Innovative Heriot-Watt students, staff and graduates are shortlisted in Converge 2025

Seventeen aspiring entrepreneurs from Heriot-Watt University have been shortlisted for their innovative projects in Converge 2025, which supports university founders.

Heriot-Watt students, researchers, staff and graduates are among the successful applicants to the programme, which supports spinouts and startups from Scottish universities with the skills, guidance, funding and network they need to turn their ideas into commercial reality.

The 17 academic entrepreneurs are among 125 selected from all of Scotland’s 19 universities and will now compete for a share of more than £400,000 in prizes and support.

Adam Kosterka, Converge Executive Director said: “It’s a great privilege to welcome such an exceptionally talented group of aspiring entrepreneurs to our programme. Their innovations cut across numerous fields, offering solutions with the potential to not just boost our economy but to transform people’s lives. We can’t wait to see how they progress.”

Converge focuses on businesses with ‘real world impact’ who want to make a positive societal and environmental difference. Its programmes are divided into challenges including Converge Challenge, Create Change Challenge, Net Zero Challenge and KickStart Challenge.

Heriot-Watt’s shortlisted projects are:

Converge Challenge – for novel business propositions with solid intellectual property foundations, high commercial potential and scalability.

Project: Borobo; Name: Alexandre Colle; Position: Postgraduate Student

Borobo is changing social care with Maah, a lifelike robotic companion designed to enhance well-being through intuitive interactions, health monitoring, and personalised feedback. Addressing the global ageing crisis and mental health crisis, Maah alleviates loneliness and reduces specific symptoms while reducing caregiver workload. Its sustainable, customisable design and AI-driven insights set it apart from competitors. Targeting the UK care home market first, Borobo aims to expand internationally in the future. Utilising a Robot-as-a-Service model, the company anticipates recurring revenue by 2026. Backed by expert leadership and institutional support, Borobo is poised to redefine companion robotics in healthcare.

Project: OptoLoc; Name: András Kufcsák; Position: Research Associate/Fellow

Naso-Gastric feedings tubes (NGTs) are used to provide nutrition and drugs to millions of patients per year. In 2% of cases they are misplaced into lungs, potentially causing death, morbidity, or delay in treatment. OptoLoc locates the NGT position in the body through the use of a light source and external photon detector. A proprietary NGT with an incorporated optical fibre emits light to observe its path which is recorded and visually projected back onto the patient, in real-time, during placement or reconfirmation. This mitigates adverse events and reduces hospital length of stay by faster feeding and improved drug administration.

Project: ParkinSense; Name: Adam Lockhart; Position: Graduate

Parkinson’s disease is complex to diagnose with subtle early symptoms and significant overlap with other conditions. It’s progressive, and delays in diagnosis often mean treatment starts too late. Globally, the current pathway is long, invasive, and inefficient. ParkinSense is a mobile AI software that assesses non-invasive symptoms to support earlier, faster, and more accessible detection. It provides clear, explainable results to help identify those most at risk, enabling earlier intervention, reducing diagnostic uncertainty, improving patient outcomes, and reshaping how Parkinson’s Disease is detected and managed globally.

Project: RideScan; Name: Shivoh Chirayil Nandakumar; Position: Postgraduate Student

RideScan is an AI-powered monitoring platform for autonomous robots and systems - essentially "The Fitbit for Robots." The cloud-based solution independently assesses robot reliability, providing real-time risk scoring and actionable insights to prevent costly malfunctions and downtime. By detecting uncertainties and potential issues early, RideScan helps robot manufacturers and operators enhance safety, reduce operational costs, and build trust. The technology integrates with various autonomous systems, including drones, mobile robots, and industrial robotics, addressing a critical gap in the £65 billion autonomous systems market where a single failure can lead to catastrophic business losses.

Project: TissueMetrics; Name: Michael Crichton; Position: Senior Lecturer

More than 300 million people suffer from Inflammatory Skin Diseases (ISDs) like eczema and psoriasis, experiencing itchy, red, painful skin. Healthcare providers rely on subjective methods – visual exams and patient feedback – to recommend treatment courses. This generic approach leads to trial-and-error treatment cycles that can take years to resolve, leaving patients disengaged and frustrated. TissueMetrics has developed a sensing technology that measures material changes inside each skin layer. This provides a better understanding of patients’ skin response to treatments, enabling quicker adjustments/revisions. This helps those who feel let down by traditional methods, offering them a scientifically-driven approach to track their ISDs.

