Recruitment

Frog Systems

Mental health and wellbeing tech firm Frog Systems announced four new hires to strengthen its team for future growth in December.

The Glasgow-headquartered company has increased headcount since the start of 2021, taking the number of employees from seven to 24.

Frog Systems said that three of the four new starts will be Partnership Managers, responsible for bringing new opportunities to the business.

Nick Murray and Declan McLaughlin both have senior roles in the Scottish leadership of StartUp Grind, the global community designed to educate, inspire, and connect tech entrepreneurs.

Murray joins Frog Systems from not-for-profit employment support organisation AAI Employability where he held the role of enterprise engagement lead. He also has previous experience working in several diversity, inclusion, and social impact programmes in Scotland.

Xavier Lopez, who has over twenty years’ experience in corporate and public sector sales account management for managed IT services as well as a background in international diplomacy, takes up the third Partnership Manager post, while administration specialist Angela McGregor will fill the role of Executive Assistant.

Commenting on the new hires, Phil Worms, CEO of Frog Systems, said: “Our four new appointments bring with them a wealth of experience, skills and proven success as well as a dedication to helping others.

“They are committed to our purpose in the mental health and wellbeing space and will help us grow what is already a substantial pipeline of opportunities.

“This is an exciting time to be joining us and we are delighted to welcome them to our team.”

Want to find out more? Read the full article here.

Eureka Solutions

Software firm Eureka Solutions announced the appointment of a key new position in December as it looks inward to drive business growth.

Stephanie Kelly has joined the firm as HR and Learning and Development Manager after nearly two decades of experience working in the profession.

Joining from Parker Technical Services, Kelly will play a key role in further advancing training opportunities for 65 members of staff as well as developing relationships with schools, colleges, and universities across the UK.

She will take on a range of responsibilities within the firm as it doubles down on its commitment to invest in its team and offer unmatched professional growth within a highly competitive profession.

Commenting on her new role, Kelly said: “My first interaction with Eureka Solutions was while I was working at Goals Soccer Centres and they were implementing Sage. It was such a smooth transition across both the technical and customer side, which I really admired.

“When I saw the role advertised, I knew it was too good an opportunity to miss as the specification aligned with my goals. The firm is also going through an intense period of growth which I was keen to be part of.”

She added: “Training and development have always been areas I’ve been passionate about throughout my career due to my own life experiences. When I left school, I felt pressured that university was the only way to go, and although it is for many there are also some, like me, that it isn’t right for.

“That’s why playing a key role in the modern and graduate apprenticeships at Eureka Solutions chimed home. It’s refreshing to see a company keen to give individuals first-hand experience whilst going through theory-based training too.

“Eureka Solutions is focused on giving employees the tools to become experts in their division and to be the best they can be – which is something I’ll be working on closely as we continue to engage with staff at all levels to ensure everyone is on board and knows what the end goal is.”

David Lindores, Chief Executive at Eureka Solutions said: “Stephanie brings a wealth of experience across the HR sector and has skills that will help us drive positive change and growth, making her a real asset to the team.”

Precision Medicine Scotland Innovation Centre

Precision Medicine Scotland Innovation Centre (PMS-IC) has appointed Georgina Marczak as Head of Business Development.

The appointment expands the expertise of the PMS-IC team as it works to improve diagnostics, earlier interventions, and optimal treatment options to help transform patient health outcomes.

Marczak joins the team from Signant Health, and with a career in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, brings a wealth of experience from the variety of roles she has held, including patient programme management.

Speaking on her appointment, Marczak said, “Working as part of the team to support future discoveries in medicine and to drive the acceleration of the adoption of precision medicine is hugely exciting.

“The potential that precision medicine offers is truly transformative – not only in how we diagnose and treat disease to achieve better outcomes for patients, but also in the potential economic savings it can help to achieve for NHS Scotland.”

Marian McNeil, Chief Executive of PMS-IC, added: “We are delighted that Georgina has joined us and she has a key role in working with academia, industry and the NHS to support the growth of precision medicine and life sciences in Scotland.

