Fast-growing Scottish technology company wins prestigious business award

01/11/2019

Novosound, a fast-growing Scottish small/medium-sized enterprise (SME) and developer of a ground-breaking technique to mass-manufacture printable ultrasound sensors, received a prestigious award from its peers at the Institute of Physics (IOP) at a reception at the Palace of Westminster in London on the evening of 16 October in front of IOP trustees, members, MPs and senior business leaders.

The Business Start-Up Award was made in recognition of Novosound’s innovative thin-film processes and technologies to drive growth in the modern ultrasound sensor market, a market that has, until now, seen limited product innovation for over 40 years.

Novosound, which is based at BioCity, the biotech incubator located on the M8 just outside Glasgow, was the first spin-out company from the University of the West of Scotland, raising £1.5 million at its seed investment round in April 2018 and, in July 2019, receiving a £1 million grant from Scottish Enterprise as part of a £2 million project to rapidly scale up the company’s research and development (R&D) activity and recruit new, highly skilled staff.

Novosound is currently working on a Series A funding round, which is expected to conclude later this year.

The global ultrasonic market is now valued at US$45 billion (approximately £34.9 billion) and is growing at a rate of over 10% every year.

Dave Hughes, Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Novosound, said: “Our technology and new products are already generating a lot of international interest across numerous global sectors, including oil & gas, aerospace and nuclear, so to receive such a prestigious endorsement from our highly experienced peers at the Institute of Physics is fantastic for the business and, importantly, for our highly skilled workforce.”

Jonathan Flint, President of the Institute of Physics, said: “The IOP Business Awards recognise large and small companies that have built success on the creative application of physics. There are very few awards that do this.

“The application of physics has the potential to produce cutting-edge technologies and to drive business innovation and growth. It also fuels significant positive societal and economic transformation, both locally and globally.

“Now, more than ever, we need continued investment to ensure a healthy supply of physicists in the UK and Ireland. These awards remind us of that and of what can be achieved when our talent is encouraged, developed and rewarded.”

The Institute of Physics is the professional body and learned society for physics and the leading body for practising physicists in the UK and Ireland.

Committed to working with ‘physics-based’ businesses and companies that apply and employ physics and physicists, the IOP has a rich history of supporting business innovation and growth and the IOP Business Awards are unique in the UK and Ireland in recognising the significant contribution that physicists and physics make in industry.

There are two categories of awards, Business Innovation Awards and Business Start-Up Awards, so businesses at any stage of their development are eligible, from start-ups to multinational corporations.

The IOP Business Start-Up Award specifically recognises and celebrates young companies with great business ideas founded on physics inventions, with the potential for business growth and significant societal impact.

www.novosound.net