Innovation Portal

The Event

The Innovation Showcase is an essential event for any business wishing to increase their business competitiveness through innovation. As well as presenations from leading figures in the world of business the event  will showcase cutting edge technology and expertise from the University of Dundee, University of Abertay Dundee and the Scottish Crop Research Institute.

Speakers

• Ken Keir,  Honda (UK) Managing Director and Snr VP Honda Europe
• Jim Mather MSP, Minister for Enterprise, Energy & Tourism
• Peter Day from BBC Radio 4's In Business

Exhibition

• 20 units offering cutting edge expertise and facilities available for business.
• Relevant expertise for Food & Drink, Life Sciences, Medical Devices, Digital Media, and Engineering sectors

Register today to secure your place.

Full Programme

Delegates can register for morning or afternoon session.

Morning Session

Networking Lunch

12.15 - 1.30
Lunch for morning and afternoon delegates and networking in the exhibition zone.

Afternoon Session

Networking and drinks

4.30 - 5.30
Afternoon delegates have a final opportunity to meet our academics and discover what technologies, services and expertise are available. Drinks and nibbles will be provided.

Speaker Biographies

Peter Day

Peter Day is the BBC News' Business Correspondent and presenter of BBC Radio 4's In Business and Global Business on BBC World Service. In Business aims to seek out trends which will influence the working world.

Peter will be hosting day 1 of the Innovation Showcase; speaking about global innovation and the potential of relationships between academia and business; and facilitating the question and answer sessions.

Ken Keir

Ken Keir is the Managing Director of Honda UK and the Senior Vice-President of Honda Motor Europe. He will be returning to his hometown of Dundee to be our keynote speaker.

Mr Keir's hands-on approach has played a considerable part in Honda (UK)’s recent car sales success. He instigated a complete management restructure of the company, placing more emphasis on customer satisfaction as a means of achieving long-term sales goals - and therefore exploiting untapped corporate sales potential. With these changes the marque has doubled its British car sales volume during the period between 1990 and 1999, with a consequent increase in turnover and profitability of the business. 

Mr Keir is responsible for all Honda (UK) Corporate Matters, Cars, Motorcycles and Power Equipment. In 2002, he also became the first European to be appointed as Executive Vice-President, Honda Motor Europe with additional responsibility for the development of the European sales networks.

Jim Mather

Jim Mather, Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism will be opening the afternoon programme with an Innovation address. Mr Mather will also be taking questions from afternoon delegates.

Tom Inns

Tom Inns is Professor of Design at the University of Dundee and Director of the AHRC & EPSRC funded Designing for the 21st Century Research Initiative.

In 2000 he was appointed as Professor of Design Research at the University of Dundee. Between 2001 and 2004 he was Head of the School of Design and helped establish the University of Dundee's pioneering new programmes in Innovative Product Design and Interactive Media Design.

He has a strong research interest in the future of design and the way design is used as a strategic tool within business. He leads a portfolio of research projects in this area and runs postgraduate modules in design led product & service innovation and product development at both the University of Dundee and University of St Andrews School of Management.

Colin Burns

Colin runs a one-man agency, Martach Associates, as a hub to a network of leading innovation professionals and consultants. He is a pioneer in Transformation Design, a methodology that harnesses user-led creativity to create new strategic business and social value.

Colin has spent most of his career working at IDEO – the international design and innovation consultancy, famous for it’s user-centred, interdisciplinary approach.  During his 10 years at IDEO he worked in California and Germany, as well as the UK. He held posts during this time as IDEO’s Global Head of Interaction Design and the Managing Director of IDEO London.

Colin has worked globally for companies such as Vodafone, Prada, Procter & Gamble, Egg, British Airways, Nokia, the BBC and the Design Council.  He is currently Visiting Professor of Innovation Product Design at the University of Dundee.

Graeme Campbell

Graeme is the SMART:Scotland Programme Manager. He will be talking in both sessions about the innovation funding available to Scottish SMEs from the Scottish Government.

The SMART:Scotland programme  provide financial assistance to SMEs to help support projects, which represent a significant technological advance for the UK sector or industry concerned.

Steve Wood

Steve is the Business Development Director at the semiconductor company, Elonics Ltd. and has over 30 years of extensive experience in the semiconductor industry, particularly in custom business.

Before joining Elonics, Steve was Imaging Business Manager for Wolfson Microelectronics plc, where he developed lasting relationships with customers, managing contract negotiations and securing future business.

Steve’s talk will draw from his twenty years experience of managing innovative programmes from concept to product launch and of working with government funding programmes such as SMART and SPURplus awards.

Expertise Exhibition

Academics from the University of Dundee, University of Abertay Dundee and SCRI will be showcasing their expertise in an exhibition running throughout the day. The programme offers several breaks to provide networking opportunities.

Read on to learn more about the units exhibiting at the event.

Biomathematics and Statistics (BIOSS) - expertise in bioinformatics, image analysis and training

Business - facilities and expertise in a wide range of business fields and for all sectors

Concrete Technology and Structural Engineering - research facilities and expertise for the construction sector

Computer Vision - software development for the analysis and understanding of images and videos 

Digital Creativity - digitial expertise and creative technologies

Engineering - expertise in tissue engineering and biomechanics

Environment - expertise in water supply, effluent control and ICT scanning systems for 3D structures

Food and Health - multidisciplinary expertise for recipe development, nutritional analysis and infection control 

Human Identification - facial imaging and biometric expertise

IMSaT - expertise in developing emerging medical technologies with strengths in surgical instrumentation and imaging

Innovative Product Design - services for businesses to improve products and processes

Institute of Motion Analysis and Research - expertise related to ergonomics, biomechanics and motion analysis

Isotope Analysis - expertise in analysis of compounds to reveal origin and counterfeit materials

Plant Products and Food Quality - expertise in assessing health benefits of phytochemicals and anti-oxidants

Psychology for Business - expertise in neuroscience and developmental nutrition

Security - expertise and strategies to keep businesses secure and alert  

Software for the management and analysis of microscopy image data

Soil Biodiversity - expertise in sustainable soil use and indicators of soil health

Soil Bioengineering - expertise in the study of how plant root systems reinforce soil slopes  

The University of Dundee's Drug Discovery Unit - facilities to translate basic biomedical research into potential therapies 

TMRC - The Translation Medicine Research Collaboration lab will showcase their expertise in genomics, proteomics, immunoassay and bioinformatics

Location

The Innovation Showcase will be held at the Dalhouise Building, University of Dundee. The Dalhousie Building is number 15 on the University campus map.

• University of Dundee city campus map
• University of Dundee travel information (including parking)

Register

Click here to register your free place.