“Georgina will collaborate with existing partners and promote the opportunities precision medicine offers to provide personalised treatment tailored to individual needs.

“Her role will be to connect organisations with the services we have to offer, such as world-class clinical research, high quality electronic health data, patient samples, a single healthcare provider (NHS Scotland), and large cohorts of patients with chronic disease, differentiating Scotland from many other countries.”

Freer Consultancy

Communications agency the Freer Consultancy had a series of client wins and assignments last year, while appointing Trustpilot’s Carolyn Jameson and tech entrepreneur George Mackintosh as advisers.

Jameson is Chief Trust Officer at Trustpilot and was previously Head of International M&A and Corporate Affairs at Ctrip, Chief Legal Officer at Skyscanner, and Head of Legal at Wolfson Microelectronics.

She has also advised several startups, sits on the board of the Scottish National Investment Bank, and is an investment committee member with venture capital firm Scottish Equity Partners (SEP).

Mackintosh is a former Chairman of the CBI’s SME Council, is an Associate and former Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the University of Edinburgh Business School and is the founding director of the Papple Steading historic farm development in East Lothian.

Commenting on his role, Mackintosh said: “I’ve used PR agencies in London, Hong Kong and in the US. I’d like to think I know what good looks like. Nick’s agency is very good. Exciting times ahead in Scotland’s – and Freer’s – international positioning.”

Client wins include Cryptocurrency sports betting platform BetDEX, Scotland’s first IoT accelerator Filament STAC, remote sensor specialist startup Novosound, Scottish charity Digital Xtra Fund, space tech startup R3-IoT, and investment manager Par Equity.

Nick Freer, Founding Director at the Freer Consultancy, said: “Being based in Edinburgh, it’s important to me that the client base reflects the areas of industry that make up the business scene here, while also advising UK and international companies that land in Scotland.”

“Increasingly, we’ve been considering what the next five or ten years will hold for the agency, that next phase of growth.

“Getting Carolyn and George on board to help with that process is invaluable. Having been lucky enough to work with them, I’ve seen first-hand what incredible business leaders they are, and I have an enormous amount of respect for them both.”

Manus Neurodynamica

Manus Neurodynamica announced the appointment of Dr Guy Wood-Gush as a Non-Executive Director of the Company in December, as well as two further key hires.

Angus Sturrock will take up the role of Technical Operations and Project Manager, and Dr Chris Papasavvas will become a Senior Data Scientist.

Dr Wood-Gush has a clinical background in ophthalmology and neurosurgery, and has over 20 years of commercial Board experience. He was previously a Founder and CEO of Deontics Ltd, an AI clinical decision support technology company spun out from the University of Oxford, University College London and Cancer Research UK, and was Chairman of Cambridge Cognition Ltd (now Cambridge Cognition Holdings PLC), a computerised cognitive testing software company.

Sturrock brings 35 years of postgraduate experience in software development, test management, software quality, operations, people leadership and project management.

During his career, he has brought multiple systems and devices to market, including multiple blood glucose meters that have improved the lives of people with diabetes.

Dr Papasavvas received his PhD from Newcastle University in 2017 focusing on neuroscientific research, and he gained post-doctoral research experience at Newcastle, Sussex and Yale.

His role involves the collection and analysis of data from the NeuroMotor PenTM, in order to maximise the potential of the device in clinical practice.

Dr Rutger Zietsma, CEO of Manus, commented: “I am delighted to welcome Guy, Angus and Chris to Manus. They are joining the Company at a pivotal stage, as we look to continue the commercial roll-out of our NeuroMotor Pen and conduct further research into its additional clinical uses.

“Guy’s significant experience at Board level and investment banking within the healthcare space, as well as his knowledge from his medical career, will be invaluable to us in progressing the Company’s vision.

“Angus and Chris also bring strong skillsets to our already talented team; Angus’ proven track record in bringing medical devices to market, and Chris’ neuroscience expertise will be critical to Manus and the NeuroMotor Pen going forward.”

Partnerships

Gamerhub and the Scottish Games Network

Gamerhub and the Scottish Games Network have partnered to promote the pioneering and creative work of Scotland’s games ecosystem.

