Standing out from the crowd
Across Inverness Campus there's a range of innovative activity in the fields of life sciences and technology. Many of the businesses and organisations based here find that working alongside each other often sparks innovative ideas which make the most of specialisms in different areas. The approach is characterised by the 'triple helix' based on strong collaboration between the NHS, industry and academia.
Increasingly, and particularly as we’ve seen in times of the pandemic, there is a need and desire to move to remote medicine and care services which can be provided close to home and, where possible, away from hospitals. Clever technological solutions bringing ground-breaking innovations have a huge part to play in making this happen.
Read below about some of the specialisms and expertise that can be found in our Campus community.
Healthtech
The use of technology to help improve an individuals' health and wellness is a simple concept but a fast-growing and diverse sector. Technology can often make health and care solutions quicker, slicker and easier to access.
Healthtech describes the range of products and services that integrate digital health technology, data capture & analysis, sensors and AI, to create personalised health solutions for this rapidly expanding market, estimated to be worth $150bn globally. Innovations in health technologies and models of healthcare will enable more people to monitor and manage their health and wellbeing at home and remain independent. They will increase efficiencies and reduce costs in healthcare systems, improve quality of care, particularly in remote and rural areas, and tailor health services and precision medicine to match the needs of individual patients.
As well as creating new products and services, Healthtech has the capacity to upgrade existing products and technologies widely used in the NHS to accelerate care delivery and enable clinical staff to make faster decisions at point of care.
Examples of this include Capsule Endoscopy (via NHS ScotCap) programme, using miniature cameras ingested by patients. These link to existing NHS technologies to help improve diagnosis and early intervention in colon cancer.
Animal Health
Animal health is a key sector for Scotland and within the Highlands and Islands, aquaculture is particularly strong, with many of the country's companies based here. This cluster of aquaculture producers is supported by a supply chain which includes those with expertise in fish health and diagnostic technologies.
Inverness Campus activity in animal health and aquaculture offers the opportunity to connect with the wider ecosystem in Scotland. Scotland is recognised as one of the main clusters of animal biosciences research and veterinary sciences in Europe. Circa 1,000 researchers are active in Scotland and veterinary science in Scotland wins more than 50% of UK veterinary funding.
With Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) northern headquarters at the Campus, there’s a host of reasons for basing your animal health company here. SRUC’s experts can advise across a wide spectrum of topics and have particular experience and expertise in epidemiology.
Animal health companies at the Campus range from aquaculture, to a secondary vet referral clinic.
Rural Health
Rural health is the study of health and healthcare delivery in rural environments.
The remote and rural geography of the Highlands and Islands with dispersed populations and challenging geography makes the area an ideal location for developing new solutions, many of which can then be rolled out to a wider population across the country.
Rural medical solutions can save long journeys for patients and allow them to access medical expertise close to home. The University of the Highlands and Islands carries out research and is involved in knowledge exchange, commercialisation and teaching activities that are related to the physical, mental health and wellbeing of people living or working within remote and rural communities.