Businesses to benefit from more voucher funding

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The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has announced further funding for business-academic partnerships made possible by its Innovation Voucher programme.

The SFC’s long-established programme is managed by Interface and has resulted in over £11 million being invested in business innovation and more than 11,000 new or improved products, services and workforce practices.

Businesses value the opportunity to team up with academics and students in Scotland’s world-leading universities and colleges. One business leader to benefit from the scheme has been Alex Shkrebelo, co-founder and CEO of Xplore Intelligence, who said:

“Working with Interface allowed us to fast-track rigorous, science-led validation of our technology with Edinburgh Napier – cutting months off our development timeline.

 

“Backed by SFC funding, this helped us not just keep pace with a fast-moving market, but move ahead of it – building globally relevant, UK-leading AI technology and earning a place in Tech Nation’s Breakout 50 – the UK’s top 50 most promising tech startups.”

Helen Cross, SFC’s Director of Investment and Research, said: “Innovation Vouchers are an extremely effective way of forging partnerships between businesses and Scotland’s universities and colleges.

“The collaborations are a fantastic way of combining academic expertise with the know-how and ambition of entrepreneurs wanting to create new products, services, and processes.

 

“There have been some incredible examples of success in the last 15 years, and today’s announcement is a commitment to further successes in the future.”

Laura Goodfellow, Interface’s Director, added:

“We are delighted to announce that the Scottish Funding Council has committed funding to the Innovation Voucher programme for the year ahead, enabling many more businesses and academic partners to work together to develop innovative solutions and create economic, societal and environmental impact across Scotland.”

More information is available on the Interface website