Gael and MindGenius attend British Dyslexia Association Conference

[Nov 2007] Gael Ltd recently attended the British Dyslexia Association, Assistive Technology Conference on the 8th November 2007 in London. The aim of the conference was to enable educators of people with learning issues to gain insight into the ways in which new technologies can help pupils overcome their conditions.

Attendees included members of the British Dyslexia Association, head and deputy head teachers, learning support staff and teaching staff from the primary, secondary and college sectors as well as attendees from regional council head offices.

Gael, along with the assistance of Christina Sellers, formerly a Dyslexia Tutor at West Kent College and now a Dyslexia/Technology training consultant, demonstrated how their MindGenius software can be used to assist people with conditions such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD and Aspergers to help them to focus, improve organisational skills and enable the production of more thorough work.
Christina Sellers, who is herself dyslexic, is the author of a recently published article that explains how to utilise MindGenius to overcome dyslexia. The article is to be re-published in full in the next issue of the British Dyslexia Association’s newsletter.

The event was the first British Dyslexia Association technology conference. Due to its success, a series of countrywide road-shows are planned where there will be a variety of key note speakers. Details will follow on the British Dyslexia Association website at http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/.

Gael named Best International Software Business

[Nov 2007] Gael is delighted to announce that they have been named Best International Software Business at this year's Scottish Software Awards. The awards are now in their 5th year and recognise innovators within the Scottish Technology Sector and their contributions to the Scottish economy.

The International Software Business Award went to Gael Ltd in recognition of their success in developing an international strategy that enables them to reach a global audience through the use of innovative web technology such as Webex. The award was presented by George Boag, head of Targeting Innovation.

Gael was also named as first runner up in the overall Best Scottish Software Company category which recognised their 86% growth in the last year and continued commitment to increasing the presence of Scottish software on the global stage.

The Scottish Software Award event sponsors were Targeting Innovation Ltd in association with Straightline Publishing and the prize sponsors of the awards were Barclays Wealth, Microsoft, Scottish Equity Partners, Wireless Innovation and Scottish Enterprise.

Gael's Managing Director and Chairman, Donald Maciver, said:
"We are delighted to receive both awards and to be recognised by the Scottish software industry. This has rounded off a spectacular year of growth for Gael, made possible by the commitment of our staff to both of our key products.”

The event was held on the 23rd November at the Radisson SAS in Glasgow.

MindGenius adopted throughout entire Angus Council region

[Sept 2007] Gael Ltd is delighted to announce the recent adoption of their MindGenius software throughout the entire network of offices, schools and educational establishments of Angus Council.

Angus Council initially purchased two days of Intellectual Harvesting, Gael’s consultancy service that is facilitated using MindGenius. Within this session, Angus Council were extremely impressed with the interaction and collaboration opportunities offered by MindGenius and could see the potential this offered initially within their Head Office. MindGenius is now used within their Head Office for SWOT analysis, project planning, workload management, note taking and meeting management.

MindGenius licensing was then extended to all educational establishments and schools within the region. Angus Council are particularly delighted with the collaboration opportunities offered between different councils, management teams and schools within their own region and the potential for collaboration between schools and councils in different countries. They were also impressed with the software’s integration with Microsoft packages.

Phase 1 of the adoption of MindGenius has encompassed using MindGenius to harness and facilitate learning opportunities between different schools and classrooms and making use of the software to help pupils interact and take part in classroom activities. MindGenius will also be used to assist with support planning, back room work, decision-making and enabling parents to help with homework and project planning.

Neil Logue, Head of Services for Education for Angus Council said:
“MindGenius is a software tool that offers the opportunity for different schools and educational establishments to share knowledge and learning opportunities. On top of this, it has greatly enhanced productivity within our offices particularly when it comes to project planning and meeting management.”

In the future, MindGenius will also be used to facilitate CLD and adult learning in the community.

Overcoming Dyslexia with MindGenius

MindGenius disentangles the ‘spaghetti’ and ensures focus, enabling better work to be produced more thoroughly, correctly and quickly, every time. A welcome toolbox, it lays out topics in bite sized chunks the mind can cope with, making a subject so much clearer and easier to remember to a dyslexic … and I should know! Read Chris Sellers article.

Latest MindGenius Product Review

Please click here to read review.

Gael founder nominated for top award

We are delighted to announce that Donald Maciver, founder and Managing Director of Gael Ltd, has been nominated in the business category of the 2006 Glenfiddich Business Awards. Commenting on the award, Donald said that the nomination “was both an honour and a surprise and recognition from a wide audience of the tremendous effort and achievements of the Gael team over the last 12 years.”

