Co-ordinated by ISLI, DoRIES is an intiative to provide businesses across the Scottish lowlands and uplands with the technical support required to develop a raft of high value high-tech new products and services.
Backed by a £832K investment from the Scottish Government SEEKIT programme and the European Regional Development Fund, together with financial and technical backing from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Heriot-Watt and Strathclyde universities, DoRIES launched in January 2011. The DoRIES (Development of Research and Innovation in Electronic Systems) project is designed to support Scottish SMEs seeking to develop marketable products, services or processes using electronics based enabling technologies. With the aid of financially supported access, the programme’s technical support team will help participating companies develop and adopt the high-tech product solutions demanded by the modern marketplace.
Delivered by the technology transfer institute’s team of industrially experienced engineers, businesses will be helped through the process of integrating and mastering the technologies – such as wireless interconnection, embedded computing, advanced sensing, signal processing and energy efficiency – that they need to deliver the high degrees of automation, intelligence, mobility and usability required by today’s markets. Backing this up, is the world-class expertise of the four university partners in the areas of electronic engineering and computer science. Where the client application needs new technology to provide a solution, the university engagement and the Institute’s established links will enable pull-through of research capability to implementation in client solutions.
With extensive experience developing integrated system technologies for sectors including energy, smart home, health, aerospace and electronics, ISLI is ideally positioned to provide client companies with the technology and supporting guidance required to generate engagement and impact across almost all business markets and sectors. Project staff will work with companies to create the new technological concepts they need to take their product to the next level. They will then provide focused support to develop those concepts into robust technology solutions satisfying the needs and roadmap of the client companies. Firms taking advantage of the project can receive assistance with both the technology review and technology feasibility study phases of product development. SMEs will be eligible for a package of support – up to a maximum value of £5,000 – to undertake the collaborative feasibility studies and proof-of-concept work with the institute.
The SEEKIT programme is a Scottish Government scheme which aims to encourage new and improved productive knowledge transfer activities between small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and the Scottish public sector science base.
The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is an instrument of the EC which aims to strengthen economic and social cohesion in the European Union by correcting imbalances between its regions. The DoRIES project is funded under Priority 1 – ‘Research and Innovation’ within the fund for ‘Regional Competitiveness and Employment’.
DoRIES offers two stages of assistance:
Stage 1 – Technology Review
Clients can obtain impartial FREE 1:1 advice on electronics and embedded software technologies and techniques from the DoRIES team. This is in the form of a technology review and typically as part of the client’s development plans for a new product or service or the redevelopment or improvement of an existing product. Support to identify and apply for additional funding can also be provided as part of the service.
Stage 2 – Technology Feasibility Study
Pre-start-ups and SMEs may apply for support up to the value of £5000 or 50% of total project costs (whichever is the least). The applicant is expected to provide a 50% match in funds or demonstrable in-kind support. The purpose of this support is to assess the technical feasibility of a project by leveraging the expertise of the ISLI Technology Group staff and, where appropriate, the partner universities of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt, Strathclyde and Glasgow.
Typical outcomes from feasibility studies include feasibility reports, proof of concepts, technology demonstrators or combinations of the three.
Example technology support available:
Embedded software implementation on microcontrollers and microprocessors
Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs)
Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS)
Analog and mixed-signal Printed Circuit Board Design (PCB) design
Sensor-Electronics integration
Wireless and wired communications/networking
High-speed data acquisition
Signal processing/image processing/machine vision
Low-power electronics implementation
To discuss how DoRIES can assist your company, please contact:
Dr. Cade Wells
Project Manager
T: 0131 510 0670
E: dories@isli.co.uk
DoRIES is funded by the Scottish Government’s SEEKIT programme, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and ISLI’s partner universities of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt, Strathclyde and Glasgow.