Successful Sea Lice Seminar call for action

INDUSTRY TO SUBMIT EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST BY 15 JANUARY 2015

Following a board meeting today, 17 December 2014, the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre has issued an open call for Expressions of Interest in industry-led research projects in sea lice control using cleaner fish. This is direct follow up to the very successful Connect+Collaborate workshop held in Stirling on 1 December which brought together 78 individuals from 27 organisations to review and discuss the best opportunities for future applied research in sea lice control using cleaner fish.

Any company wishing to submit an expression of interest should do so using the EoI application form here after reading the EoI guidance here. Expressions of Interest will be considered in line with the Board-approved grant assessment process, set out in the flow chart here The deadline for submissions is 5pm on Thursday 15 January 2015.

 

 

Exciting Scottish Aquaculture opportunities

2 new roles at the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre, Stirling.

DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

£competitive salary and benefits.

DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMMES

Salary range £47,328-£58,172.

The Company

The Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre is one of 8 Innovation Centres established by the Scottish Government in the past 18 months. Based at the University of Stirling, the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre is tasked with promoting and funding innovation. We support Scottish companies’ success at home and abroad, through knowledge exchange projects, solutions to aquaculture’s most pressing problems and skills development. The Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre team reports to an industry led board.

Our areas of interest include fish and shellfish health and welfare; feeding, quality and nutrition; breeding and stock improvement; and engineering. In all these areas, we bring together businesses and researchers, transforming their relationship and galvanising collaboration.

The aim of our work is commercial success, economic growth and culture change across the industrial and academic sectors. Both these new roles offer major opportunities to contribute personally to transformation in the sector.

DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

The deputy to the CEO, the newly established Director of Business Development will proactively build strategic partnerships and relationships, generate new leads for business, identify commercially relevant opportunities for business engagement and develop and execute the Innovation Centre’s strategy with a long-term plan for the industry’s revenue growth and impact. The role holder will be a key business driver to deliver the KPIs in the Innovation Centre’s Business Plan.

They will provide a high level of marketing and customer expertise to develop and maintain collaborative, positive relationships with all potential business partners, stakeholders and customers in the global aquaculture sector, and will also have overall responsibility to the CEO for communications, marketing and skills development.

They must set strategy, establish approaches, seek opportunities, develop ideas, facilitate agreement and negotiate a way forward, and then follow through with action. They must seek to understand clients’ needs and concerns, address their issues, maintain their trust and manage expectations. They will be expected

to represent the Innovation Centre at large international conferences and seminars, set up and host their own events and forums, and actively promote the aims of the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre.

In addition, this role will set up and grow the business development arm of the Innovation Centre, at present planned as 2 staff. The role holder will manage up to four direct reports, including the Head of Skills Development and Head of Marketing and Communications posts, once in place.

The role holder will deputise for the CEO with the board, in external meetings, conferences etc. They will ultimately lead and manage the Innovation Centre’s Operations Team over 2 locations. The role holder will act as the number 2 role within the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre and as such will lead by example coaching staff to maximise team performance.

The postholder will be degree-qualified (at least a 2:1) and ideally hold a postgraduate qualification in business, management or a relevant field. They will have a minimum of 5 years senior management experience leading teams to deliver against business KPIs. They will also demonstrate a strong track record of outward focus in meeting customer and client need.

DIRECTOR OR PROGRAMMES

A senior position within the newly established Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC), the Director of Programmes will have a mixture of aquaculture industry and research experience, as well as advanced project and people management skills.

The new role will require the role holder to set up contractual procedures and compliant processes to identify and award research grants that positively impact the Innovation Centre’s business objectives. Once established, they will evaluate, monitor and encourage the progress of research projects while managing a team of Research Managers. They will present funding and research progress to the Innovation Centre’s Board on a regular basis. They will also support access by Scottish research bodies and companies to UK and European grant funding programmes such as are delivered by InnovateUK, the BBSRC and NERC, Horizon 2020 and the Food for the Future 2016 programme.

The role will involve travelling, primarily in the UK and occasionally to Brussels, presenting findings to very senior and influential groups of people, and analysing new applications to ensure the most relevant projects are funded in a cost effective and timely manner. The post holder will need to establish personal credibility with senior leaders across Scotland’s academic and research base, and with industry.

The Director of Programmes will be at least PhD qualified in a subject relevant to aquaculture with a minimum of 5 years project and people management experience. On a personal level they will be enthusiastic, self-motivated, analytical, detail driven and persuasive.