The partnership will enable Gamerhub to carry news and updates from Scottish developers, creators and publishers, for their audience of gamers, while the SGN site will carry content from Gamerhub, to enable industry to understand more about the consumer audience and reach them more directly.

Publication of an exclusive series of interviews with Stewart Waterson, one of the original creators of the Grand Theft Auto series, will be part of the partnership.

This will be the first step in a broader programme of activities for 2022 which will introduce new content types, and opportunities to get more great games in front of a global gaming audience.

Gavin Divers, the founder of Gamerhub, commented: “Gamerhub is working hard to create an active and engaged community for gamers and players of all kinds. We’re proud to be Scottish, but we get very little news or updates from the studios and developers across the country.

“We wanted to fix that and make sure that we were reviewing the games, talking to the studios and showing the world the great new games coming out of Scotland. The Scottish Games Network has done a fantastic job in showcasing Scotland to the industry, but doesn’t have a consumer audience.

“By working with them we have an inside track on everything happening in Scotland, from industry to academia and beyond to help gamers worldwide find out more about the incredible indies and great games being created across the whole country.”

Brian Baglow, the founder and director of the Scottish Games Network, added: “We’ve been championing the whole ecosystem in Scotland for many years now. From part-time developers and indie studios, through to the biggest studios and franchises. But we’ve never had an audience of gamers.

“The partnership with Gamerhub will help us get Scottish games out to a wider audience of players and encourage more players around the world to play and enjoy games from Scottish creators.”

Cloudsoft and Amazon Web Services

Cloudsoft has been named as launch partner by Amazon Web Services (AWS) for its Service Management Connector for ServiceNow.

The Edinburgh firm will aid AWS with the installation and customisation of the Connector, as well as working with the tech giant on a Connector for JIRA environments. This includes tying in with new and existing workflows as well as assisting with creating custom views and tables.

End users of ServiceNow will be able to provision, manage, and operate Amazon’s cloud service resources natively through its platform using the Connector, allowing access to resources through the AWS Service Catalog.

Additionally, users will be able to execute automation playbooks through AWS Systems Manager.

Cloudsoft is already an AWS Strategic Partner and has been engaged with the organisation for several years.

Commenting on the deal, Ross Gray, CEO of Cloudsoft, said: “The ability to streamline and integrate cloud provisioning with IT service management platforms is a must.

“Given the volume of resources that big enterprise organisations must process every day, requires a robust connector to establish and maintain the link between the two. The AWS Service Management Connector for ServiceNow does just that.

“Being involved and named as a launch partner will particularly boost our business and we are proud to have been called upon by AWS to support this as well as support their customers during the installation process.”

Want to find out more? Read the full article here.

The National Robotarium and Leuchie House

The National Robotarium has partnered with Leuchie House to trial technologies that could help people with assisted living needs and those who care for them to gain greater independence.

The partnership will see researchers from the National Robotarium’s Assisted Living Lab work alongside guests at Leuchie House to develop advanced technologies that address specific needs.

Robotics and AI tech will be developed at the National Robotarium to help people with a wide range of assistive needs. For example, to provide support after a stroke or monitor for deterioration in conditions such as dementia.

Professor Lynne Baillie, Head of the Assisted Living Lab at the National Robotarium said, “Our partnership with Leuchie House will allow us to work collaboratively with their guests and carers to develop assisted living technology that truly works for users.

“We will engage directly with individuals to learn more about their unique needs and hear their ideas about how robotic and sensing technologies could provide support.

“Guests will then be invited to our Assisted Living Lab at the National Robotarium to participate in trials of technologies designed to meet these needs in a realistic home setting.”

UK Government Minister for Scotland Iain Stewart added: “The innovative use of robots in social care has the potential to improve people’s lives and help them to live independently. I welcome the National Robotarium’s partnership with Leuchie House and look forward to seeing its progress.

“The UK Government is investing £21 million in the National Robotarium as part of £1.7 billion for projects to level-up communities in every part of Scotland.”

