Winning idea

A Dundee based business with a big idea for tackling climate change has won a Shell Springboard award of £40,000.

Oxy-Gen Combustion, a start-up company from Dundee University, is developing an ultra low emissions motor engine which, it claims, will be up to 25 per cent more efficient and will reduce CO₂ emissions by a similar amount.

The company behind the technology, known as Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI), believes it is the stepping stone between present motor engines and the awaited hydrogen and fuel cell technologies of the future.

'The money will be used to protect the intellectual property we already have on the idea, to continue to develop our work and prepare us for the next stage for a pre-production prototype,' said David Tonery, Managing Director of Oxy-Gen Combustion.

Oxy-Gen Combustion competed against five businesses from across the North region on February 12 in Edinburgh and will now compete to be named as the UK winner in London on March 4.

The Shell Springboard provides a financial boost to a small number of UK businesses that submit the most compelling plan for a product or service which will lead to greenhouse gas reductions.

Last year, awards of £40,000 were made to eight businesses drawn from across the UK.