This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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SMART Scotland funding
01/11/2004
More than £1 million to help small companies
commercialise their innovative products was announced today
from the latest round of funding from the Executive's
SMART:SCOTLAND programme.
The winning projects cover a wide range of sectors such
as environmental, biotechnology and information technology,
together with new solutions for sport and healthcare
applications.
Developments include:
- a sensor which could help detect harmful chemical
emissions on oil rigs
- a radiation sensor to help tailor cancer treatment
more closely to patients' exact needs
- an anti-ageng ingredient for cosmetic products
Deputy Enterprise Minister Allan Wilson said:
"Growing the economy is our top priority. That is why we
are committed to promoting the exploitation of innovation
and research by Scottish businesses. We want to ensure that
Scotland benefits from Scotland's creativity and
enterprise.
"Support mechanisms like SMART:SCOTLAND can help achieve
these aims by stimulating the creation of new, innovative
businesses. It can help small businesses improve their
competitiveness by developing new products and processes
that have the potential for commercialisation."
The SMART awards help new and existing businesses with
fewer than 50 employees gain a competitive edge in the
market by funding the development of highly innovative and
commercially viable products or processes.
In this funding round, 21 companies throughout Scotland
are to receive a share of just over £1 million.
The funding will allow the companies to undertake
technical feasibility studies. A further £3.15 million is
available under the Executive's SPUR scheme to take
projects to pre-production stage.
SMART:SCOTLAND 2004 ROUND 2 WINNERS:
1. Ace Aquatec, Dingwall
DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH CONDUCTIVITY FISH STUNNING
TECHNOLOGY
Ace Aquatec will use their SMART Award to develop the
knowledge to humanely stun/kill three commercially farmed
marine species: sea trout, salmon & cod. A machine to
demonstrate this novel technique will be built during the
project. This system will offer significant advantages over
current slaughter methods.
Contact: John Ace-Hopkins
Telephone: 01349 863319
Email: john@aceaquatec.com
Website:
www.aceaquatec.com
2. Advanced Display Solutions, Hillington
MOBILE NARROWCASTING (WIRELESS LAN)
The SMART Award will enable Advanced Display Solutions
Ltd to develop wireless LAN media transfer technology for
challenging, outdoor environments, specifically digital
signage on moving passenger transport vehicles.
Combining low voltage wireless media players with Flat
Panel Display products, the technology will primarily be
used for the digital delivery of visual content through a
network of displays in mobile, out-of-home settings.
The principal applications will be advertising and
public information media transfer with content delivery
centrally managed and controlled via Wide Area
Networks.
Contact: Mr George McBride
Tel: 0141 585 6425
Email: george@adscomm.co.uk
Website:
www.adscomm.co.uk
3. Aktina Limited, Lasswade
DEVELOPMENT OF NOVEL METAL INTERCONNECTS ON GLASS
SUBSTRATES
The SMART Award will enable this company to apply their
novel nanotechnology to devise improved methods of
precisely depositing high-resolution metal interconnects
onto glass (and ceramic) substrates.
This technology offers excellent solderability, and has
a wide range of potential applications, including flat
panel displays and RoHS-compliant surface-mount electronic
devices.
Contact: Professor James Cairns
Tel: 01382 344 401
Email: james@aktina.co.uk
Website: N/A
4. Aristos Scientific Ltd, Cardenden
DEVELOPMENT OF A SYNTHETIC CHEMICAL VACCINE AGAINST
HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS
The SMART Award will enable this company to apply their
novel lipid-based technology to develop a synthetic
chemical vaccine, of the type epitope - carrier - adjuvant.
This technology will be applied for the production of a
preventative vaccine specifically against Herpes Simplex
Virus Type I.
