Interface

About Interface

Interface is a hub that brings together Scotland’s business and academic communities to accelerate innovation by building strong, collaborative partnerships.

Interface was established in 2005 with support from Scottish Enterprise and Highlands & Islands Enterprise. Core funding has been provided by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) since the start, and in 2025-26 SFC will provide £1,097,065 to the organisation.

SFC funding is used to leverage strategic projects including Advanced IVs (Scottish Enterprise), Inward Investment Catalyst Funds (Scottish Government), Net Zero Challenge Funds (Scottish Food & Drink Partnership), Healthier Products Innovation Funds (Food & Drink Federation Scotland).

Each year Interface connects over 950 businesses resulting in over 200 new collaborative projects. In 2023 -2024 Interface enabled 231 projects between businesses and Scottish universities, colleges, and research institutes. It also delivered £1.7 million of funding to encourage and support partnerships.

Interface Innovation vouchers

Interface also runs the Innovation Voucher Programme on behalf of SFC. The annual SFC  investment of around £600,000 investment is match funded by industry.

Innovation vouchers encourage businesses to work with universities and colleges for the first time to help solve industry problems and develop new processes, products or services. The vouchers cover the costs of a short academic project, which has to be matched by the business, with the aim of building an ongoing relationship and sparking innovation.

Innovation vouchers are often the first step on the innovation ladder for SMEs, de-risking innovation and providing early-stage support for academic-business collaborations.

SFC’s Innovation Vouchers have helped over 1,500 businesses work with universities for the first time since 2008.

SFC is providing £615,000 in 2025-26 to support the Innovation Voucher Programme. An additional £250,000 is provided by Scottish Enterprise to support Advanced Innovation Vouchers.

20 year anniversary 2025

To celebrate 20 years of Interface, SFC’s chief executive Francesca Osowska and the CEO of Interface, Amelia Whitelaw visited the National Robotarium at Heriot-Watt University to view robot technology being developed by Scottish technology company, Crover.