InnoScot Health will be part of a panel of judges for the 11th Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards (SKEA), helping to recognise, reward, and celebrate impacts achieved through vital business-academic partnerships

Organisers Interface recently launched the 2026 Awards, Scotland’s flagship celebration of business–academic collaboration, inviting applications from businesses and academics throughout Scotland.

InnoScot Health’s Innovation Commercialisation Manager Fiona Schaefer will form part of a judging panel, reviewing and shortlisting entries to the ‘Research & Innovation in Digital Health and Social Care’ category which is sponsored by The Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre (DHI).

One of two new categories, it will “celebrate digitally enabled knowledge exchange projects that have made a significant positive impact on health and social care”.

Formal NHS Scotland partner InnoScot Health is encouraging health service teams collaborating with academia to apply and demonstrate their innovative thinking. It also believes there are many clinical academics working with industry who have interesting R&I projects to showcase through the awards.

Fiona said: “We’re proud to be part of Scotland’s flagship celebration of business–academic collaboration, recognising the leading partnerships between business, third sector, public sector organisations and academia which are making a real difference.

“I look forward to having the opportunity of judging submissions for this exciting new category which aligns with our own innovation goals for Scottish health and social care by drawing out inspirational NHS staff working across the triple helix. I am grateful to DHI for inviting me to join the panel.”

“In a previous role at Interface, I assisted a wide range of businesses to build academic collaborations, enabling them to develop new and improved products and services, so this feels like a fitting way to leverage that experience.”

She added: “I would urge interested parties to enter before the deadline of Thursday 11 December — it’s free to do so and could be very rewarding for your organisation.”

The application form for the Research and Innovation in Digital Health and Social Care category can be downloaded with full instructions with full instructions included.

Interface say that “winning a Scottish Knowledge Exchange Award is more than recognition, it shines a spotlight on collaboration, demonstrates real impact, and raises the profile of those driving innovation across business, academia, and their partners”.

Director of Interface, Amelia Whitelaw said “The awards are central to Interface’s story, celebrating the people, projects and partnerships that drive innovation. Each year they evolve, and we’re excited to spotlight Scotland’s leadership in AI and Digital Health and Social Care with our new partners.”

Deputy CEO and Director of Innovation at DHI, Moira Mackenzie said: “We were so impressed by last year’s awards and the high calibre of finalists, that DHI was inspired to collaborate and co-design an award category relevant to our sector this year.”

InnoScot Health is pleased to be linking up with DHI, with whom it already partners on supporting Scottish participation in the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme (CEP) as part of a collaborative group of organisations.

The two organisations have also collaborated in the past on specific projects such as the Right Decision Service now being developed and managed by Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS).

It is expected that there will an awards shortlist announcement on Wednesday 11 February with the ceremony then taking place on Thursday 19 March at MacRobert Arts Centre, part of the University of Stirling.

Interface — which is funded by the Scottish Funding Council and hosted by Edinburgh Innovations Ltd — has created a downloadable toolkit offering tips to support applications.