Connecting companies with potential customers and stakeholders in new markets

As the world rushes to embrace wider 4G and 5G coverage there is a need to have additional infrastructure to support the telecommunications equipment, and increasingly there is a desire for the masts to be able to blend into the landscape and to be made from natural materials.

EcoTelligent are leaders in this area and SSC were able to work with them to facilitate meetings and discussions with industry leaders in the UK to enable them to inform their business strategy and plan for internationalisation and moving into new market territories.

Individual Tailored 360 business assessment and strategic thinking support

Wendy Pring, formerly MD of KCP Ltd a company she had founded in 2002, asked SSC for assistance when she decided to create a new business venture based around her passion for sustainable development and helping communities. SSC helped her to articulate the purpose, direction and targets for getting “the show on the road” and with our mentoring support around closing contracts she has been able to hit 2022 targets already!

Quote from Wendy Pring, CEO of The Way Forward 2045 Ltd: “Putting together the milestones strategy for The Way forward 2045 Ltd and promoting my individual identity as a Climate Ambassador has been a step out of my comfort zone after being in a family business for 17 years. SSC have provided ideas, have been a sounding board and have helped me to refine my sales approach and strategy and made a huge difference to the speed that I have been able to move forwards in my first year.”

One of Scotland’s foremost BioEconomy and Circular Economy companies is CuanTec Ltd which has been assisted by SSC from idea through to completion of SEED funding and arrival of a new CEO.

CuanTec opened its lab on 9th Jan 2017 with set-up funds from investors and grant support from SMART Scotland to begin its journey of developing innovative products from raw materials provided by the ocean. The process of moving from a concept, an ambition, to a detailed scientific development and commercial plan with appropriate evidence is not swift. Ideas develop, EU regulations and directives change (in this case for the benefit of the business) and it takes dedication and determination to get to a final point where there is an investable, supportable proposition.

For CuanTec this process of idea to commencement of operations started in 2012 with the earliest considerations of what could form a business and then took 2 ½ years work to build the plan and get funding. This resulted in the launch of a biopolymer manufacturing company researching innovative methods of biological extraction of chitin from the shells of langoustines and from that creating a chitosan-based biodegradable, compostable, antimicrobial food packing initially aimed at the fresh seafood market.

SSC was there from the very beginning and continued involvement with the company post-launch by providing CEO (Cait Murray-Green) and Head of Marketing (Andrew King) through the first 4 years of operations. This enabled further grant funding to be obtained, successful research projects to be completed, providing value inflection points for the company and a successful SEED funding round securing interest of Sky Ocean Ventures as leading investor alongside Scottish Investment Bank (part of Scottish Enterprise). In total over £2.5m in grant and equity was secured.

Cait and Andrew provided all the strategy and PR for CuanTec themselves and this included success in competitions including Scottish EDGE, HIGGS EDGE winner (150k, June 2017) RSPB Nature in Scotland Awards and Pitching events at the RSC in London, and JLAB an innovation program which brought them to the attention of Waitrose and John Lewis.

Now with a new CEO in post, CuanTec will go forward as a fully formed company capable of taking on the world.

Supporting new skills in young researchers

SSC often works with good ideas just because they are good ideas. Over the years Cait, Bill and Emily have all participated in Young Entrepreneurs Scheme developed by University of Nottingham. This is a business competition that allows young researchers to experience the commercialisation process in an intensive boot-camp style approach and has inspired several to go on to be entrepreneurs for real! The SSC team have provided assistance as event managers, instructive presentations and case-studies as well as mentoring of the teams within the Environment, Biotechnology, Engineering and Energy themes.

Arielle Torres, Postgraduate Researcher at University of Nottingham, YES team “Pipeline Organics";

    “Cait’s input re future UK market made it very clear we needed to tap into the global market sooner than expected. This had seemed an overwhelming task but her advice re licensing/consultancy helped us see not only viability but also an opportunity. Cait’s critical input made the difference and sent us to the Final!"

Providing world class researchers, world class market research and strategic advice

The fashion and textile industries are responding rapidly both to the need to de-plasticise their products, but also to reduce the footprint of their production processes and therefore they are looking for new materials, that can be created as part of a circular economy approach, and which have significant reduction in environmental impact.

SSC were commissioned to provide market research into the alternative technologies and materials that could replace traditional animal hide leather.

SSC tailored training courses for young researchers, in person and on-line

SSC have worked with several UK and Finland research institutes to provide training in a range of aspects of commercialisation and one of the most enjoyable locations is the University of Oulu in the far north of Finland.

Here the team support young researchers across 2 days to upskill and challenge them through a practical approach and hands-on activities to improve their research applications, their own CV and their spin-out ideas.

In 2020 the course had to be adapted to on-line delivery, which was a different experience for trainers and participants alike but retained the individual focus close attention that is the USP of all SSC Business Kickstart courses.