Create Change Challenge – for creative, cultural and social impact projects looking to become sustainable businesses.

Project: Mamba Sounds; Name: Leo Fakhrul; Position: Graduate

Mamba Sounds is a digital music platform and artist collective empowering African and diaspora creators to build sustainable careers in the global music industry. Through proprietary tools like Afrolister.com and MambaSounds.co.uk, two radio shows, the platform streamlines artist development, music discovery and global marketing. By removing traditional gatekeeping, Mamba Sounds democratises access to streaming success, offering professional infrastructure to underrepresented talent. Mamba Sounds has already supported artists reaching over two billion streams and is now scaling its platform to enable broader impact across creative economies. The platform's mission is to turn cultural creativity into community-led opportunity.

Project: Tern360; Name: Joel Chaney; Position: Research Associate/Fellow

"Echoes of Energy" is an immersive, interactive trail experience that transforms energy heritage sites into engaging outdoor learning environments. Using a combination of physical guides, digital storytelling, and location-based challenges, the project helps communities showcase their unique energy transition stories—from historical power sources to cutting-edge renewables. Starting in Orkney and expanding across Scotland's islands and beyond, its approach connects people with the tangible history and future of energy in the landscape. By partnering with organizations like the National Trust, the project is creating educational experiences that make energy transitions visible, understandable and inspiring for visitors of all ages.

Net Zero Challenge – for green entrepreneurs developing sustainable solutions to our planet’s biggest environmental challenges.

Project: BEYOND; Name: Shanmugapriya Krishnamurthy; Position: Graduate

BEYOND is a sustainable denim venture revolutionising the way jeans are coloured and constructed. By replacing toxic dyeing with printing, BEYOND significantly reduces water usage and eliminates harmful chemicals entirely. Certified “Very Low Environment Impact” by Jeanologia’s EIM scoring system, BEYOND also pioneers modular denim design—reversible, adaptable garments that extend wear and reduce waste. Combined with a return, repair, and re-purpose programme, BEYOND has circular fashion at its core. Initially developed as a dissertation project, BEYOND is now evolving into a market-ready, innovation-led brand addressing one of fashion’s most classic and dirtiest problems—denim.

Project: EnviroSus Sensors; Name: Sevda Norouzi; Position: University Staff Member

EnviroSus Sensors enables accurate carbon measurement for climate action through three innovative systems: Insi-K (low-cost CO₂ monitoring in air/water), GETCO2 (controlled environment gas exchange system), and WAS (automated and responsive water sampling). The project's technology helps researchers and industries validate emissions reductions and carbon removal efforts, supporting global net-zero goals. Unlike expensive, complex alternatives, its solutions provide affordable, reliable data for both lab and field applications – from aquaculture operations to carbon credit verification. By making precise GHG monitoring accessible, EnviroSus Sensors is helping scale effective climate solutions.

Project: SIMULEX; Name: Diana Margarita Hernandez Baez; Position: Postgraduate Student

NZEMS enables to design, optimise and manage multi-energy systems simplifying their complexity through a powerful complexity levels-based, cohesive, scalable and intuitive canvas-based platform. NZEMS enables the integration of hydrogen across all energy sectors: CCS, geothermal, fossil fuels and renewables into one cohesive, configurable multi-energy system using both surface facilities and underground storage. Multi-energy sources lifecycles are orchestrated within a single framework, balancing supply and demand reliably. Optimisation techniques - including problem size dependant quantum computing options - will determine allocation strategies from early feasibility studies to long-term strategic planning to maximise the performance and lifespan sustainability of the energy system to meet net-zero targets.

KickStart Challenge – for aspiring entrepreneurs with innovative business ideas they’d like to test, validate and prepare to launch.

Project: AI Well Solutions; Name: Oscar Vazquez; Position: Research Associate/Fellow

Designing well treatments in the energy sector, including CCS (Carbon Capture Storage), geothermal and oil and gas, can be complex and time-consuming. Traditional physical models rely on expert knowledge and physical simulations. Despite being the backbone of many scientific and engineering disciplines for decades, traditional models are unreliable due to their reliance on simplified assumptions. Physical simulations can be computationally expensive and time-consuming to fine-tune. AI (Artificial Intelligence) is changing the design process; by learning directly from historical data, AI models reduce expert input while improving accuracy—often outperforming traditional methods.

