Projects

We channel our resources into the areas that will benefit the Scottish aquaculture sector the most, including reducing its environmental footprint and increasing its economic impact.

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Completed
Transforming Fish Health Management in Aquaculture: A High-Throughput, Non-Lethal Diagnostic Approach
Transforming Fish Health Management: A High-Throughput, Non-Lethal Diagnostic Approach

This project not only met but exceeded its main objectives, yielding two significant...

Completed
AquaLeap: Innovation in genetics and breeding to advance UK aquaculture production
AquaLeap: Innovation in genetics and breeding to advance UK aquaculture production

AquaLeap aimed to develop and uptake genomics technologies in support of stock enhanc...

Completed
Evaluating the efficacy and welfare implications of thermal delousing in Scottish salmonid aquaculture
Efficacy & welfare implications of thermal delousing in Scottish salmonid aquaculture

This study aimed to address ethical concerns by evaluating the efficacy and welfare i...

Completed
Full R&D: Pre-emptive and non-invasive pathogen diagnostics to prevent the spread of shellfish disease
Full R&D: Pre-emptive and non-invasive pathogen diagnostics to prevent the spread of shellfish disease

In this full R&D project, the system developed in the previous feasibly study was tak...

Completed
Feasibility Study: Pre-emptive and non-invasive pathogen diagnostics to prevent the spread of shellfish disease
Feasibility Study: Pre-emptive and non-invasive pathogen diagnostics to prevent the spread of shellfish disease

In direct response to requests from shellfish farmers and restoration practitioners,...

Completed
ZOEX: converting waves into energy for fish farming
ZOEX: converting waves into energy for fish farming

This project aimed to confirm whether mounting the ZOEX Wave Energy Converter (WEC) t...

Completed
Understanding failure rates in Rainbow trout populations
Understanding failure rates in Rainbow trout populations

The primary objective of this study was to identify the cause of failed fish syndrome...

Completed
Exploration of groutless rock anchors to support aquaculture infrastructure
Exploration of groutless rock anchors to support aquaculture infrastructure

Groutless technology has the potential to reduce the costs associated with traditiona...

Completed
Aquaculture Insights: open data platform for salmon aquaculture
Aquaculture Insights: open data platform for salmon aquaculture

Developing an open data platform for fish farmers, to combine multiple data sources a...

Completed
Georeferenced 3D photogrammetry: a tool for monitoring finfish aquaculture impacts on hard seabeds
Georeferenced 3D photogrammetry: a tool for monitoring finfish aquaculture impacts

Hard substrates are often highly complex, making them difficult to sample in, but the...

Completed
The development of diagnostic techniques to assess fish health and the impact of sea lice treatment in aquaculture
Development of diagnostic techniques to assess fish health and impact of sea lice treatment

This project successfully repurposed diagnostic technologies from human and veterinar...

Completed
Novel farming system to produce sustainable marine zooplankton protein for aquafeed
Producing sustainable marine zooplankton protein for aquafeed

This project explored ways to increase the availability of marine ingredients for the...

Completed
LPAS: Live Plankton Analysis System
LPAS: Live Plankton Analysis System

This project built and tested a Live Plankton Analysis System (LPAS) prototype that c...

Completed
Tubenet™ technology for sea lice control in Scotland (TUBENET-PROOF)
Tubenet™ technology for sea lice control in Scotland

Addressing specific scientific questions to fully understand the efficacy and impacts...

Completed
MARLIN AQUA: Sustainable energy access for offshore aquaculture
MARLIN AQUA: Sustainable energy access for offshore aquaculture

Exploring a modular approach to renewable energy generation in conjunction with aquac...

Completed
Novel functional feeds for improved performance in Atlantic salmon based on nettle: with specific emphasis on immune function and resilience
Novel functional feeds for improved performance in Atlantic salmon based on nettle

This project demonstrates that Atlantic salmon be grown on feeds with nettle inclusio...

Completed
Virtual maintenance and training of fish farms through photogrammetry and virtual reality
Virtual maintenance and training of fish farms through photogrammetry and virtual reality

Virtual reality: bringing gaming technology to fish farm maintenance and taking train...

Completed
Artificial Intelligence approaches to improve diagnosis of gill disease in Atlantic salmon (AIGD)
Artificial Intelligence approaches to improve diagnosis of gill disease

Successful proof-of-concept application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies...

Completed
The use of a water treatment technology (CleanTreat®) to support Integrated Pest Management in salmon farming
The use of a water treatment technology (CleanTreat®) to support Integrated Pest Management in salmon farming

This project explored the use of a water treatment technology (CleanTreat®) to suppor...

Ongoing
Real-time modelling and prediction of harmful algal blooms
Real-time modelling and prediction of harmful algal blooms

Developing a real-time modelling and prediction tool to minimise the impact of HABs o...

Project facts
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Investment

Total value of SAIC-funded/co-funded collaborative research to date: £70.9m

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Partnership

SAIC-funded research spans 92 different industry/academic project partners.

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Projects

So far, SAIC has helped fund 100 collaborative research projects

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Leverage Rate

Quadrupling return on investment by generating over £4 in industry and third-party funding for every £1 of public money

Industry-academic collaborations

Some of our projects have a lifetime of less than one year, while others are longer-term, multi-partner collaborations of up to three and a half years. Each project unites industry know-how with specialist academic expertise; something that SAIC works hard to encourage by helping forge the necessary connections.

Priority innovation areas

Our work is focused on catalysing and co-funding innovation in the areas identified by the sector as being top priorities. We call them our priority innovation areas – or PIAs for short.

Over the years, the industry’s priorities for innovation have evolved. Therefore, so too have our PIAs. This helps ensure that we continue to deliver maximum benefit from the combined investment being made. SAIC's three PIAs are 1: Finfish health & welfare, 2: Unlocking sector capacity, and 3: Shellfish and other non-finfish species.