The University of Edinburgh Business School runs a postgraduate programme in Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

As part of the course the students work as a team of consultants to tackle the real-world challenges faced by organisations to consider approaches to managing innovation. The host organisation can be any size, private/public or third sector.

The students are tasked with identifying opportunities for innovation, selecting those that can be pursued, implementing these ideas into new products, services, processes and activities, technologies or business models, and designing a way to generate and capture value.

The projects are supervised by our academic colleagues. Past company hosts often find it a novel way to have some free consultancy done, looking at challenges from a slightly different perspective.

If this is something your organisation could be interested in, please contact Aidan Hetherington, Corporate Engagement Manager, on Aidan.Hetherington@ed.ac.uk or 0131 650 9841 for an initial chat.

The event brings a network of over 50,000 industry specialists together in some of the most challenging times the sector has faced.

Exhibitor – intellectual property specialist Marks & Clerk – is at the frontline of developing technologies and has seen first-hand how companies are coping with these stormy times.

Here Andrew Docherty, Aberdeen Office Managing Partner and oil and gas expert for Marks & Clerk looks at how the industry is still fighting despite its much publicised challenges:

“In the public sphere we often hear about job losses and sustained low oil prices as a methodology for measuring the health of the industry. And while, on the face of it, we are undoubtedly seeing an unprecedented downturn, we are still seeing key-players investing in innovation, and importantly protecting their investment through the use of the patent system, both domestically and internationally.

“That innovation may not seem obvious as businesses struggle to commit to anything against a backdrop of cutbacks and redundancies, but industry numbers and patent numbers don’t necessarily follow the same trajectory.

“Firstly, the Scottish industry maintains its significant international focus, with much of the Research and Development (R&D) efforts looking to address problems and issues in fields throughout the world. Such issues are diverse, as are the technical solutions.

“Also, while the maturity of the north-sea might hint at a decline in innovation in this region, assets still have significant reserves, and the challenges to access these reserves cost effectively is a key innovation catalyst.

“We are also at the embryonic stages of decommissioning in the north-sea, which will be active whether the industry is on its knees or not. The modern narrative of the energy market dictates that this decommissioning must be done in way that is as environmentally sound as possible, and more often than not the latest technologies are required to do so.

“We are also very aware of the ways in which companies are approaching existing technologies and processes.

“In the past the big players may have been much less risk averse, largely due to the vast sums of money moving through the sector, but now companies are looking at new and innovative ways to maximise their efficiencies.

“One cost effective way of doing this is by returning to designs, products and methods which have worked particularly well and exploring new ways to improve and prolong the life of them. It’s a traditional ‘Scots make do and mend’ kind of mentality.

“Technology driven companies are also becoming far more aware as to what constitutes a patentable invention, which has to some extent changed attitudes on where R&D and patent budgets are focussed.

“Technologies associated with computer implemented processes, such as autonomous systems, and even computational simulation techniques are becoming more and more commonplace, with many companies adopting a gold-rush attitude to protecting their intellectual property (IP) in these types of technologies.

“All of this drives innovation and of course, at its heart, we have the latest buzzword – collaboration – which, by its nature, drives the sector in a strategically forward direction and requires careful thought around shared IP.

“Companies are much more willing to work together as they are acutely aware of the position they are in. Businesses are still very precious about their patents but are more likely to share together.

“Another interesting point is the way companies employ Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

“When times are tough businesses quite often employ KPIs as a way of trying to force the narrative in an upward trajectory. And what we have noticed is that many companies are actually employing patent filings as an important KPI.

“Such a KPI can indeed provide a measure of the output of R&D efforts, but it is still fundamentally important to ensure that any patent filings continue to support business strategies and objectives – otherwise patent KPIs may become a little artificial and a bit of a numbers game.

“Finally, the downturn has made an already fiercely competitive industry even more so, and informed stakeholders in the industry view the IP system as a critical business tool in maintaining competitive advantage. IP protection therefore continues to sit very highly on the business agenda in the current climate.

