News
Renewables training scheme targets ex-military
Partnership with the Ministry of Defence’s Enhanced Learning Credits Scheme aims to fill skills gap.
The Energy Training Academy (ETA) is stepping up its bid to close the renewables skills gap by offering Scotland’s first direct route to becoming a low carbon heating engineer.
Source: Business Insider
Scottish biotech company secures £3.4 million
Scottish biotech engineering company uFraction8 has secured £3.4m in new investment, following the completion of a funding round led by Foresight Group.
Based in Falkirk with a fully-owned subsidiary in Poland, uFraction8’s microfiltration technology is designed to optimise cell and biomass production, offering an energy-efficient alternative to traditional methods used in the production of food, feed and bio-based products.
Source: Business Insider
Peatlands project to tackle greenhouse gas emissions
A major new project has been launched to tackle greenhouse gas emissions from drained peatlands.
SRUC is the UK lead in the EU-funded Horizon Europe project 'Socio-Economic and Climate and Environmental Aspects of Paludiculture' (Paludi4all) – the productive use of wet and rewetted peatlands.
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
Reintroducing wolves to Highlands could help native woodlands, says study
Researchers say the animals could keep red deer numbers under control, leading to storage of 1m tonnes of CO2.
Source: The Guardian
Red squirrels' low genetic diversity poses disease vulnerability
Worryingly low levels of genetic diversity make Scotland’s red squirrels especially vulnerable to disease, a study has shown.
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh said this could explain why the mammals are so slow to develop resistance to the squirrelpox virus, which is carried by non-native grey squirrels and fatal to reds.
Source: The National
Scotland’s Life Sciences Conference & Awards 2025: Uniting industry leaders to shape the future
Scotland’s thriving life sciences sector, a key driver of innovation and economic growth, is set to take centre stage in 2025 with the launch of Scotland’s Life Sciences Conference, sponsored by Moderna.
Source: The Scotsman
Angel syndicate Tricapital's record year provides backing for 500 Scottish jobs
A Scottish business angel syndicate has helped to create and secure more than 500 jobs thanks to its record investment programme.
Tricapital Angels has completed 18 deals over the past 12 months, with its high-net-worth members pumping more than £3.5 million of their own money into some of the country’s most innovative companies.
Source: The Scotsman
Scottish biotechnology centre achieves 300 member milestone ahead of major event
Scotland’s Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) has seen its membership surge to more than 300 after welcoming around 100 new members to its network in 2024.
Industry leaders said the growth reflected the health of Scotland’s bio-economy, with start-ups Vaste and Seastex recently joining IBioIC and helping to push its network past the milestone figure.
Source: The Scotsman
Supporting women-led businesses is an ‘economic imperative’ – Forbes
Supporting women-led businesses is an “economic imperative”, Kate Forbes is expected to say in speech in Edinburgh today.
The Deputy First Minister is addressing a Pathways Pledge event – a gathering of organisations signed up to tech entrepreneur Ana Stewart’s Pathways Forward initiative, which aims to help remove barriers facing women in enterprise.
Source: Business Insider