Just over a year since its launch, the Scottish Outreach (SCOUT) Project has fast developed a growing reputation for assisting the SME community drive their innovation.

SCOUT is a free service which aims to accelerate and de-risk the growth of Scottish SMEs in chemical, biochemical and life science sectors, who are seeking or developing disruptive technologies.

Jointly funded by the European Regional Development Fund (managed by Scottish Enterprise) CPI, CMAC Future Manufacturing Research Hub (CMAC) and the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC), the project serves SMEs through a three-pronged approach of Innovation Forums, Innovation Integrator® assessments and Deep Technical Consultancy.

Having engaged with 21 SME’s, delivering over 200 hours of support across 13 sector and technology areas, Project Manager, Brian McFerran is incredibly pleased with how the project team have performed in Year 1.

Brian said: “Very early on, we built a great team across the partner organisations of CPI, CMAC and IBioIC. This allowed us to quickly create real momentum, despite the pandemic, generating high levels of interest and engagement within the Scottish SME community.

“As a team, we are delighted with the support we have been able to offer within the first year of the project and look forward to engaging with as many SMEs as possible before the project concludes in December 2022.”

Watch our short (6min) video and hear the views of key stakeholders and testimonies from some of the many SME’s who have benefited from the project to date.

For more information and to get in touch, visit www.uk-cpi.com/scout.