Applied Knowledge Exchange

Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) has been granted £20,000 from the Scottish Government’s South Asia Development Award to deliver a programme in the management of diabetic foot disease in India that could prevent diabetes related limb amputations.

GCU’s Strategic Business Development team – the Applied Knowledge Exchange  - facilitated a bid with experts from the School of Health to access grant funding for the development of a training programme for physicians providing diabetic care in Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi.

Diabetic foot disease accounts for more than 50% of non traumatic limb amputations.  Early detection of the disease may prevent amputation and the programme will provide clinicians with the necessary skills to identify diabetic foot disease at an early stage. The World Health Organisation (WHO) now classes diabetes in India as a pandemic, affecting approximately 50 million people.

GCU Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Pamela Gillies, is in India today (October 12) to sign an agreement with Dr. Sneh Bhargava, Medical Director of the Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research in New Delhi for delivery of the project, witnessed by Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond, and Kapil Sabal, who is India’s Minister for Human Resource Development.

Similar partnerships have been forged with the MV Hospital for Diabetes and Diabetes Research in Chennai, Lilavati Hospital and Research Centre in Mumbai and Max Health Care, also in Delhi, to deliver the programme in other parts of the country.

The First Minister said, “I am delighted to join the Minister of Human Resource Development to welcome this important new partnership between Glasgow Caledonian University and Sitaram Bhartia, one of four partners involved in the programme. The Scottish Government is proud to support this project to share Scottish expertise to make a real difference to the quality of the lives of thousands of people in India.” 

Glasgow Caledonian University Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Pamela Gillies, said, “Our partners in India are very important to us and we are very privileged indeed to be working with our esteemed Indian colleagues on this groundbreaking initiative to help prevent unnecessary suffering through diabetes related limb amputations. The support of the Scottish Government and Scottish Development International will allow us to share our podiatric expertise with doctors around India, building capacity in a sustainable way that will transform lives.”

For more information, contact the Applied Knowledge Exchange.

Here are the winners of the Scottish Leadership Awards 2010.

Glasgow Caledonian University’s Applied Knowledge Exchange sponsored the Female Business Leader of the Year Award.

For more information about how GCU works with business on education programmes, consultancy and research, and social innovation, give the Applied Knowledge Exchange a ring on 0141 331 3189.

Dr Rabinder Buttar, President and CEO of Glasgow-based global Clinical Research Organisation, ClinTec International was named Female Business Leader of the Year at the 2010 Scottish Leadership Awards held last night in Glasgow.

The award is sponsored by Glasgow Caledonian University’s Applied Knowledge Exchange and was presented by GCU Principal, Professor Pamela Gillies.

The Scottish Leadership Awards recognises the achievements of Scotland’s private and public sectors leaders and has just recently been launched by Scottish Business Insider magazine.

Rivals for the category included Michelle Mone, founder and co-owner of MJM International and Audrey Baxter, Executive Chairman of Baxters, the international food company.

The award ceremony was held at the Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow with Lord Ashdown present as guest speaker.

Dr Buttar was recognised by the Scottish Leadership Awards for her unique business acumen and entrepreneurial spirit in building one of Britain’s fastest growing privately owned tech companies; 27th in the league of top 100 companies in Britain – Sunday Times Microsoft Tech Track 100.

On winning the award, Dr Buttar stated: “I am honored to receive this award and see it as a great reflection not just of my work but that of our Senior Corporate Director, Bobby Bal and the experienced global management team supporting me. Leadership is about motivating people and bringing out the best in them to deliver challenging company goals. I am proud to have created an organisation in which employees based in Scotland plus 40 countries globally are passionate about their work and have an uncompromising attitude to deliver nothing short of excellence in all they do for our pharmaceutical and biotech clients.”

For more information, please contact the Applied Knowledge Exhange on 0141 331 3189.