“Scotland’s oil and gas industry draws from a talented and importantly active pool – despite the downturn – and as OE descends on Aberdeen this year we are sure there will be plenty of others looking to do so also.”

sensory suite 5Food lovers in Edinburgh and the Lothians are being invited to put their taste buds to the ultimate test by trying out new food and drink products before they hit the supermarket shelves.

The Scottish Centre for Food Development and Innovation at Queen Margaret University (QMU), Edinburgh is looking for eager foodies to join its Food & Drink Consumer Tasting Panels during the year ahead.

The Centre works with a broad range of food and drink businesses to help them to develop new and innovative products, reformulate existing products and carry out consumer focus groups and taste panels.

Taste panel members get the unique opportunity to try out a range of new food and drink products for the first time, including meat, fish, confectionery, juices, dairy products, vegetables and desserts. Panel members may also be asked to sample existing food products already sold in supermarkets to gain important information about consumer preferences.

Taste panels usually last around 30 to 40 minutes and participants provide views on a number of food and drink products, including aroma, appearance, texture and flavour.

People taking part in the tasting panels are rewarded after each session attended with either a £10 Amazon or John Lewis voucher.

Phil Cook, Food Technologist at the Scottish Centre for Food Development and Innovation at QMU, said: “We’re keen to hear from anyone in Edinburgh and the Lothians who loves food a drink. Our Consumer Tasting Panels are a great way for people to help develop the latest food and drink products and assist food companies with their business development. Panelists are also pleased to receive a voucher for their participation.”

“QMU’s Scottish Centre for Food Development and Innovation is continuing to enhance Scotland’s position as a leader in food and drink innovation in Europe and supporting access to the global market for healthy and functional food.

“Through practical innovation support and creative business solutions, QMU is helping Scotland’s leading food and drink businesses with new and innovative product development and analysis; as well as the development of leading edge functional, health enhancing products and ingredients and formulation of existing products.”

For more information on the QMU Food & Drink Consumer Tasting Panel and to sign up, email: Consumerpanels@qmu.ac.uk

The Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation (ECCI) is opening ClimateLaunchpad – the world’s biggest green business competition with cash prizes of up to €10,000 – for applications today.

To enter the competition, budding inventors and entrepreneurs simply have to submit an idea or innovation that could have a positive environmental impact.

Those selected to join ClimateLaunchpad, which is running in more than 30 countries around the world as well as Scotland, will get dedicated support to fast track their idea into a business and bypass pitfalls along the way. They’ll also learn how to get their idea funded and launched.

After taking part in a Boot Camp and coaching sessions to develop their idea into a rock-solid plan, participants will get the chance to pitch this idea during the UK Final later this year. The top three winners of each national competition will go on to compete in the worldwide Grand Final in Cyprus in October 2017.

There is prize money of up to €10,000 for the top three Grand Final winners. On top of that the top ten winners move on to the renowned Climate-KIC Accelerator programme to help low carbon start-ups get investment-ready.

Dr Andy Kerr, ECCI Director, said: “ECCI brings people together to spark good low carbon ideas – and bringing the world’s largest cleantech ideas competition to Scotland is a great way to make this happen.

“Start-ups tell us that taking part in ClimateLaunchpad gave them the edge they needed to successfully take on their markets.

“Whether your idea is scribbled on the back of a napkin or you’ve been dreaming of making it happen for years, if you have a green business idea then we want to hear from you.”

ClimateLaunchpad is the latest programme to be delivered by ECCI with Climate-KIC, Europe’s largest climate entrepreneurship programme. ECCI is bringing Climate-KIC to Scotland for the first time, offering home-grown entrepreneurs funding and support to take their target markets by storm.

Apply now

If you’ve got an idea with positive climate impacts and the potential to go stratospheric, find out more and submit your idea by Sunday 28 May 2017.