The economic conditions for the UK economy has been difficult over the last three years and forecasters are predicting that any sort of real recovery in the short-term is unlikely, but ALba Innovation Centre in West Lothian is definitely showing signs of ‘bucking this trend’. 

The Alba Innovation Centre is a Scottish Enterprise project where early stage, innovative technology companies are encouraged to locate their business in an incubation environment where they are nurtured and given a full suite of support services to help them grow their business until they are ready to graduate. The Centre was launched in 2006 and has supported over 50 companies during this period, with some excellent graduations such as Kiltr, Scotland’s next generation social media tool, Ciqual, a global provider of customer experience tools for mobile operators, and Oligon which was acquired by Wolfson.

Recent analysis indicates that over the last three year period during difficult economic conditions the aggregate turnover of companies based at Alba Innovation Centre increased by 93% from £2.8m in 2008/2009 to £5.4m in 2010/2011and with that growth 46 high value new jobs have been created.  With many companies currently finding it hard to raise finance for their business , six companies based in the Centre have raised a total of £5.5m in debt and equity over the past two years, with over £2m being secured in the last four months.

Successful tenants in the Centre include Sense Marine who are experts in subsea design and communications. This company owns the only product that is capable of tracking buried stainless steel lines used to control gas fields worldwide and is currently undergoing sea trials for its equipment in Australia.   

One company in particular, SynGro, is set for further significant growth with plans to double its team to 24 within six months.   SynGro, a finalist in this year’s National Business Awards, enables its global clients to capture customer insight in more than 70 languages and drive actions to improve customer satisfaction, retention and profitability.  Syngro’s consultancy skills and software enable clients to create a single view of their customers and identify risk of customer attrition and opportunities for additional sales.

Syngro was set up in 2004 by Keith Schorah. Keith was a management consultant in South Africa and saw the opportunity for large companies to move beyond the collection of customer surveys and seize the opportunity for capturing the insight in real-time and using this to drive actions focused to improve customer experience and satisfaction.  SynGro have a wide range of global clients across the international telecoms, financial services, retail & drinks and manufacturing sectors.  

Nigel Martin, marketing director of SynGro, commented “The continuing economic turbulence is fuelling significant growth in our market with leading analysts forecasting continued growth of +35% per annum for the next three years.  Why?  In every sector, companies are looking to retain their existing customers and use their insights to identify new opportunities for growth. Alba Innovation Centre is an excellent location for a company set for rapid growth. It is important for companies such as ourselves to find a location where we have the flexibility to grow our business and where the onsite facilities are there to support us when we need it.”

Stephen Morris, Senior Innovation Advisor at Alba Innovation Centre, said “There is a wide range of very ambitious technology companies based in the Alba Innovation Centre. They want to be the next generation of Scotland’s leading technology companies and their growth figures over the last three years speak for themselves!   We are always on the look-out for new clients to join our community at Alba, so please contact us to find out more.”