Kellie Gibson, a PhD student working with Jim Woodburn, Professor of Rehabilitation at Glasgow Caledonian University, heads to Bangladesh at the weekend to start her Gordon Masterton/ Magnusson Award funded work.

Kellie is volunteering with the Leprosy Mission International and will spend time supporting the rehabilitation work conducted in a number of clinics across the country. She will also stop by the Grameen Caledonian College of Nursing in Dhaka towards the end of the visit to meet the students and share her experiences.

Kellie has set up her own blog and you can follow her progress at http://leprosymissionbangladesh.blogspot.com/

Some of Glasgow Caledonian University’s areas of expertise feature in a new Business Insider Special Report  on Knowledge Exchange.

We have highlighted the CIC Start Online project, our High Voltage Engineering team, some of our Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) and our Work-Based Learning Academies.

For the full supplement, please click here.

Trying out a new little Animoto video for our website.

The Scottish Funding Council has issued a new call for proposals to its Horizon Fund for knowledge exchange proposals addressing the needs of Scottish industry.

Resources available for projects in the latest call will be approximately £4m per annum for three years.

This year the call will focus on the key sectors identified in the Scottish Government’s Economic Strategy, including the creative industries (including digital content and technologies); energy; financial and business services; food and drink (including agriculture and fisheries);  life sciences (including biotechnology and translational medicine); and tourism.

The SFC is keen to receive proposals for projects that involve Scottish small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

Proposals are to be submitted by Universities by 17th September 2010.

Glasgow Caledonian University has also benefited from this year’s Scottish Funding Council’s Innovation Voucher Scheme, which aids first links between Scottish universities and SMEs. This year, GCU received funding for six proposals, worth over £48,500.

The scheme, administered by Interface, provides funding of up to £5,000 to universities for projects with Scottish SMEs. SMEs contribute a matching value of cash, staff time or access to facilities. The funding can be used for a broad range of collaborative activities including developing new products and services, improved production processes or experimental testing and measuring.

For more information on how your business could work with Glasgow Caledonian University, contact the Applied Knowledge Exchange on 0141 331 3189 or visit www.gcu.ac.uk/business

AGRICO UK is working with Glasgow Caledonian University on a two-year Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP).

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships is Europe’s leading programme, helping business to improve their competitiveness and productivity through the better use of knowledge, technology and skills that reside within the UK knowledge base. 

With the help of Glasgow Caledonian University’s food science experts in the Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Agrico aims to introduce laboratory techniques to support the development of novel potato genotypes with specific nutritional properties.

The Applied Knowledge Exchange can help your business with a Knowledge Transfer Partnership – give us a call to find out more on 0141 331 3189 or visit www.gcu.ac.uk/business

Samantha MacLean, Programme Leader for the MSc Human Resource Management at Glasgow Caledonian University, presented an award to Kelly Rossi of First People Solutions at the Scottish Recruitment Awards in Glasgow this month.

Rossi picked up the award for Individual Volume Specialist of the Year and won the award against a colleague and a representative from Search Consultancy at a glittering ceremony at the Hilton Hotel.

Glasgow Caledonian University completed the research for the Scottish Business Insider Awards, using the expertise of Samantha MacLean and the Caledonian Business School to design the categories for the awards and oversee the research process for the nominations.

Technology Transfer Opportunity Mechanism (TTOM) Awards have been set up to enable Scottish SMEs to transfer technology from Scotland’s Universities, and are now open for applications. The closing date is 27th August.

Grants of up to £5000 are available to tackle problems relevant to the SME, paid at a maximum rate of 75%, with the remaining 25% being cash or in-kind contributions from the client company.

Support in finding appropriate academic expertise can be provided by Interface.

TTOM encompasses emerging technologies in sectors such as Energy, Life Science, Digital Media, Enabling Technologies (including optoelectronics, electronics, microelectronics and software) and Sustainable Transport.

For more information, contact the Applied Knowledge Exchange, or vist the TTOM website.