Case Studies
The HI Links team have assisted many companies to work on collaborative development projects with academic experts. This ranges from:
- Access to specialist resources and equipment
- Individual consultancy with an academic expert
- Licensing agreements, intellectual property agreements, royalties and revenue agreements
- Contract R&D with an academic partner institution - results of R&D are used to the benefit the business
- Joint projects
- Student Projects
The case studies below provide an insight into how HI Links have helped facilitate knowledge exchange between small businesses and Scotland's universities, colleges and research institutes. Why not 
contact us us to discuss how we can help you create a business opportunity out of an idea?
Bruichladdich
A HI Links Feasibility Study – Bruichladdich, Isle of Islay in partnership with the Agronomy Institute, Orkney College UHI are looking to develop a specialist whisky from Bere barley, an old variety that was brought to the Hebrides by the Vikings in the ninth century and has been grown in Orkney and other parts of northern Scotland for hundreds of years …
Galson Estate Trust
A HI Links Feasibility Study – Galson EstateTrust (Urras Oighreachd Ghabhsainn, North West Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, in partnership with Lews Castle College UHI are investigating ways to generate increased tourism for the area and to explore community ownership and interaction as a sustainable tool for local development …
Orkney Ferries
A collaborative project between local SME Orkney Ferries and The Centre for Nordic Studies at Orkney College, UHI to develop a DVD of the heritage of Orkney for the waiting rooms at ferry ports so that visitors have a better tourism experience. Tourists often come off a ferry with no idea of the cultural context in which they find themselves or indeed of what they are looking at …
Dan Medical
Through UHI HI Links, Dan Medical Ltd were able to identify and access the expertise they were looking for to drive their business forward. Having signed a licensing agreement with the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Glasgow, Dan Medical Ltd, a computer based medical equipment developer in Inverness, has been able to bring a product to market that uses cutting edge diagnostic software developed by senior academics …
GlycoMar
GlycoMar Feasibility study - GlycoMar conducted a feasibility study with Professor Ian Megson, the UHI Lifescan chair in diabetes at the Inverness-based Department of Diabetes, UHI Millennium Institute. The study was to evaluate the potential of GlycoMar ’s products to treat the inflammatory aspects of diabetes by identifying active compounds that can then be progressed to pre-clinical and early clinical trials …
PURE Energy Centre
A HI Links Feasibility Study – PURE Energy Centre Ltd (PEC), a renewable energy company based in Unst, Britain’s most northerly Island, in partnership with the NAFC Marine Centre UHI, is pioneering research into creating the UK ’s first hydrogen powered boat. It is hoped that this project will address some of the environmental issues associated with the marine transport sector which currently contributes significantly to global emissions …
We work very closely with an organisation called Interface who have recently had great praise for one of UHI/HI Links collaboration projects - you can read what they have to sayHERE
