Winners announced at Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards

A unique technology for the construction industry offering immersive 'walk throughs' of unbuilt houses and a technique for new drug discovery are among the winners of The Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards 2018.

 

The Innovation of the Year was awarded to a family-owned business, Norscot Joinery Ltd, in Caithness, which builds kit homes.

 

The company partnered with University of Strathclyde to research and develop virtual reality show home software combining advanced interactive visualisation of buildings with Building Information Modelling data. It will allow clients to immerse themselves in a house before it is built and interact with the design process, providing a better understanding of cost impacts of design changes.

 

Other winners were:

 

Building Skills through Knowledge Exchange: Petra Crocker, KTP Associate from Edinburgh Napier University, worked with Multiply UK Ltd in Edinburgh to create a real-time digital consumer tool to drive the expansion and reputation of the company as industry experts in planning and insight.

 

Social and Environmental Impact: Moock Environmental Solutions Ltd (Cumbernauld) and University of Dundee for a project to recycle print toner powder for use across a range of applications including art, construction and animal medicines.

 

Multiparty Collaboration: European Lead Factory - University of Dundee European Screening Centre Newhouse, BioAscent Discovery, Pivot Park Screening Centre, Lygature, the University of Oxford and 30 private and public partners across Europe for providing access to high-throughput screening to test medicinal compounds leading to the creation of new medicines.

 

Outstanding Contribution to Knowledge Exchange: Professor Bill Buchanan, School of Computing, Edinburgh Napier University. Bill leads knowledge exchange through many collaborative projects and industry-led events and engagements which have contributed greatly to growing a thriving Scottish cyber security community.

 

The annual awards, run by Interface, celebrate the impacts achieved through business-academic partnerships. This year’s event at the Royal Bank of Scotland Conference Centre in Edinburgh was attended by 300 people.

 

Speakers included Steve Stewart, from the award-winning independent craft brewery Stewart Brewing, and Professor Eleanor Shaw, Hunter Centre of Entrepreneurship, University of Strathclyde.

 

Dr Siobhán Jordan, of Interface, said: 'The diversity of business-academic partnerships in this year’s awards is impressive and testament to innovation thriving in the business-academic community.

 

'The winners have great potential to impact on society, the environment and the economy, while many of the partnerships demonstrate a variety of unexpected collaborations, for example, matching a joinery company with virtual reality experts.'