In addition to extending the technological support available for individuals, the project with the National Robotarium aims to assist carers and reduce the ongoing pressure on the social care sector.

Want to find out more? Read the full article here.

Digital Schools Awards and AMD

Digital Schools Awards has announced a new collaboration with global semiconductor company AMD as it seeks to grow its programme across Europe.

Backed by industry partners led by HP, the Digital Schools Awards, established in 2015, combines the sector and education to “promote, recognise and encourage” a whole-school approach to the use of digital technology.

So far, more than 1.1 million children in 4,200 nursery, primary and secondary schools across Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland have taken part in the initiatives. The Awards hope to add a further 800 schools and 300,000 pupils over 2022.

AMD said it will be supporting Digital Schools Awards as it expands across Europe, with plans to launch a new European award.

Commenting on the collaboration, Anna Doody, programme manager, Digital Schools Awards, said: “AMD is a major global technology company in the semiconductor sector with a significant commitment to advancing STEM skills in schools.

“We are excited to have them join our programme and help facilitate digital innovation in as many schools as possible, as we expand across Europe in the coming months.”

Annmarie Whelan, Education Manager from HP, added: “We are thrilled to have a long-standing partner like AMD to participate with us to this programme in Europe.

“Collaboration is a cornerstone of the Digital Schools Awards and introducing further industry expertise will bring a significant benefit for the schools that take part in the scheme.”

With this latest support to Digital Schools Awards, AMD said it aims to advance digital skills in teaching and learning, reward and recognise good practice and encourage the creation of digital school communities to share experiences and benefits from effective use of technology.

As part of AMD’s commitment, it has partnered with organisations to establish AMD-powered Learning Labs in cities around the world to inspire and enable students’ pursuits through STEM education.

Want to find out more? Read the full article here.

Stellar Omada and Heart of Midlothian FC

A new partnership is looking to provide a valuable resource to Scotland’s young people and help to create technology career pathways.

Stellar Omada, in collaboration with Heart of Midlothian FC, looks to support women in tech, digital education in young people and the wider Scottish economy and communities.

The company revealed plans to work alongside the Scottish football club, Hearts to build on the success of the Heart’s Innovation Centre’s Digital Academy and get young Scots interested in future tech careers.

The Centre provides a range of digital education programmes that hope to inspire Scottish youths to develop digital skills whilst using technology creatively for a purpose.

Working alongside delivery partners, schools, and leaders, the centre is using the reach and popularity of football to attract and engage learners.

Stellar will provide financial support as well as designing content for the cohorts, mentoring, and supporting of the weekly sessions.

Want to find out more? Read the full article here.

FinTech Scotland and Hays

Recruiting firm Hays formed a strategic partnership with FinTech Scotland to help nurture future fintech talent in Scotland this month.

The move is hoping to maintain a “healthy pipeline” of tech talent going forward after research indicated that nine of the top 20 salary increases this year were in Scots fintech roles.

The Hays Salary & Recruiting Trends Guide 2022 report revealed an increased demand for such roles, and the partnership between Hays and FinTech Scotland, using Hay’s global network, will play a vital role in helping Scottish fintechs expand abroad.

To address the demand for Scots fintech roles, Hays’ specialist division, Hays Technology, said it would support the Scottish fintech cluster in recruiting for skills in fields such as cybersecurity, mobile banking, cloud applications, AI and blockchain solutions.

Commenting on the data, Nicola Anderson, chief executive of FinTech Scotland, said: “Since we launched FinTech Scotland in 2018, we’ve been working closely with Skills Development Scotland, Scottish universities, businesses and government agencies to ensure that skills providers are meeting the needs of tomorrow’s financial community.

“Having access to Hays’ extensive knowledge and data research on how best to attract the required skills makes them an ideal partner to help us fulfil our objectives, whether it’s for start-ups, scale-ups or established organisations.”

Justin Black, director of Hays Technology in Scotland, added: “Clearly, the high demand for tech roles that we’ve seen in recent years continues and salaries are increasingly rising as a result.

“This is great news for Scotland which is the largest fintech hub after London. But we need to make sure that the talent pipeline is sufficiently healthy to fulfil the demand going forward.

