In October Interface launched the first ever Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards.
These awards build upon the previous Interface Excellence Awards and ensure that all academic and business collaborations in Scotland can be recognised, not only those that facilitated by Interface, Interface Food & Drink or Innovation Voucher Funding.
Launching the Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards will provide a platform to celebrate many achievements and successes including the outstanding track record of Scottish academia in the co-creation of innovative products, processes and services from knowledge exchange, to celebrate Interface’s 10th Anniversary and to celebrate the 2016 Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design.
We have been delighted to hear of the ongoing successes of previous Interface award winners who continue to be in the spotlight; Mara Seaweed, winners of the Sustainable Partnership Award, produce an award-winning range of shake-on seaweed seasonings and healthy salts and marketed as "Flavours of Scotland". Mara launched in Harrods in 2014 and is now on sale in M&S nationwide. Filling the Western demand for high flavour, healthy salt alternatives, Mara is now making inroads into the Asian market, where seaweed is part of the daily diet. Their accolades continue with a nomination for the Best Producer Finalist in 2015 BBC Food & Farming Awards.
Perth based Loadfast Systems who were winners of Innovation of the Year through their partnership with Glasgow Caledonian University have been extending their international customer base throughout Georgia, Louisiana and Texas in the US visiting over 50 clients to discuss their unique engineering products.
Celebrating the achievements of the winners is only one aspect of the awards, we also want to inspire other companies to engage with academia and therefore we have invited an impressive line-up of speakers and workshop hosts to join us and highlight their innovation journey.
Dr Steve Otto, for instance, a mathematician, formerly of The University of Birmingham, who has headed the R&A's Research and Testing work since 2004, will join us to highlight what he and his team have achieved by working with academia and how these collaborations have shaped golf across the world.
John Sturrock QC, founder and chief executive of Core Solutions will join us to emphasise the importance of collaborative working, highlighting the best ways to achieve strong and successful partnerships.
Workshop hosts and speakers including Sansooz, Snap 40 and Coast & Glen will talk about their journeys and how they have utilised the range of support available in Scotland, including academia, to develop new products, processes and services to enter new markets and stimulate business growth.
Our hope is that the event will illustrate to other businesses the wealth of benefits that partnering with Scotland’s world-leading academic and research institutions can bring and inspire them to Go DO.
The Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards are free to attend, for more information and to register your attendance click here.