ParaFormance: Saving Companies Money by Making Software Run Faster

Description of impact

ParaFormance is a software development tool for developing software for faster types of computer hardware known as “multi-core”. Developing software for these systems is i) extremely specialised; and, ii) very expensive. ParaFormance helps software developers identify where changes have most benefit, choose the best algorithm to use in updating code, and automatically rewrites code safely – helping avoid some of the industry’s hardest to find bugs.

ParaFormance has led to impact in a number of areas: i) commerce and the economy: a) two software company use-cases showing an increase in productivity and a decrease in developer effort from months to minutes; and b) using ParaFormance in high-performance computing centres in Europe; and ii) health and wellbeing: c) increased efficiency of mental illness diagnoses.

Who is affected

•  Users: companies needing to develop parallel software will benefit from reduced development time, fewer errors and better performance
•  Employees: we aim to employ around 50 skilled employees within 5 years of company formation
•  The Scottish economy: the company will provide a significant boost to the local economy, and enhance Scottish technology
•  Investors: investors will benefit economically from investment in a profitable, high-growth startup company
•  University of St Andrews: the University will benefit both economically and in terms of new teaching and research opportunities

Impact status	Open
Impact date	Jun 2015
Impact level	Involvement - mid or active stage