This role reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer of the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre and is based in the Innovation Centre’s office in Scion House, part of Stirling Innovation Park beside the University of Stirling campus.

APPLICATIONS

To apply please send your CV including a covering letter describing how you would help the Innovation Centre deliver its 5 year Business Plan to Anne Marie Picken at [email protected] by 12.12.14.

Interviews are expected to take place in Stirling the week commencing 15th January 2015.

For further information about these exciting posts, please contact [email protected]

 

£1.7 million capital investment for Scottish Aquaculture

• Researchers and industry given stronger hand to collaborate on key issues

The Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) has secured £1.7 million funding for state-of-the-art equipment to help address key issues within the industry.

The equipment will give researchers and the aquaculture industry new tools for tackling priority areas such as rapid detection of diseases and sea lice control. Their solutions could support Scottish companies’ commercial success both at home and abroad.

The award came following a successful application to the Scottish Funding Council’s capital investment fund, part of a wider £14 million capital investment in Scotland’s Innovation Centres announced in August. The equipment will be installed at higher education institutions across Scotland, including the University of St Andrews, University of the Highlands and Islands, University of Aberdeen, and University of Stirling.

New equipment will include:

• A digital PCR (polymerase chain reaction) system, a new technology that enables the detection of viral pathogens and diseases at very early stages. It will add significantly to Scottish researchers’ ability to detect and tackle disease outbreaks in Scotland.

• State-of-the-art LC-MS/MS systems capable of high-level lipid and protein analysis, which will advance researchers’ and producers’ development of sustainable alternative feeds. The first of its kind in Scotland, LC-MS/MS is also the system of choice for analysing shellfish toxins. (See Notes for Editors for more technical detail about the equipment.)

The award gives SAIC access to the essential equipment needed to address its four priority innovation areas:

1. Improved sea lice control

2. Alternative sustainable feeds for finfish

3. Rapid detection methods for viral pathogens and disease: improving ability to tackle known threats & emerging disease

4. Development of secure, health certified Scottish mollusc spat production systems.

Speaking at the UK Aquaculture Forum meeting in Brussels on 5 November, Heather Jones, CEO of the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre, said: “I am delighted that within its first 6 months of existence, SAIC has leveraged a substantial sum for specialist capital equipment into Scottish universities, creating the capability for new innovative research projects to be developed in response to needs identified by the aquaculture industry.

“Businesses and researchers could find high-profile and profitable innovation opportunities by working together, and we look forward to seeing the fruits of the research projects that these new equipment purchases will enable.”

On hearing the news of their successful bid, Professor Ian A. Johnston FRSE, Director Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St Andrews said: “The digital PCR system funded by SAIC at the University of St Andrews will be used for the rapid detection of viral pathogens and for genetic analysis associated with the development of sustainable feeds and selective breeding technologies in finfish and shellfish. It will add significantly to our capacity to support the priority innovation actions identified by the SAIC board.”

Speaking on behalf of the University of the Highlands and Islands, Professor Ian Bryden FRSE, Vice-Principal (Research), said: “I am absolutely delighted that SAIC is supporting our aquaculture research through the provision of state of the art technology. This will give benefit to the sector by enabling advanced research into alternative sustainable feeds and the rapid detection of pathogens.”

Education Secretary Michael Russell said: “Innovation centres are helping to develop the skills that Scottish business needs to succeed in the global marketplace. By using our exceptional research base, we are able to respond nimbly to opportunities for potential growth.

“We will invest up to £124 million, over six years, in these projects which bring together excellence within our universities and entrepreneurship within our business sector to deliver real social and economic benefits.

“Investment in the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre represents a significant boost for the sector and will help our innovative firms to enhance their worldwide reputation.”

Scottish Environment & Climate Change Minister, Paul Wheelhouse MSP, said: “The aquaculture industry is increasingly important to the Scottish economy supporting employment in many remote and fragile rural communities where there are often few alternative options to generate secure, well paid employment. If the industry’s 2020 sustainable production targets are met this could mean a turn-over value of well over £2 billion annually to the Scottish economy and the on-going support of 10,000 jobs.

“Innovation Centres are large-scale, ambitious projects that promote research and innovation excellence. They are part of a cultural shift that is necessary to bring the innovation and creativity we want to see at the heart of our businesses and to help business to source expertise to address specific challenges. The SAIC will help the academic and research community better understand the needs of the aquaculture sector and also help the sector understand the assistance that can be delivered through leading research centres in Scotland, which rank among the World’s foremost centres for aquaculture research and innovation.