Contact: Dr William Gibbons
Tel: 07733 031233
Email: gibbonswa@aol.com
Website: N/A
5. BID Instruments Ltd, Aberdeen
DEVELOPMENT OF A VISUAL FIELD TESTER
The SMART Award will help BID Instruments Ltd to assess
the feasibility of developing a novel system for measuring
the field of vision of eye patients. If successful, the
technology will offer improvements over existing visual
field testers used by high street optometrists in terms of
speed, accuracy and ease of use. This will help in the
early detection of eye disease
Contact: Dr Blair Donaldson
Tel: 01224 641166
Email: wbmdonaldson@doctors.org.uk
Website: N/A
6. BlueSky Telemetry Ltd, Aberfeldy
DEVELOPMENT OF SPORTRAX GPS PERFORMANCE TRACKING
SYSTEM
The SMART Award will enable BlueSky Telemetry to develop
a SporTraX GPS performance tracking system. This technology
will be used in performance sporting applications including
horse training/racing and adventure sports.
Contact: Dr Ian Hulbert
Tel: 01887 820816
Email: i.hulbert@blueskytelemetry.com
Website:
www.blueskytelemetry.com
7. Cascade Technologies Ltd, Glasgow
DEVELOPMENT OF A HYDROGEN SULPHIDE SENSOR
The SMART award will enable Cascade to investigate the
feasibility of developing a low cost Quantum Cascade Laser
(QCL) gas sensor. The technology is likely to be ideally
suited to health and safety applications on oil rigs by
detecting harmful chemical emissions such as hydrogen
sulphide and hydrocarbons from oil wells. Such a sensor
would provide a step change in technological performance
combining ultra high reliability with long term stability
and fail safe operation.
Contact: Richard Cooper
Tel: 0141 303 8381
Email: r.cooper@cascade-technologies.com
Website:
www.cascade-technologies.com
8. Detector and Sensor Technologies Ltd, Glenrothes
DEVELOPMENT OF AN IMPROVED RADFET SENSOR AND READER
TECHNOLOGY FOR RADIOTHERAPY DOSIMETRY
The SMART Award will enable this company to develop a
miniaturised, silicon-based radiation sensor and dose
monitoring system. This device will be used to monitor the
dose of radiation applied during cancer treatment. The
development of an in-vivo monitor will allow treatments to
be more closely tailored to patients exact needs.
Contact: Jim Sweet
Tel: 01592 630630
Email: jimsweet25@yahoo.co.uk
Website: N/A
9. Eolas Research Ltd, Edinburgh
DEVELOPMENT OF AN ANTI-AGEING COSMETIC INGREDIENT
The SMART award will enable Eolas to investigate the
action of a plant extract as a cytokine inhibitor and its
potential use as an anti-ageing ingredient for cosmetic
products. If successful, commercial production of the
extract may be desirable over other products due to the
extract being a natural component of a known 'safe'
plant.
Contact: Iain Forbes/Bill Forbes
Tel: 0131 667 4203
Email: N/A
Website: N/A
10. Greenward Environmental Technology, Milnathort
RECYCLING OF PVC RICH WASTE
The SMART Award will enable this new company to develop
a catalyst for the destruction of PVC waste. This novel
technology will result in the cleaning up of chlorinated
hydrocarbon emissions and converting these into marketable
products.
Contact: Dr David Hutson
Tel: 01577 861 852
Email: david@greenward.com
Website: N/A
11. Nordeng (Scot) Ltd, Aberdeen
DEVELOPMENT OF A WAVE ENERGY CONVERTER
The SMART Award will help this company to assess the
feasibility of developing a novel wave energy machine,
which will generate electricity from wave power. If
successful, this technology aims to offer much improved
power to unit mass outputs together with low construction
costs when compared to existing systems.
Contact: Mr George Smith
Tel: 01224 865325
Email: george@nordeng.co.uk
Website: N/A
12. Ovisor Technologies, Glasgow
VIABILITY OF INTEGRATION PLATFORM
The SMART Award will enable this company to undertake a
feasibility study to identify the optimum configuration for
the reduction of cross-talk effects for integration
platforms in datacom and telecom networks.
Contact: Dr Jim Bonar
Tel: 0141-229 1414
Email: jim.bonar@ovisor.com
Website: N/A
13. Paravox Ltd, Edinburgh
AUTOMATIC SPOKEN LANGUAGE IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM
(ALIS)
The SMART award will enable Paravox Limited to develop
an innovative technique for identifying languages from
speech. If successful, this technology will revolutionise
current speech based systems by making them multilingual.
The applications include multilingual call-centres, speech
recognition systems, multimedia databases, service-centers,
security, automatic conference and meeting suites, speech
to speech translators to name a few.