“Through our recruitment knowledge, best practice and global network, we will be able to inform FinTech Scotland’s strategy, ensuring that the demand for fintech skills is met, and maintained, with a healthy talent stream.”

Want to find out more? Read the full article here.

Immerse and DTG

Enterprise virtual reality (VR) software provider Immerse has announced a new partnership with digital transformation company DTG.

The partnership is part of an ongoing initiative from Immerse to build an ecosystem where the Immerse Platform will empower and enable organisations to embrace the future of training in the workplace.

With the Immerse Platform, DTG will be able to provide VR employee training that delivers new efficiencies, generating real business outcomes; from accelerating speed-to-competency, to reducing costs and increasing production.

The partnership will enable clients to transform their manufacturing and supply chain processes in a way that also supports the organisation’s environmental, social and governance goals.

Tom Symonds, Immerse CEO, commented: “We are delighted to have partnered with the team at DTG. In the current climate, ensuring your organisation has the technology and solutions that solve real business challenges is more important than ever.

“This partnership enables us to continue to expand our ability to support organisations as they digitally transform their processes and operations, resulting in highly skilled employees and improved business outcomes.’’

Ian Allan, Managing Director at DTG added: “We are very excited to partner with Immerse. We believe their experience in immersive and experiential technology combined with DTG’s deep understanding of processing industries will create a winning combination for our clients.

“VR and Simulation is a key enabler for digital transformation. The Immerse Platform will provide more impactful learning experiences for our customers, accelerating their digital journey.”

Awards

Scottish EDGE awards

The winners from this year’s Scottish EDGE awards were revealed in December, with OrganLike’s hyper-realistic organ models for surgical training impressing judges enough for them to take the top prize.

Other innovative businesses won substantial prizes including Creag Dhu Ltd which ‘accelerate ages’ single malt Scotch Whisky ‘Mashie Brig’. The firm joined the winners list, receiving £50,000 plus £75,000 advertising spend through the STV supported STV Growth EDGE Award.

As the standout business from a circular economy perspective, Crack Map Ltd received £40,000 as the winner of the Circular Economy Award supported by Zero Waste Scotland for its non-contact inspection technology, which can have application in various sectors.

In the Social Enterprise category, Social Stories Club received £65,000 for its range of food-based services that re-invest profits back into the community.

Wild Card EDGE winners – the category for pre-trading companies, sole-traders and partnerships – received a total of £75,000 and winners included Danu Robotics which was awarded the top Wild Card EDGE award of £15,000.

In the Young EDGE category for entrepreneurs under the age of 30, winners included Metacarpal and Rhizocore Technologies, who received the top Harper Macleod and Scottish Enterprise £15,000 prizes respectively.

Evelyn McDonald, Chief Executive Officer at Scottish EDGE, said: “It has been inspiring to see the talent and passion we have among start-ups in Scotland, which was demonstrated impressively through our latest funding round.

“It is a privilege for Scottish EDGE to support such exciting Scottish entrepreneurial talent and help companies and individuals access pivotal funding to accelerate their growth and development. This in turn helps drive forward Scotland’s future economic prosperity.”

Want to find out more? Read the full article here.

Tech Nation

A cohort of tech startups was announced by Tech Nation as the five Scottish Regional Winners of its fourth Rising Stars competition in December.

The Scottish early-stage tech firms, which hail from Edinburgh and Glasgow – Scotland’s two largest tech hubs – work to transform a range of different industries, including AI, cybersecurity, HRtech, proptech and fintech.

Digital talent platform Gigged.AI uses AI and technology that helps UK-based firms to accelerate digital projects by through access to useful talent. Rich Wilson is CEO and Founder.

Glasgow-based Know-it, founded by CEO Darcey Quigley, is a cloud-based credit management platform that helps to make the credit control process easier, as well as providing a litany of other financial services.

Edinburgh-based Kythera AI, founded by CEO and Lead Architect Matthew Jack, is a computer software middleware provider that specialises in tools for designing AI in 3D game engines including the Unreal Engine, Open 3D Engine and Unity.