The prestigious awards scheme recognises the individuals who lead the way in Scottish culture and inspire Scots. Voting is open to everyone and if you vote, you’ll also be entered into a prize draw to win your own Glenfiddich masterclass at home.

Voting for the award closes on Saturday 4th November, with the televised award presentation on St Andrew’s Night on the 30th November.

MindGenius and Intellectual Harvesting at the Scottish Parliament

Gael Ltd was recently involved in a debate at the Scottish Parliament on the benefits of MindGenius being introduced into every school and as a CPD module for teachers. The debate also looked at whether or not Intellectual Harvesting, Gael’s consultancy service, should be taught as an approach in business schools. Gael developed the Intellectual Harvesting approach, combining methods, techniques and our award winning software MindGenius, to show organisations how easy it is gather internal knowledge from employees and use it to improve and grow. It then became apparent that the method could be applied in educational establishments to gather information from pupils and students and help them with the learning process.

Jim Mather MSP, Highlands & Islands, SNP Spokesman on Enterprise was the sponsor of the event and those present included members of the education sector and Scottish businesses.

The whole session was captured in MindGenius in real time and was distributed to all attendees afterwards. The consensus at the end of the session was that the Intellectual Harvesting approach and MindGenius should be introduced into mainstream classrooms. Currently there are open discussions with a leading university on Intellectual Harvesting being taught in its Business School and with various government bodies to look at the best way forward.

Gael Ltd involved in globalscot conference

Gael Ltd are proud to be have been involved in the first day of the recent globalscot conference on Wednesday 27th September at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre which was attended by First Minister Jack McConnell.

Globalscots discussed how to take the network forward and the most appropriate ways for globalscot members to assist each other. The eight delegates from Gael were present to rapidly capture feedback from globalscots, following the Scottish Enterprise facilitator’s presentations, using Gael's MindGenius software.

Globalscot aims to benefit members by allowing them access to a powerful and influential network, bonded by its ties with Scotland. The objective is to continue to build and develop the network and offer a profitable experience for members.

Globalscot members were present from the following sectors: Tourism, Food and Drink, Life Sciences, Electronics, Energy and Financial Services and included representatives from diverse organisations such as Walkers, Microsoft, IBM, Pernod Ricard and Disney.

The use of MindGenius allowed a huge amount of data to be captured in a short period of time with no need for time-consuming collation afterwards.

Ralph Clark, Gael Ltd’s CEO, said
’The globalscot conference was a fantastic opportunity for Gael and MindGenius to be recognised on the world stage and allowed information to be gathered quickly and efficiently.’

MindGenius saves Bristow Helicopters £3.8 million

“MindGenius, and its associated “Intellectual Harvesting” technique has enabled us to drive, manage and control all elements of our CWG (Change Win Grow) project, resulting in operational efficiency savings of a massive £3.8 million. Some return on a piece of software costing £147!”

Mapping the road to recovery

“MindGenius has played a significant role in my recent recovery from a serious brain injury, enabling me to learn to read and write again despite medical reports to the contrary." Read the case study.

MindGenius – Top of the Class in the UK Education Market

MindGenius has cemented its position as the UK’s premier solution for mapping in the education environment with the addition of The University of Bradford and Portsmouth College to its growing user list. Read the Article.

Deloitte and Touche Fast 50

Gael Quality International are celebrating after their 8th nomination in as many years for a Fast 50 award. The awards, sponsored by Deloitte and Touche celebrate the success stories of the Scottish Technology Sector. They were held in Edinburgh this year at the EICC and are in their eighth consecutive year.

Gael was one of the companies honoured for their continued growth. They have achieved a 336% growth rate over the last 5 years. The company has also been one of a small number of finalists to appear on the awards list every year. This was recognised with a special award presented by compere Natasha Kaplinski.

This growth has been achieved in the testing times following the dot com crash in 2000. Neil Cruickshanks, Head of Deloitte’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications group said “the last 5 years has been a challenging period for many technology companies…with that in mind it is particularly pleasing to be able to celebrate real success stories at the Fast 50.”

Gael’s award was collected by Gael's Marketing Director Karen Hewitt. Sales Director Martin Bowman said "I believe this shows Gael have real staying power which is based on the strength of the team work of our employees and the real passion we have for our products. Developing solutions which solve real business problems is at the heart of our company philosophy.”

Gael Quality designs, develops, markets and supports Q-Pulse. Q-Pulse is a compliance management programme. Gael Ltd is part of the Gael Quality group of companies, established in East Kilbride, Scotland in 1995. Gael develops and supports niche software applications.