News
AI biosecurity tool could help save farmers time
Scientists are developing a new webtool which will use Artificial Intelligence to give time-pressured farmers tailored advice on how to protect their livestock from disease.
The device is being developed in a project by SRUC and Moredun which would quickly summarise official documentation on animal biosecurity, and deliver detail most relevant to an individual farmer’s needs at the time.
Edinburgh Science Festival's 2025 programme announced
This year’s Festival will explore the challenges of living on a planet with finite resources, through the lenses of science fiction and space exploration, with the theme Spaceship Earth.
Source: The Herald
New stats prove Scotland punching above its weight with 1,663 tech start-ups
Scotland has bucked the trend as technology company incorporations jumped 5 per cent last year, despite a similar slowdown at the UK level, new figures have revealed.
The data shows a total of 1,663 new tech businesses were incorporated in Scotland in 2024, up from 1,553 the previous year.
Source: The Scotsman
Edinburgh image sensor company emerges from stealth mode
Singular Photonics has emerged from stealth mode, launching a new generation of image sensors based on single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs).
A spin-out from the University of Edinburgh lab of professor Robert Henderson, Singular is one of the first companies to bring advanced computation to SPAD-based image sensing, enabling in-pixel and cross-pixel storage and computations at the lowest light levels to reveal previously invisible details.
Source: Business Insider
New vertical farm a first for Scottish education
SRUC has stepped up its commitment to global and local food production and security by becoming the first higher education institution in Scotland to open a commercial-sized vertical farm.
Jim Fairlie MSP, Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity, officially opened the £1.8 million SRUC Vertical Farming Innovation Centre – which has received £200,000 from the Scottish Government – at the Edinburgh Campus of Scotland’s Rural College.
Funding boost for fertility technology
Dyneval, a pioneering agriculture fertility technology company has raised £515,772 in a new funding round, including investment from Lifted Ventures, to advance its groundbreaking product, the Dynescan.
The Dynescan is the first semen analyzer capable of measuring semen quality over time under conditions mimicking the reproductive tract.
Heriot-Watt launches spin-out detecting bugs in water supplies
Technology to improve the safety of public water supplies by improving the detection of waterborne pathogens has been developed by scientists at Heriot-Watt University.
Now they are setting up a spin-out company, Aquazoa, to take their system to market, and expect to commercialise the product in early 2026.
Source: Business Insider
Introducing the time machine for plants
Biodiversity loss, food security, and changing climates are among pressing challenges both at home here in Scotland, and globally. If we hope to solve them, we need tools and resources built to meet these challenges.
Source: The Herald
Former Apple adviser to meet Scottish female founders in California trade mission
Ron Weissman, a leading global tech sector figure, former senior executive at Apple and adviser to the company’s late founder Steve Jobs, will meet with a group of Scottish-based female company founders including those from within Midlothian Science Zone.
AbacusBio and Bayer expand collaboration to additional crops and geographies
Following a successful year of collaboration, AbacusBio and Bayer have agreed to expand their partnership in the area of predictive plant breeding. This marks AbacusBio’s largest collaboration to date, which is anticipated to have a far-reaching impact along numerous crop supply chains.