Blog by Jen Vanderhoven, Director, National Horizons Centre

Scottish Enterprise has launched a new series of funding rounds to help businesses create jobs that contribute to improving the environment and achieving net zero emissions.

Dyneval is delighted to announce that it was awarded £100K as the IBioIC EDGE winner at this year’s Scottish EDGE17 awards final. Dyneval is an exciting new venture in the Scottish biotech sector, having already been announced as winner of the i4 Product Design awards in January this year and the Biocity Accelerator Glasgow most promising venture awards in 2020.

A total of 29 businesses from a range of sectors across Scotland have benefited to the tune of £1,175,000 million after being named as winners at the Scottish EDGE Awards Round 17, the UK’s biggest funding competition for potential high growth businesses.

Global NGO among high profile investors in ~£2m seed round with Oceanium set to use funds to develop its range of nutritional food products and sustainable packaging materials

With COP26 set to take place in Glasgow this November, more than perhaps any other year 2021 should be the time we look to, and celebrate, how Scotland is supporting the fight against climate change.

IBioIC is looking for a variety of experts to volunteer to join its Governing Board from May 2021

Edinburgh Genome Foundry has invested in a cutting edge system, funded by a £2 million grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), that will speed advances in medicine and fast-track other areas of science.

SMART:Scotland funding is offered to businesses showing a high degree of innovation and technical challenge.

Edinburgh-based biotech firm MiAlgae has appointed global food and pet care specialist David Macnair to its board as it moves towards commercialisation, embarking on an ambitious international expansion, having doubled in size over the last 12 months.

The Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) has awarded 15 new grants to fund PhD projects at biotechnology companies, marking a commitment of more than £11 million to future green skills since the centre’s inception in 2014.

BSI, in its role as the UK National Standards Body, publishes Industrial biotechnology Report: strategic roadmap for standards and regulations, sponsored by Innovate UK and the Industrial Biotechnology Leadership Forum (IBLF).

HORIBA UK Limited announces that it has reinforced its provision to Academia by launching a new dedicated resource centre on its website.

BBNet will invite proof of concept proposals for research aimed at underpinning a move to a more circular and sustainable textile economy.

BBNet BIV are up to £10K for the academic partner and matching funding (in kind or in cash) by the industrial partner.

NCIMB and the University of Edinburgh are collaborating on a project which will screen microorganisms from the NCIMB culture collection for their ability to perform new chemical transformations of interest to the UK’s industrial biotechnology and manufacturing sectors.

NCIMB has launched a new storage service specially tailored to the needs of scientists working on grant funded projects.

Just eight months since its launch, the Scottish Outreach (SCOUT) Project continues to enhance its growing reputation for assisting the SME community, and their next interactive Innovation Forum is planned for March.

ScotBio, a fast growing Scottish biotech business, is expanding its R&D programme to explore the potential of cyanobacteria to treat emerging viral pathogens, including coronaviruses.