The latest round of the Scottish Inward Investment Catalyst Fund (IICF) has awarded three projects up to £10,000 each.

The fund supported by Interface and the Scottish Government, attracts investment through research and development with Scottish universities.

A partnership between Titanvolt and the University of St Andrews was awarded funding for the development of a lithium titanate oxide battery.

The pouch cell battery, which has no fire risk, is more energy efficient and 95% recyclable, has been produced by Grinergy, a leading South Korean battery manufacturer, and brought to market by North East England based Titanvolt.

While the technology has gone through extensive testing, the partnership aims to test and validate the battery for the UK market and support its development with the intention to develop battery manufacturing facilities in Scotland in the future.

Another funded project focuses on technological applications in medical devices.

Australian health tech company Oraid Solutions is working with the University Strathclyde to develop a low-powered, high-frequency microphone for hearing aids to improve sound clarity and speech recognition in noisy environments.

This innovation doubles frequency capture, minimises battery use, and enhances noise cancelling capabilities.

The final funded project went to Masterisk Ltd, a software company based in England, which has developed RASBOX, a risk quantification solution to help financial services organisations quantify and manage their non-financial risk exposures.

This collaboration with the University of Strathclyde will involve research and development into risk modelling to develop the product’s capability of processing risk data into valuable business information.

The fund, set up by Interface and the Scottish Government attracts companies from out with Scotland to collaborate with Scottish academics, creating opportunities and growing the economy.  To date, the fund has awarded 34 projects up to £10k in opportunity areas for Scotland such as energy transition, health tech and decarbonisation of transport.

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Business Minister, Richard Lochhead, said: “Attracting inward investment drives economic growth and prosperity across Scotland. The Inward Investment Catalyst Fund helps build early-stage partnerships between potential investors and Scotland’s world-renowned academia to develop these opportunities.

“The fund is supporting high quality and innovative projects and laying strong foundations to help potential investors consider Scotland as a destination for their business.”

Howell Davies, Interface’s head of strategic programmes and funding, added: “The specific nature of the projects being funded through the Inward Investment Catalyst Fund demonstrate the strength and depth we have in a range of academic disciplines, where Scotland is seen as a destination to access facilities and expertise and is a key factor when considering inward investment here.”