste (Napier University)

This project will develop a biological process for production of butanol-biofuel from the biological waste stream of an indigenous Scottish industry.  There are widely-reported problems associated with the existing biofuel industry, particularly with regard to bio-ethanol, relating to renewable substrates and overall efficiency.  The opportunity therefore exists to develop a competitive sustainable UK biofuel industry.

• Carbon tolerant low temperature fuel cell for energy generation and transport applications (University of Aberdeen)

This project seeks to develop a new fuel cell which will have a major impact on the fuel cell market.  One current critical technical drawback of low temperature fuel cells is the strong adsorption of carbon monoxide on the anode in cells using carbon-containing fuels, significantly decreasing cell performance and durability.  By designing and constructing a 300W fuel cell stack, a new prototype will be developed to attract commercial investment.

Energy

• Low cost manufacture of anodes for solid oxide fuel cells (Napier University)

This proof of concept proposal will reduce the cost and processing difficulties associated with the manufacture of solid oxide fuel cell anodes.  The project will help establish a Scottish manufacturing facility providing high quality employment to a global fuel cell market. It will provide Scotland with an important foothold in an industry that will become increasingly important  The recent Frost & Sullivan Report (2006) predicts that ‘commercialisation of fuel cells will commence around the end of this decade’ and this Proof of Concept will ensure that Scottish inventiveness, expertise and industry will be an integral part of this commercialisation.

• User-configurable and proactive condition monitoring (University of Strathclyde)

The electricity industry struggles to unlock the true value of investment in SCADA, condition monitoring and automation systems. Each system, typically, has its own dedicated user interface, built at the time of installation, to provide access to the data. This introduces a number of problems, including emergence of data silos; new data sources are not automatically available to users; costly and difficult to implement data analysis functions and intelligence; there is no flexibility in the format that data is delivered; and skilled personnel are required to interpret multiple interfaces.

Through the use of Intelligent Software Agents, the Proof of Concept project will develop a toolkit allowing all of these disparate data sources to converge on a single intuitive user interface. Any user will be able to independently configure access to the source data and tailor the intelligence for customised, useful, information.

Chemicals

• Chemical based DNA sequencing and SNP analysis (University of Edinburgh)

Technologies for analysing DNA play a pivotal role in understanding disease states, enabling diagnosis and delivery of specific therapies as well as providing clues to understanding disease propensities at an individual level.  A key approach to enable this to take place efficiently is the ability to carry out both DNA sequencing as well as SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) analysis.  Although current technologies have moved on-apace, they are all currently highly expensive utilising enzymes and very expensive reagents.  This project aims to deliver, in Scotland, a totally unique and enzyme-free approach to genetic analysis, offering a totally revolutionary means of DNA analysis which would not only rival existing approaches but make them redundant.

Construction

• Microbe mop-up: a novel method for microbial decontamination of building materials (University of Dundee)

The wide use of concrete in the nuclear industry has resulted in severe contamination of concrete surfaces with radionuclides. A substantial proportion of decommissioning costs is spent decontaminating concrete, currently using physical and chemical methods of removal. This project proposes that such microbial geochemical activity can provide a means to decontaminate surfaces using an approach that is efficient, controllable, environmentally-friendly, and cost-effective. A patent application will be filed and the technology demonstrated to a level that will reduce the risk to future commercial investors.

Shipbuilding and marine

• A biological approach for ship ballast water treatment (University of Strathclyde)

This project seeks to further extend and commercialise results obtained from a recent study on using a discrete group of chemicals to treat ship ballast water to prevent the introduction of non-indigenous marine species transferred by ships’ ballast water. A preliminary study has identified chemicals which are very effective and specific in killing the unwanted marine organisms in seawater under laboratory conditions. This proof of concept project will apply a biological test protocol as a diagnostic assessment, to challenge and contribute to the development of IMO (The International Maritime Organisation) current standards for type approval of a system.  The project is a multi-disciplinary partnership, comprising experts in marine engineering, immunochemistry and marine biology from both Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities, with local shipping companies providing ships as test platforms.   

The Scottish Enterprise Proof of Concept Programme has awarded funding of just over £2 million to these nine projects following in-depth feasibility studies to ensure that the commercial opportunities for each project are maximised.

Notes to editors

Full project abstracts can be viewed at www.scottish-enterprise.com/proofofconcept

Proof of Concept Programme awards announced 16 September 2008:

About the Proof of Concept Programme

The Proof of Concept Programme supports the pre-commercialisation of leading-edge technologies emerging from Scotland's universities, research institutes and NHS Boards.  It helps researchers to export their ideas and inventions from the lab to the global marketplace.

Projects can be typically defined as occurring after advances made during curiosity-driven or strategic research. This is usually after a background patent has been filed, but before the following a full scale demonstration, pre-production development or prototyping or commercial funds for development have been made available.

It is not simply another source of research funding. Successful applicants must demonstrate that their ideas have originality and true commercial potential.  Ideas should have the potential to form the basis of either a new high growth business or a license to an existing company.

The Proof of Concept Programme is fully committed to exploiting research advances and encouraging Scottish innovation. This commitment is demonstrated by the projects supported by the programme, which are high risk and may take several years to become commercially

For further information on individual projects please contact the named Press Officer in the Notes to editors table above.

The Programme has £79 million to award and is developed and operated by Scottish Enterprise in partnership with key stakeholders including: Scottish Government, Universities Scotland and Scottish Higher Education Funding Council.  It is partly funded by the European Union.