Might specialist facilities, technologies or a collaborative R&D project help you grow your business? Heather Alexander from Interface explains how to find out about the specialist facilities and technologies to help your business grow.
Scotland’s universities have a wealth of expertise that can help creative industry companies with new product processes and development. However, it is not just expertise and know-how services that companies can engage with and access, there is also a vast range of specialist facilities and technologies which can support industry.
Hundreds of pieces of equipment and cutting edge facilities are used every day for scientific research throughout Scotland and are widely available for commercial use to help create, develop, test & analyse ideas and products.
From rapid prototyping equipment like 3D printers and laser scanners, to textile facilities for creating new fabrics and analysis of fabric colour chemistry, colour fastness and colour measurement; to animation studios that can provide specialised software, green screens for visual effects and 3D motion capture.
These specialist facilities combined with the academic and technical expertise are a very valuable solution for commercial business projects.
A great example of these Specialist Facilities in action is the project that Scottish Ballet undertook with the Digital Design Studio at Glasgow School of Art to demonstrate that the use of visualisation and presentation technologies can enthuse existing and new audiences to engage with the arts.
Using highly specialised facilities the core aim of the collaborative project was to create a high definition film to show dancers in a short choreography, mixed in with the motion capture data “vapour trail”.
For Scottish Ballet, the main impact was the development of a novel way to showcase their performances, reach new audiences and explore further new ways to use interactive digital technologies to supplement traditional promotional methods. Take a look at our online Specialist Facilities website and accompanying video for more information and to see a range of the facilities in action!
Research carried out in our universities often leads to innovations that can improve our everyday lives and these are available for companies to develop into new commercial products and services.
These university developed technologies can provide a company with a more efficient product development process leading to new product lines, new services and faster lead time to market.
The latest technology opportunities from ALL of Scotland’s universities can be found through the University Technology website. Offering a convenient location this website enables you to find the most up to date technology opportunities to invest in or work in collaboration with the universities to develop further.
There are a number of opportunities within the creative industries sector from support tools for animation and image analysis to various pieces of multimedia software. So, if you’re looking for academic support whether access to specialist facilities, technologies or collaborative R&D projects Interface can connect you to the right expertise.
Both Scottish Ballet and University Technology will be at the Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards on February 21st. These awards recognise, reward and celebrate the impacts achieved through collaborative business and academic partnerships.
Through the keynote speakers, innovation sessions, exhibitors and the awards ceremony we hope that the day’s celebration will reflect on the breadth and range of collaborations between organisations from all sectors and of all sizes with our leading Scottish academics and research teams. Register now to join us: http://www.interface-online.org.uk/events/scottish-knowledge-exchange-awards-2017
The above blog post has been made possible through the generous support of Creative Clyde and the named contributors.