Last week, public, industry and third sector representatives came to the University of Edinburgh to discuss solutions to climate and environmental challenges they are tackling in their organisations.
The Academic Industry Meeting day (AIMday) welcomed Nature Scot, the Scottish Wildlife Trust, the European Marine Energy Centre and others to Murchison House, Kings Buildings, home of Edinburgh Innovations, to meet academics working in energy, sensing, materials and biodiversity, amongst other climate-related topics.
Ahead of the AIMday, organisations submitted questions to discuss, and following the day, they can apply for a share of £10k from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council’s Impact Acceleration Account (EPSRC IAA) to take forward a collaborative project.
Ben Connor, Head of Strategic Partnerships at the Scottish Wildlife Trust, attended with questions on how digital twins can help model the impacts of extreme weather and how new technologies such as remote sensing, AI and eDNA can support wildlife monitoring. He said:
It was really helpful to talk to academics from different disciplines, but also to talk to colleagues from Edinburgh Innovations, who are translating between academics and external organisations.
It’s been a great opportunity for us to refine our research and monitoring priorities and to put our collaborative, evidence-based values into practice to support nature’s recovery in Scotland.”
One contributing academic was Zakary Campbell-Lochrie, a lecturer in fire science at the University’s School of Engineering. He said:
AIMDay is a great opportunity to explore the real-world applications of research, and where what we’re already doing connects into the urgent questions organisations have. For example, with the Scottish Wildlife Trust we discussed my research into wildlife and wildfire behaviour, which has been in the news a lot this summer, and is an emerging issue for many organisations across the UK. ”
Previous AIMdays have led to long-term collaborations, such as between the University and multinational engineering services company Babcock, which resulted in FastBlade – the world’s first rapid fatigue test facility for tidal turbine blades.
Organiser Hjalmar Eriksson of Edinburgh Innovations said:
At AIMday, real world challenges set the agenda for research-based discussions on new solutions, which are urgently needed for the escalating climate and environment crisis. We're building connections to allow us to continue to innovate to face up to the challenges that will persist throughout our lifetime. "
AIMday® is a registered trademark of Uppsala University.
