Forsooth! Trio of techno-ideas scoop fund cash

Macbeth shall never vanquished be, according to Shakespeare...and Seabridge Consultants in Forres, who have won £40,000 funding to bring the story of the Scottish king straight to your mobile phone.

The scheme is one of three projects in the Highlands and Islands area to win a third share of a £120,000 challenge fund for promising schemes which promote the use of technology in tourism and heritage.

The winners were Seabridge Consultants in Forres; Visual Arts Sutherland (VASu) and THETA at Galson Estate, Lewis. They were selected from a strong field of 53 applicants to the fund launched by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE); Aim-Hi and Fusion in November last year.

Seabridge Consultants intend to use the money to develop the story of MacBeth's life in Moray through a format that can be read from a variety of different mobile devices. It is hoped this digital blend of drama and factual information, developed with partners including Zolk Ltd and the Elgin Museum, will encourage visitors to stay longer in the area and explore a number of sites around Moray.

Visual Arts Sutherland (VASu) impressed judges with their proposal to create a virtual studio journey, complete with gallery and education facility.

VASu represents over 40 artists and craftspeople in Sutherland and they plan to create a website, Vasutrail.com, which will display the area's stunning geography and allow people to enter different artists' workspaces. It will also accommodate a rotating exhibition of art work for sale and feature the work of guest artists.

The third winner, THETA in the Outer Hebrides is an initiative promoted by the recent successful community purchase of the Galson Estate on Lewis. The new go-ahead landowners propose to combine a number of software applications that utilise text, audio and visual digital resources to present one, single web platform promoting the area's heritage and tourism attractions.

During their journey to completion in November, all three projects will get cutting-edge support from the new technology centre, Distance Lab, which opened in Forres last year. In addition the project leaders will be taken on a visit to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston which collaborates closely with HIE to provide the innovators with still more technological inspiration.

Bill Taylor, HIE's heritage manager said: "We were delighted to receive so many entries. It indicates just how many people in the Highlands and Islands are thinking of, and creating original, innovative schemes at their own hand. At least half of these projects had the potential to win but we felt the three we did select all showed the potential to be very successful in their own right, and also provide models that could be adopted very effectively for other schemes in the region.

"I'd like to thank everyone who put in applications. We hope to see more than the three winning projects come through to completion in the future. Meanwhile I am very much looking forward to working with VASu, Seabridge Consultants and THETA over the coming months, and to seeing their finished products in November."