Glasgow Networking Breakfast – Robbie MacIsaac of Flux

ABOUT ROBBIE

22-year-old Robbie MacIsaac is in his final year on the University of Strathclyde’s BEng Product Design Engineering course, pioneered the FLUX Blowpipe when he was just 14 years old, a device which ultimately could prevent respiratory issues for bagpipers.  

While still a schoolboy, Robbie was named the UK’s Most Innovative Young Engineer by the Manufacturing Technologies Association by winning the Technology Design Innovation challenge, and in 2019 he became a Scottish Edge Wild Card winner, following up with further success a year later when he won the Scottish Young Edge prize, securing five-figure funding as a reward. He was also a finalist at the Business Insider Made In Scotland Awards 2020. Robbie has gained essential guidance and funding from the RBS Accelerator programme and the University of Strathclyde Entrepreneurial Development Scheme. 

Since leaving school, he’s gone on to grow FLUX Solutions to become a business that has generated over £85,000, with increased interest and custom from the US, Canada, France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand complementing sales in the UK.

Robbie believes the international interest in his high-tech kit demonstrates an appetite for bagpipes and innovation in the sector beyond Scotland’s borders.

“There are over 140,000 competitive bagpipers worldwide, with research suggesting the greatest portion is in North America alone.  To give another example of their global appeal, there were 146 bands taking part at last year’s World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow, coming from the likes of Argentina, Austria, Australia and Israel to compete.

 

When you also take into consideration the number of people who play the pipes on a non-competitive basis – at weddings or parades in particular – the opportunity for the Scottish bagpipe sector to succeed overseas is huge, and an opportunity I think is still largely untapped.”

Robbie, who pipes competitively himself and has won several awards, occasionally plays a set of 112-year-old bagpipes that require regular maintenance to keep in tune, an often-onerous process he believes could be improved with the right technology.  In 2022, Robbie released the latest of his inventions, the FLUX Bagpipe Humidity Case, which stores instruments at a constant humidity to increase the health and enrich the tone of the instrument, while also being protective and transportable.

“At school, I developed an interest in engineering where I won some credibility and recognition through various competitions, and ever since I’ve been trying to combine my experience and skills with my passion for the bagpipes. I’m constantly pushing to invent new products that challenge the ordinary and bring them to the bagpipe community.”

ABOUT FLUX

FLUX Blowpipe is a revolutionary moisture control system suited to all bagpipers.   It can be used universally with any bagpipe and has been engineered to remove moisture from the instrument by combining the use of temperature, pressure difference and a special absorbent.  The blowpipe prolongs the lifespan of the bagpipes by preventing a build-up of moisture from damaging them, without having any detrimental effect on the sound quality or airflow.

Significantly, the device could reduce the risk of Piper’s Lung disease, also known as Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis, caused when the lungs are exposed to moisture and fungi living in the instrument, which in rare but recorded cases can lead to death.

Click on the logo to visit the Flux website

Anyone with an interest in business who is looking for an enjoyable networking event!  Unlike many networking events, there is a full hour allocated to networking.

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Tickets can be cancelled and refunded by emailing [email protected]. We regret that any tickets cancelled after 12 noon on Thursday 5th October will not be applicable for refunds for any reason.  Tickets can be transferred to a different name until Tuesday 10th October at 5pm by emailing [email protected]