Research
New coordination
mechanisms for
deep tech
We design, activate and prove new ways of coordinating capital, talent, knowledge and institutions — so that more science breakthroughs make it across the valley of death.
Research themes
Our themes are defined by the coordination failure they address – so a finding in photonics can transfer to climate tech.
01
Capital coordination
Money for deep tech exists, but it rarely reaches science at the right time, in the right form or in the right combination.
02
Talent & labour coordination
How people and work are organised, within organisations and between them, rarely matches what turning breakthroughs into impact demands.
03
Knowledge coordination
Valuable knowledge and technology tend to stay where they were made, rather than reaching those who could put them to use.
04
Institutional coordination
The rules, organisations and policies around science restrict which breakthroughs can travel from lab to impact.
How we work
Every project designs, activates and tests a mechanism.
Our north star: to design, activate and prove a portfolio of new coordination mechanisms that lead to more science breakthroughs making it across the valley of death — while building in the capacity to detect and correct how each mechanism reshapes the behaviour it is meant to coordinate.
Design
Based on diverse forms of evidence, we propose and specify new coordination mechanisms ready for testing, deployment and critique.
Activation
Working with partners and stakeholders, we build routes to live use, going beyond theory to pilot.
Critical iteration
We critically follow the lifecycle of new coordination mechanisms as they deploy in practice, and edit and update them according to the earliest emerging insights.
Projects
Ongoing
AI Professional Practice Studio
Embedding Honours-level student teams in Scottish deep tech SMEs to deliver mentored AI productivity sprints.
Ongoing
RaRE Materials Network+
A UK-wide network linking materials scientists with the electronics industry, so new electronic materials are adopted faster, more sustainably and with more secure supply chains.
Ongoing
Owning the Future? Histories and Futures of Intellectual Property in Deep Tech
Bringing historians, legal scholars, deep tech practitioners and policymakers together to rethink how intellectual property could serve both innovation and the public interest.
Ongoing
The Health of Future Generations
A pilot using futures thinking, scenarios and simulation to build a Glasgow-based network on preventing today’s health inequalities from shaping the lives of future generations.
Ongoing
Mapping Responsible and Sustainable Supply Chains for Quantum Technologies
Mapping quantum technology supply chains through a responsible-innovation lens, covering sustainability, circularity, resilience and geopolitics.
Completed
Focused Research Organisations in the UK
A study of how Focused Research Organisations, a new kind of non-profit for ambitious science, are taking root in the UK.
Ongoing
Exploring Alternative Finance for Impact-Driven Deep Tech Ventures
How alternative and social finance can help science-based ventures with a social mission move from lab to market without trading purpose for profit.
Ongoing
National Security and the ‘New’ Industrial Policy: Quantum Technology Strategies Compared
Why do some countries turn leadership in quantum research into their own industrial capacity while others fall behind?
Ongoing
Hydrogen Futures, Rural Transitions: Skills for a Just Transition in the Highlands and Islands
Who will do the work of Scotland’s green hydrogen economy, and how can skills policy make sure rural Highland and Island communities share in its benefits?
Ongoing
From Molecule to Market: The Therapeutic and Commercial Promise of Aurodox
Taking Aurodox, a natural compound that disarms bacteria rather than killing them, from the lab bench towards the market.