“There is a huge prize within our grasp. For this potential to be fully realised, the sector must continue to demonstrate its commitment to improved environmental performance and sustainable growth; aided by a research and academic community that is exceptionally well positioned to underpin the sustainable development of the sector.”

 

Executive Summary for the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC)

Scotland is rightfully proud of its aquaculture. The industry exports to over 50 countries and contributes an aggregate economic impact of over £1.3 billion annually to the Scottish economy. Its respected aquaculture businesses and researchers contribute to Scotland’s reputation abroad.

Yet there is scope to do more. Innovation in aquaculture could boost revenues, improve food security and counter threats such as overseas competition and emerging diseases. Both the industry and the research community have much to gain from innovating and working together.

The Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) was established in 2014, at the University of Stirling, tasked with promoting and funding such innovation. Our areas of interest include fish and shellfish health and welfare; feeding, quality and nutrition; breeding and stock improvement; and engineering. In all these areas, we bring together businesses and researchers, transforming their relationship and galvanising collaboration.

The aim of our work is commercial success and economic growth. We support Scottish companies’ success at home and abroad, through knowledge exchange projects, solutions to aquaculture’s most pressing problems, skills development and job creation. We focus on the areas that the industry, its customers and its communities most care about.

Whilst our objectives are business-focused and industry-led, the benefits of SAIC’s work reach beyond the industry. Academics gain opportunities to demonstrate impacts in future funding exercises and to improve the quality of their outputs (e.g. through real-life testing). We can help them with access to UK and EU funding and the dissemination of results.

Rural communities can benefit from the development of more sustainable production techniques and the reduction of the industry’s obstacles to growth. Each additional 10,000 tonnes of salmon that reaches market creates an additional £96 million for the Scottish economy, of which over £43 million is at the farm gate.

To target our work most effectively, we have identified four Priority Innovation Actions (PIAs) for our first year of operations:

• Improved sea lice control in Scottish aquaculture

• Alternative sustainable feeds for finfish

• Rapid detection methods for viral pathogens and diseases

• Development of secure health-certified Scottish mollusc spat production systems.

The success of these activities will be measured by their translation into real gains over a five-year time period: higher annual production, higher socio-economic impacts, and the creation of wealth and sustainable new jobs in some of Scotland’s most fragile rural communities.

 

Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre appoints CEO

Heather Jones has been appointed as CEO of the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre Board (SAIC).

The SAIC, which was launched in June, brings together industry and research to provide innovative solutions with the aim of growing the already substantial contribution aquaculture makes to the Scottish economy.

Heather, a native of Ayrshire, brings 25 years’ experience in national and international policy making as a senior advisor to the UK Government.

Heather Jones said: “I am delighted to be invited to be the CEO of the new Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre.

“I look forward to working with industry large and small, academic institutions and Government. Together we can identify, create and commercialise technological innovations. I share the aspiration of the SAIC board that Scotland’s academic institutions and industry be world class, by channelling our creativity and innovation to support a growing aquaculture sector and a prosperous Scottish economy.”

Jack Perry, Chair of the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre, said: “The Board of the SAIC is delighted to welcome Heather as our new CEO. She brings considerable national and international knowledge from a wide-ranging career in government, academia and industry.

“She has acquired extensive knowledge of the challenges and opportunities for the Scottish economy offered by the aquaculture industry. She is also well connected within the industry, Scotland’s research base and government. She will now work with the SAIC consortium to commission research and projects which will add real value to the industry.”

After a Geography degree at Edinburgh University, Heather’s career began in 1989 in the Scottish Office where she worked in a range of posts from setting up Scottish Natural Heritage and dealing with environmental policy, to being Private Secretary to Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MP Scottish Office Minister for Education, Housing and the Highlands and Islands. Heather then worked as Principal Team Leader in marine fisheries and then in Cabinet Secretariat working directly to the first Labour-Liberal Coalition Government in Scotland.

Heather has experience working outside government: in the late 1990s, following her MBA, Heather led Locate in Scotland’s operations in Houston, Texas, where she secured £45m of foreign direct investment to the benefit of Scotland’s economy.