Project: Gecko Lasers; Name: Hanna Ostapenko; Position: Research Associate/Fellow

The project has developed a compact and self-starting Ti:Sapphire laser that is smaller, cheaper and more robust than anything currently on the market. Where conventional Ti:sapphire lasers use expensive pumps and are a picnic table in size, the proprietary technique Gecko Lasers has developed means costly components can be taken out of the laser to create a robust turnkey device. Producing ultrashort pulses within a shoebox-sized platform at a fraction of the cost, Gecko lasers could provide a utility device for many sectors including life sciences, aerospace, defence, astronomy, manufacturing, environmental monitoring and quantum technology.

Project: JFX Technology; Name: Mittran Gopala Krishanan; Position: Postgraduate Student

JFX Technology is an innovative shower system designed to help autistic children who struggle with sensory overload during hygiene routines. Many autistic children find showering overwhelming due to unpredictable sensations, creating daily stress for families. JFX transforms this experience with customisable lights, sounds, and aromatherapy, turning showering/washing into a calming, manageable routine. Designed for homes and specialised care facilities, JFX is looking to tap into a growing market of assistive technologies, offering a practical solution to an unmet need. The project hopes to make the daily hygiene routine a stress-free experience for autistic children and their families, improving quality of life.

Project: Modularity Robotics; Name: Princy Mariam Jacob; Position: Postgraduate Student

The project's modular robotics system is designed to tackle complex tasks in challenging environments like space, nuclear facilities and construction sites. By integrating multiple robots into a single, adaptable system, it plans to provide a flexible and cost-effective alternative to traditional single-purpose robots. These robots can be rapidly reconfigured to suit evolving needs, enhancing operational efficiency while reducing human risk in hazardous environments. With AI-driven coordination and sustainable energy sources, Modularity Robotics optimises performance in tasks ranging from space logistics and reactor maintenance to automated construction. This approach ensures longevity, adaptability and resource efficiency across industries.

Project: SwimSmart; Name: Ewan Wills; Position: Undergraduate Student

SwimSmart is a compact wearable that clips onto a swimmer's hand, capturing precise data on position, rotation, acceleration, and water force. This data is streamed to an app, which features a 3D visualizer with interactive time scrubbing. The project's innovation lies in combining force tracking with an ergonomic and user-friendly interface, making viewing lots of complex data as intuitive as possible. This bridged the gap between elite performance tools and everyday training. Beyond swimming, the project is exploring applications in other areas. By making advanced motion analytics accessible, SwimSmart empowers athletes and coaches to refine technique with informed decisions.

Project: Tiplo; Name: Carl Bettosi; Position: Postgraduate Student

Tiplo aims to revolutionise physiotherapy with an intelligent digital platform that replaces outdated exercise sheets and clunky software. Designed by, and for both clinicians and patients, Tiplo will offer clinicians an intuitive interface for effortless program setup and patient analytics, while patients receive real-time, adaptive guidance through a phone or tablet app. A single wearable sensor tracks movement, enabling Tiplo to optimise exercise instruction in real time. By combining personalisation and automation, Tiplo aims to make high-quality rehab more accessible than ever, at scale, while reducing clinician workload. Its mission is to make high-quality, tailored physiotherapy available to everyone—anytime, anywhere.

Project: Uroflo; Name: Scott MacLeod; Position: Research Associate/Fellow

One in two men in their lifetime will attend their doctor due to Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS). Urology units struggle with an accessible method to assess and triage such patients. A vital test for a poor flow is uroflowmetry, however it takes places only in a Urology unit (only 11 in Scotland), with an average waiting time of more than eight weeks. Uroflo's vision is to bring an accessible and affordable digital health product to the community to revolutionise how poor urinary flow is diagnosed and monitored for various urological diseases, leading to huge, practice changing benefits for the patients and NHS.

Converge is free to enter for staff, students and alumni of Scottish universities who have graduated within 36 months.

Since its launch in 2011, the programme has trained 800 academic entrepreneurs who have launched more than 420 companies, which have raised in excess of £450 million in follow-on funding.

Find out more on the Converge website.