This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
Listen
Small firms scoop £4 million innovation prize
24/09/2001
Innovation was rewarded today when 27 up-and-coming
businesses shared £4 million of prize money in the 2001
SMART:SCOTLAND Competition.
SMART:SCOTLAND, which is now in its fifth year, helps new
and existing small businesses, with less than 50 employees,
gain a competitive edge in the market by funding the
development of innovative and commercially viable products.
Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Wendy
Alexander today announced the results of the first two rounds
of the annual competition. The winners have attracted over £1.2
million funding to test the feasibility of their research and
development projects, with further funds of over £2.8 million
available to take projects through to a pre-production
prototype stage.
Ms Alexander said:
"The Scottish Executive is creating a pipeline of support to
transform our brightest innovations into successful business
opportunities.
"SMART:SCOTLAND plays a fundamental role in helping small
companies develop new leading edge products and processes. The
outstanding quality and range of projects which have come
through the competition this year, demonstrate the global
market potential of Scottish innovation.
"SMART funding provides a springboard for small companies in
overcoming financial barriers at the early stages of their
research and development projects. In today's competitive
climate it can give Scottish companies the edge which allows
them to grow and prosper.
"SMART also provides a highly effective commercialisation
route for the world class research emanating from Scotland's
Universities and Research Institutes.
"Developing an environment to support a knowledge-driven
economy is at the heart of our ambitions for Scotland. The
continued ability of industry in Scotland to remain competitive
and sustain its own development is dependent on showing a high
commitment to research and development.
"Forward looking business will be the industry leaders of
tomorrow. The Scottish Executive is committed to supporting and
promoting leading edge research and development within
industry. Today's SMART winners provide excellent examples of
Scottish business investing, with Executive support, in their
future success."
BACKGROUND
1: A full list of award winners for the first and second
rounds of the SMART:SCOTLAND 2001 Competition are detailed
below. Media may directly approach the companies for further
information.
2: Entries for SMART:SCOTLAND can be submitted at any time
of the year by individuals planning to start a business in
Scotland and by existing small firms/groups with less than
50 employees. Applicants should have either an annual turnover
not exceeding EURO 7 million (approx. £4.42 million) or a
balance sheet total not exceeding EURO 5 million (approx. £3.16
million
3: There are three rounds of judging each year and the
maximum award is £45,000. Winners who successfully complete
their projects and require additional assistance to develop a
pre-production prototype can apply for further funding under
the second stage of SMART. This stage is non-competitive and
grant is available at 35 per cent of the eligible project
costs, subject to a maximum grant of £150,000 for both stages.
Second stage projects must last between six and thirty six
months.
SMART:SCOTLAND 2001, ROUND ONE WINNERS
1. Century Subsea Ltd: Aberdeen
- Subsea technology to enable remotely operated
vehicles to operate independently of surface support
vessels.
Contact: Mr Mark Vorenkamp
Tel: 01224 560500
2. The Crystal Consortium Ltd: Glasgow - Novel
methods for improving spatial uniformity in
piezo-crystals.
Contact: Hugh Gallagher
Tel: 0141 548 4015
3. Hamdeen (UK) Ltd: Aberdeen - Coiled tubing
percussion drilling.
Contact: Mr Rory Cooper
Tel: 01224 252725
4. Internet Design Tools Ltd: Edinburgh - Large
scale simulation to support the design of internet quality
of service networks.
Contact: Martin Westhead
Tel: 0131 478 1169
5. Intexia Ltd: Midlothian - 3-D Ink-jet texturing
for embossing rollers.
Contact: Dr Jonathan Muhl
Tel: 0131 440 3969
6. Luminous Technology Ltd:
Greenock - Optically Active Coating System for dry film
thickness measurement.
Contact: Bill Cooper
Tel: 01475 793600
7. Nandi Biotechnology Ltd:
Edinburgh - Spray-drying technology for the manufacture
of fat replacement products in the food industry.
Contact: Dr Lydia Campbell
Tel: 0131 451 3458
8. Technology Transfer Centre Ltd: Glasgow -
Development of a novel cochlear implant.
Contact: Dr Oonagh Loughran
Tel: 01786 447520
SMART:SCOTLAND 2001, ROUND TWO WINNERS
9. Affective Media Ltd: Edinburgh - Interacting
emotionally with mobile devices.
Contact: Christian Jones
Tel: 0131 451 3732
10. Alba Ultrasound Ltd: Glasgow - Ultrasound Multi
Frequency developments.
Tel: 0141 548 2694
11. Applied Generics Ltd: Penicuik - Urban traffic
analysis software for mobile network industry.
Contact: Joe Dixon
Tel: 01968 670572
12. AquaPharm Bio-Discovery Ltd: Anstruther - Novel
marine dietary product for the aquaculture
industry.
Contact: Dr Andrew Mearns Spragg
Tel: 07769 583314
13. Aquatic Diagnostics Ltd: Stirling -
Commercialisation of immunodiagnostic reagants for use in
aquaculture.
Contact: Dr Alexandra Adams
Tel: 01786 467910
14. Dr D Fraser Clark: Paisley - The development of
a novel gas sensing technology.
Contact: Dr Fraser Clark
Tel: 0141 848 3408
15. Colonsay Communications Ltd: Coatbridge - Novel
multiplexing technology and systems for fibre-optic
metropolitan networks.
Contact: Wei Huang
Tel: 01236 702005
16. Digital Paradigm Ltd: Coatbridge - Development
of a machine learning system for marking free-form text
answers.
Contact: Dr Tom Mitchell
Tel: 01236 702012
17. ExpressOn BioSystems Ltd: Edinburgh - Antisense
as a controllable therapeutic in the nervous
system.
Contact: Peter Estibeiro
Tel: 0131 650 3731
18. Fourth Person Ltd: Edinburgh - Automatic text
generation: Generic tools for domain capture.
Contact: Jo Calder
Tel: 0131 650 4656
19. GeoWise Ltd: Edinburgh - The development of a
geographic information processing and delivery system
(GIPDS).
Contact: Mike Forster
Tel: 0131 624 8935
20. Glycologic Ltd: Glasgow - Slow release
aspirin.
Contact: Dr Richard Tester
Tel: 0141 331 8514
21. Hanon Solutions Ltd: Glasgow - A Hand-Held
Acquisition Notebook On-line (HANON) for Police
Officers
Contact: Roy Hawes
Tel: 0141 585 6363
22. Infogistics Ltd: Edinburgh - Text mining
technology for rapid building of document understanding
software.
Contact: Andrei Mikheev
Tel: 0131 554 6461
23. Metachip Ltd: Edinburgh - System level design
tools for system-on-chip design.
Contact: Mr Mark Doughty
Tel: 07811 178730
24. Optosci Ltd: Glasgow - Integrated fibre optic
methane/CO
2 sensing system for landfill site
applications.
Contact: Dr Douglas Walsh
Tel: 0141 552 7020
25. QICC Ltd: Ayr - Automated
immunostaimer.
Contact: Robert Johnston
Tel: 01292 674139
26. Smart Tech Worldwide Ltd: Aberdeen - An expert
system for compliance.
Contact: Mr Robert Taylor
Tel: 01224 635976
27. Waste Solutions Group Plc: Aberdeen - The
development of a novel organic liquid feed containing plant
growth regulators.
Contact: Bill Slater
Tel: 01224 580600