Letting Cloud uses the cloud to help people search and let property. Started by CEO Grant MacCusker, the Edinburgh-based company’s platform aims to provide a better experience for users and match people and property in a “modern way with purpose.”

PolyDigi Tech CEO Curtis Chan wants to protect the data and identities of companies and individuals with authentication solutions suitable for banking, payments and IoT services. The firm’s solutions provide high security that is easy to integrate, implement and use while reducing the cost of protecting assets and identity.

Commenting on the announcement, Esme Caulfield, Competitions Lead at Tech Nation, said: “With Tech Nation’s Rising Stars competition now in its fourth year, it’s amazing to see so many inspiring companies innovating to change our world for the better.

“This year, we reached the milestone of 1000 applications to Rising Stars (and surpassed it!). We had a record number of applications this year – 380 (nearly 400) – and we also saw our first applications – and our first Regional Winner – from the spacetech sector, (Elestial, from the Midlands) and agritech (Cropsafe, from Northern Ireland).

“From revolutionising modern healthcare and disrupting the finance sector to transforming education and tackling climate change, each of these fast-growing regional early-stage tech companies is helping us improve our economy, society and quality of life.”

Want to find out more? Read the full article here.

Perceptive Communicators

Glasgow-based communications consultancy Perceptive Communicators celebrated three new contract wins across innovation, health and built environment sectors in December.

Discovery Park, an innovative life sciences hub, spanning 220 acres and 1.6 million sq ft of built space, including 50,000 sq ft of incubation space at Sandwich in Kent has appointed Perceptive following a competitive pitch.

Located in the Southeast of England’s life sciences cluster, Discovery Park has a significant scientific heritage and a decade of experience in building a collaborative community of life science and technology specialists, from start-ups to major corporations.

The Park’s mission is to become a world class and world leading science park over the next five years, driving improvements in healthcare through innovation and collaboration.

Perceptive’s brief includes raising the profile of Discovery Park, as well as sharing insights on the high-quality space available within easy reach of London, the great facilities onsite and the quality of life in the area.

Jane Kennedy, Chief Business Officer at Discovery Park commented: “I have worked very successfully with Perceptive in two previous roles. Perceptive has great insight on both life sciences and the built environment, but more than that, they really get under the skin of an organisation to ensure all efforts are directed towards achieving business goals.”

Precision Medicine Scotland Innovation Centre (PMS-IC) has also selected Perceptive as its communications agency following a competitive tender. Precision Medicine tailors medical treatment to individuals, depending on the makeup of their DNA.

Marian McNeil, Chief Executive of Precision Medicine Scotland Innovation Centre said: “Perceptive has both the insight and the passion for precision medicine that we were seeking.

“With a strong track record in health and life sciences, their model of having an exclusively expert team was also very helpful, especially as we need to ensure that complex scientific information is brought to life in the most compelling way to help us achieve our goals.”

Additionally, Perceptive has also been appointed to lead all communications activities for The Akela Group across the UK. Akela is one of the country’s largest multi-disciplinary construction services and civil engineering companies, with over 300 employees, including over 25 apprentices.

Relocations

Bigtincan

An Australian automation solutions provider unveiled plans to make Scotland a base for future platform development after Scottish Enterprise support in December.

Bigtincan said it will be expanding its software development centre in Glasgow, accelerating a series of R&D projects to boost its platform capabilities, and creating 40 jobs.

Scottish Enterprise’s support includes a £1.4 million funding package to “significantly transform” Bigtincan’s existing Glasgow site and drive greater long-term investment into the firm’s UK operations.

Commenting on the move, Bigtincan CEO David Keane said: “Bigtincan has grown dramatically – more than doubling in size in the last six months – and this growth presents exciting opportunities for our customers and employees.

“We are expanding our presence in Europe, with our Scotland development centre as a strategic hub focused on Data Science, R&D, as well as evolving our core products.

“This exciting growth hub is only the beginning of our investments in Scotland, and we are committed to continued growth in the dynamic city of Glasgow.”

Want to find out more? Read the full article here.