A sustainability collaboration between six European partners, including the University of Edinburgh, has won the 'Making an Environmental Difference' award at the Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards 2023.
CloudEARTHi brings together the University of Edinburgh, the Arctic University of Norway, the University of Alicante (Spain), FH Burgenland (Austria), Varna University (Bulgaria) and business partner G-Force, based in Slovakia, to build capacity for higher education innovation in the areas of circular economy, sustainability and big data.
One key output and focus of the award nomination is the development of an Earth Centred Business Design Tool (ECBD), led by the circular economy and sustainability team at Edinburgh Innovations, the University’s commercialisation service. This tool enables the development of low-carbon, circular startups, which will be essential for a just transition to net zero.
The ECBD is a both product and a service, formed of a series of unique exercises and business tools, which enables startup founders to think differently about how they can operate to build a more sustainable future.
Sophie Rippinger, Circular Economy and Innovations Manager at EI, said:
We are so pleased to win this recognition for our project. With the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issuing a final warning on irreversible climate change this week, we all need to work together now towards net zero.
“With our framework, we no longer want founders to do business as usual, we want to help them build a business that operates within planetary boundaries – that is sustainable and resilient, as well as profitable.”
Last night’s ceremony was the eighth annual Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards, organised by Interface, which connects businesses from all sectors to Scotland’s universities, research institutes and colleges.
Mr Ivan McKee, Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise, said:
Today’s awards showcase the impactful collaborations between businesses and the academic community and their role in translating Scotland’s world-class research into knowledge that makes impact.
“Bringing together Scotland’s businesses with the knowledge, expertise and networks of our research community is central to achieving the ambitions of the Scottish Government’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation and our upcoming Innovation Strategy, both in creating the inventions and innovations of the future, and in supporting translation of these into impact and opportunity. ”
The University of Edinburgh also won in the Multiparty Collaboration category for the Industrial Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research in Digital Diagnostics (iCAIRD) – a pan-Scottish collaboration to apply artificial intelligence to healthcare.
Comprising 40 partners from across industry, the NHS and the Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, St Andrews and Aberdeen, iCAIRD is establishing the infrastructure and environment required to support development, validation and deployment of AI technologies for use in healthcare.
A strategic partnership led by FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, one of the world's leading providers of contract process development and manufacturing services for the biopharmaceutical industry, and the University of Edinburgh – the Centre for Excellence in Bioprocessing 2.0 – was also a finalist in this category.
Learn more about The Earth Centred Business Design