Contact: Mr Fahd Baig
Tel: 07800763184
e-mail: fahdbaig@yahoo.com
Website: N/A
14. Phytobiotics Ltd, Edinburgh
ANTIVIRAL DRUG HYBRIDS
The SMART Award will enable Phytobiotics to develop its
antiviral drug hybrid concept to an advanced pre-clinical
stage. The technology is based upon a plant-derived
compound which can be attached to certain antiviral drugs
to form hybrids with two separate modes of action and
therefore improved clinical efficacy where drug resistance
is a problem.
Contact: Mr Tom Prescott
Tel: 07791149322
Email: T.A.K.Prescott@sms.ed.ac.uk
Website:
www.phytobiotics.co.uk
15. Red Spider Technology Ltd, Aberdeen
CONCEPTUAL FLOW CONTROL DEVICE
Red Spider Technology Ltd will use their SMART award to
develop and design a conceptual flow control device for use
in oil or gas wells. The tool will remove the need for well
intervention during the installation of a completion
string. This will increase safety and reduce operating
costs for customers.
Contact: Chris Oliver
Tel: 01224 330537
Email: sales@redspiders.com
Website:
www.redspiders.com
16. SAFC Ltd, St Andrews
DEVELOPMENT OF A SOLID OXIDE FUEL CELL MARK II
The SMART Award will enable this new company to develop
a Mark II design for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells. This
technology will improve the power density of single cells
and enhance electrical performance reducing the number of
cells required for a fuel stack.
Contact: Professor John Irvine
Tel: 01334 463817
Email: jtsi@st-and.ac.uk
Website: N/A
17. SMAR-Azure Tech, Edinburgh
INTEGRATED SAIL AND MAST DESIGN
This project aims to investigate and assess the
technological and commercial viability of integrating the
design of semi-rigid structures, such as masts/poles in the
design of thin large and flexible surfaces e.g. sails.
This technology will have application within the marine
industry and can also be used for the design of any other
structure utilising cloth and poles.
Contact: Dr Sabrina Malpede
Tel: 07919 888654
Email: smalpe10@caledonian.ac.uk
Website: N/A
18. UVPS Environmental Solutions Ltd, Aberdeen
DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL PHOTO-CATALYTIC REACTOR FOR WATER
TREATMENT
The SMART Award will help UVPS Environmental Solutions
to assess the feasibility of developing a novel reactor
technology for the destruction of harmful micro-organisms
in water cooled air conditioning units. If successful, this
technology will address the increasing need for sustainable
and effective methods for the removal of dangerous bacteria
from water.
Contact: Mr Neil Foster
Tel: 01224 262024
Email: nfoster@oldmilldesign.co.uk
Website: N/A
19. Voicekwik Ltd, Edinburgh
SPEAKER DEPENDENT ISOLATED WORD RECOGNISER
This SMART award application is for a technical and
commercial feasibility study into the development of a
novel and highly innovative speech recognition solution for
elderly personal alarm systems. Significant Proof of
Concept work has been carried out during a Scottish
Enterprise funded project, in terms of market research and
speech interface requirements.
Contact: Mark Cowper
Tel: N/A
Email: mark_cowper@yahoo.co.uk
Website: N/A
20. Whole Life Consultants Ltd, Dundee
WHOLE LIFE COST ESTIMATOR
The SMART Award will enable Whole Life Consultants Ltd
to develop unique software for optimising whole life costs
and revenues more quickly and accurately than their
competitors.
Contact: Prof. R. Malcolm W. Horner
Tel: 01382 344350
Email: r.m.w.horner@dundee.ac.uk
Website: N/A
21. XiPower, Torpichen
EMBEDDED BATTERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
The SMART Award will enable Xipower to prove the concept
of a new embedded battery management system. If successful
the technology will increase the available useful energy
from Lithium chemistry battery packs, provide greater
accuracy of 'State of Charge' and 'State of Health' data
and offers adaptable configurations to accommodate
different cell connectivity.
Contact: Mark Huggins
Tel: (01506) 630449
e-mail: mark.huggins@xipower.com
website:
www.xipower.com