Four companies based outside Scotland, working in partnership with Scottish academics, have secured up to £10,000 each in the latest round of the Scottish Inward Investment Catalyst Fund (IICF).
Delivered by Interface and the Scottish Government, the fund attracts inward investment by supporting collaborative R&D with Scottish universities focused on a fair, sustainable and inclusive low-carbon future.
The projects awarded are:
Energy Carbon Ltd (England) and Robert Gordon University to investigate the use of waste streams from their processes to develop a more sustainable supply source of materials for battery production.
Joii UK Ltd (England) and Heriot-Watt University to develop machine learning based clot detection for a menstrual health app, helping prompt earlier investigation of health conditions.
LiYF Bioethanol (Switzerland) and University of Glasgow to analyse Scottish agricultural and forestry residues for using in their advanced bioethanol process.
Replate Foods Ltd (England) and SRUC are developing a range of food products using sustainable protein sources grown in Scotland.
To date, the fund has awarded 44 projects in opportunity areas for Scotland such as energy transition, health tech and decarbonisation of transport. Through these collaborations, companies have established a physical presence in Scotland and have strengthened their relationships with the Scottish ecosystem as they expand their operations and invest further. Positive outcomes are also being realised for the academic base with further research and funding opportunities being realised as a result of many of the collaborations.
Minister for Business and Employment, Richard Lochhead, said: “The Inward Investment Catalyst Fund continues to support collaboration between innovative companies and Scotland’s universities, helping to attract new investment and strengthen our research and innovation economy.
“These early-stage partnerships lay the foundations for future investment and business growth in key sectors, supporting Scotland’s competitiveness as a location for international investment.”
Howell Davies, Interface’s Head of Strategic Programmes and Funding, added: “This has been another exciting year for the Inward Investment Catalyst Fund. In addition to the strong applications in the creative industries and food & drink sectors we have seen a concentration of innovative companies across healthtech and energy transition, reflecting the opportunities and world class expertise and facilities we have here on our doorstep.”