On Thursday 13 November, the Technology Scotland team held the Technology Scotland Annual Dinner and Awards 2025. The annual event took place at the Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow and was attended by nearly 250 members of Scotland’s critical and enabling technologies community.
This year’s annual dinner marked an extra special event in our history as we celebrated ten years of Technology Scotland. This is a milestone which we are very proud of and we are excited to continue to support our members and the wider community in the years to come.
Alongside our 10th anniversary, we introduced the inaugural awards ceremony which was designed to recognise outstanding achievements within the critical and enabling technologies sector, highlighting individuals and organisations that are driving innovation, global impact, and collaboration across Scotland.
After receiving many great applications, our excellent judging panel: Abi Hird. Christopher Leburn, Claire Ordoyno, Mat Wasley, and Stephen Breslin chose the following to be shortlisted:
Technology Scotland Rising Star Award
- Dr Siming Zuo – Neuranics
- Beth Morman – Coherent
- Dr Emma Pearce – University of Glasgow
Technology Scotland Excellence in Innovation Award
- Neuranics – TMR magnetic sensors
- Canon Medical Research Europe – Alphenix 4D CT scanner
- Novosound – SlanjBP
Technology Scotland International Reach Award
Technology Scotland Collaboration Award
- Glasgow City Innovation District
- The Medical Device Manufacturing Centre
- Photonics and Quantum Accelerator
Technology Scotland Special Recognition Award
- Dr Christopher Dorman OBE – Coherent
- Prof Qammer H. Abbasi – University of Glasgow
- Dr Roy McBride – PowerPhotonic
Winners
We’re delighted to share our winners below:
Technology Scotland Rising Star Award
Dr Emma Pearce, University of Glasgow
Emma’s research uses entangled photons to transfer infrared image information to visible light, which can then be detected with low-cost visible sensors such as those found in our everyday phones. Emma has concentrated on targeting applications in medical diagnostics, namely breast cancer screening. Emma’s excellence in experimental physics has been widely recognised, winning the Clarke Prize for Experimental Physics and a fully funded EPSRC scholarship at Imperial College. Through various organisations Emma has played a leading role in STEM outreach and during this year’s International Year of Quantum, showcased photonics to 1000’s of people at the Royal society.
Technology Scotland International Reach Award
Clas-SiC
Operating from Lochgelly, Clas-SiC Wafer Fab is a pure-play, SiC dedicated, open foundry, with a global customer base, exporting 98% of all Silicon Carbide power devices it manufactures outside of the United Kingdom. As part of its business model, Clas-SiC operates a business stream focussed on licensing technology to high-capacity fabrication facilities worldwide. This includes a licensing agreement in Nanjing China, that has accelerated route to market time while giving other Clas-SiC customers a route to high volume manufacturing. This successful international model is soon to be replicated in India and Europe and has had significant positive impact for Scotland on the global semiconductor stage with Clas-SiC utilising and growing its power device manufacturing technology in Scotland to support these licensing contracts.
Technology Scotland Collaboration Award
MDMC
The Medical Device Manufacturing Centre is a collaboration between five Scottish universities—Heriot-Watt, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Robert Gordon—designed to remove the practical barriers that prevent innovative medtech ideas from reaching patients. The MDMC offers fully funded access to 67 advanced manufacturing processes, regulatory expertise, clinical networks, and a suite of supporting services. By integrating academic research, industrial pace, and NHS insight, the MDMC has rapidly grown into a national launchpad for safer, more impactful and greener medical technologies.
Technology Scotland Excellence in Innovation Award
novosound
Novosound has developed a cuffless, calibration-free, blood-pressure monitor designed for the wrist. At its core is novosound’s breakthrough flexible thin-film ultrasound sensor which directly measures arterial wall distension along with pulse waveforms in real time, rather than inferring blood pressure from indirect signals.
This approach eliminates the need for cuffs or periodic recalibration, while delivering accuracy that is robust across all skin tones, lighting conditions, and motion states. The sensor is ultra-low-power and designed for high-volume, low-cost manufacturing, enabling future integration into wearables, fitness bands, and smartwatches.
Technology Scotland Special Recognition Award
Dr Christopher Dorman OBE
A recognised leader in photonics, Chris Dorman’s work has consistently broken new ground, delivering solutions that set industry standards and strengthened Scotland’s reputation as a centre of excellence. He has been a catalyst for collaboration, building partnerships nationally and internationally that have attracted investment, created jobs, and accelerated the global adoption of Scottish technology.
Chris has mentored a generation of scientists and engineers, many of whom now lead teams and companies in the sector. His commitment to talent development is also reflected in his partnership with the University of Strathclyde, where he supports the next wave of photonics and engineering talent.
He is a former Chair of both the UK Photonics Leadership Group and Photonics Scotland, a Visiting Professor at the University of Strathclyde, and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics. In recognition of his outstanding contributions, Chris was awarded an OBE for services to photonics in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours and the prestigious Katharine Burr Blodgett Medal & Prize in 2024. He continues to advocate for Scotland, shaping our sector strategies and future leaders.
We would like to wish a huge congratulations to all of the shortlisted nominees and extra congratulations to our winners!
The night was a great success and we would also like to recognise our sponsors for the evening:
Platinum sponsors:
Drinks reception sponsor:
Corporate sponsor:
We’re pleased to be able to share photos from the evening below.
Finally, a thank you to our critical and enabling technologies community for bringing a great energy to the evening and helping us make this event so special. We’re already looking forward to next year!