On promotion to the Senior Civil Service in 2001, Heather worked with Scotland’s further and higher education sectors, and supported skills and lifelong learning. In her role as Deputy Director in Marine Scotland in 2009, she oversaw the production of the Strategic Framework for Scottish Aquaculture, set up a new industry-led body, Scotland Food and Drink, and negotiated in international fora in Norway and Canada on behalf of Scotland’s aquaculture industry.

 

Jack Perry to chair Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre Board

Jack Perry has been appointed as chair of the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre Board, which launches today in Edinburgh.

Jack previously served as Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise for six years until 2009, during which time he was instrumental in the creation of Scotland Food and Drink.

Jack Perry said: “I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to lead this important and exciting new collaboration between Scotland’s fish and shellfish farmers. Scotland has an enviable reputation across the world for the quality of its farmed seafood. The Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre will focus on growing and developing this important industry through the application of high quality, innovative and problem solving science.”

Jack currently holds the role of chairman of London listed ICG-Longbow Senior Secured UK Property Debt Investments Ltd and of Silent Herdsman Holdings Limited, a Scottish venture backed technology business. He is also a member of the Board of European Assets Trust NVHe is also a former director of Robert Wiseman Dairies PLC and Capital for Enterprise Limited.

For further information on Jack Perry and the other members of the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre Board, see www.scottishaquaculture.com/scottish_aquaculture_team.

 

Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre launched

A new innovation centre for aquaculture will help create jobs and support the growth, sustainability and profitability of the industry in Scotland.

The Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) will bring together industry and research to provide innovative solutions with the aim of growing the already substantial contribution aquaculture makes to the Scottish economy.

Growth in production will bring with it significant benefits in terms of infrastructure and research, and support employment and economic wellbeing of many fragile rural communities across Scotland. Industry estimates suggest that every additional 10,000 tonnes of salmon create an additional £96 million for the Scottish economy.

The recently published independent report ‘An Assessment of the Benefits to Scotland of Aquaculture’ highlighted the industry already contributes up to £1.4 billion each year to the Scottish economy and 8,000 jobs in Scotland.

The SAIC will focus on areas such as fish and shellfish health and welfare; feeding, quality and nutrition; breeding and stock improvement and engineering to contribute towards increased production of clean, safe and sustainable food.

The centre has been jointly funded by the Scottish Funding Council (in partnership with Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise), and matched by the Scottish aquaculture industry.

The SAIC will be headquartered at the University of Stirling and will have a local delivery centre in the Western Highlands. Public sector funding will be channelled through the University of Stirling acting as Administrative Hub on behalf of the SAIC

Launching the new centre at the Royal Highland Show the Environment and Climate change Minister Paul Wheelhouse said: “The aquaculture industry is increasingly important to the Scottish economy supporting employment in many fragile rural communities. If the industry’s 2020 sustainable production targets are met this could mean a turn-over value of £2 billion to the Scottish economy every year and the on-going support of 10,000 jobs.

“For this to be fully realised, the sector must continue to demonstrate its commitment to improved environmental performance and sustainable growth; aided by a research and academic community that is well positioned to underpin the sustainable that development of the sector.

“The Scottish Government recognises the importance of the industry and this investment illustrates we are serious about investing in its sustainable growth through innovation.

“The SAIC will help the academic and research community understand the needs of the industry and help the industry understand the assistance that can be delivered through research.

“Innovation Centres are large-scale, ambitious projects of excellence. They are part of a cultural shift that is necessary to bring the innovation and creativity we want to see at the heart of our businesses.”

Laurence Howells, chief executive of the Scottish Funding Council, said: “The aquaculture industry is so important for Scotland – Scottish salmon, trout and shellfish are famous all over the world and the business has huge untapped potential. This Centre can help the industry to exploit university research, boosting the economy and creating long-term employment, particularly in rural communities. I am delighted that our £100 million-plus programme of Innovation Centres continues with £11 million in Scottish Aquaculture.”

Jack Perry, Chair of the SAIC Board, said: “I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to lead this important and exciting new collaboration between Scotland’s fish and shellfish farmers. Scotland has an enviable reputation across the world for the quality of its farmed seafood. The Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre will focus on growing and developing this important industry through the application of high quality, innovative and problem solving science.”

Chief executive of the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation, Scott Landsburgh said: “The Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre brings together industry and public sector investment with the knowledge and expertise of Scotland’s research and academic community. This will create opportunities to help industry grow and develop sustainably by improving efficiencies and profitability of the sector. This is a very exciting time for the Scottish salmon farming industry.”