Scottish Enterprises has invested in different university projects from Edinburgh and Aberdeen each receiving £75,000 funding from Scottish Enterprise’s High Growth Spin-out Programme (HGSP) to support renewable energy. An innovative project from the University of Edinburgh that is developing heat exchange technology for marine environments called Seawarm has received support alongside the University of Aberdeen’s project that is developing a direct current circuit breaker system for renewable energy projects.

Professor Christopher McDermott of the School of Geosciences at the University of Edinburgh has secured £75,000 towards the development of technology to harness thermal energy from the sea that will provide sustainable heating for coastal communities and businesses. “Coastal communities make up 41% of Scotland’s population, so we hope to be able to meet the growing demand for resilient, reliable, and renewable energy sources. Our invention has the potential to decarbonise heat, helping us on our way to net zero.”

“These spin-outs highlight the brilliant ideas coming out of Scottish universities that will help solve global environmental issues and build a greener economy and I wish the teams in Aberdeen and Edinburgh every success as they innovate in the net zero space.”

Recent Young Company Finance research tracked the impact of Scottish Enterprise’s High Growth Spin-out Programme over the last 10 years and found that 26 companies have raised a total of £144m in equity investment and many of the cohorts have formed successful businesses.

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