Tag: 2026 Converge Awards

QMU student wins national Converge Award for performing arts analytics business

A Queen Margaret University (QMU) student has won a national entrepreneurship award and £5,000 in funding for a business designed to help artists and theatre producers make better decisions using data.

Aisha Josiah, who is studying MA Arts, Festival and Cultural Management at QMU, received the Converge Performing & Production Arts Challenge Creative Fusion Prize 2026, sponsored by Mark Logan, for her business, ‘Stage Analytics’. The platform brings together information such as ticket sales, audience trends and reviews to give performing arts organisations real-time insights that can help with decisions on marketing, pricing and scheduling.

The idea was partly inspired by Aisha’s experience at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where thousands of shows compete for audiences each year. Stage Analytics aims to address the lack of accessible data available to independent artists and producers, while supporting the sustainability of Scotland’s creative economy.

The £5,000 prize will help Aisha take the next steps in developing Stage Analytics and exploring its potential as a business supporting artists and producers across the sector.

Carolyn Low, Knowledge Exchange Manager at QMU whose role involves providing startup support to students, staff and graduates through QMU’s Startup Studio, said: “Aisha has taken an idea rooted in her own experience of the performing arts and developed it into a business with the potential to address a real challenge facing the sector.

“Being able to support students as they develop ideas like this is an important part of what we do at QMU. Converge gives them the opportunity to take those ideas further, gain valuable business experience and connect with people who can help make them a reality.”

Aisha was one of four QMU innovators to reach this year’s Converge final, with QMU originally having 11 entrepreneurs selected to take part in the 2026 programme. The four finalists represented the breadth of entrepreneurial activity at the University, spanning data and technology, theatre, cultural inclusion, sport and community development.

QMU also had a particularly strong showing in the Performing & Production Arts Challenge, with three of the six finalists coming from the University. Alongside Aisha, the finalists were QMU graduates Mirren McIver, founder of Four Door Theatre, and Lok Pui Lo, founder of ESEA Creatives.

This year, 123 participants entered the competition, with 34 finalists representing 15 Scottish universities. The 34 finalists were selected from across 15 of the 18 universities taking part in the programme, the widest pool of institutions represented in Converge’s 15-year history.

Converge Executive Director Adam Kosterka said: “This year’s finalists represent one of the strongest and most diverse cohorts in our history, spanning industries from healthcare to climate tech.

“Being selected among such a competitive field is a testament to the skill, creativity and commercial potential of all our winners.”

The Converge programme is supported by the Scottish Funding Council, universities and corporate partners. Since launching in 2011, it has trained more than 1,000 aspiring entrepreneurs and supported the creation of more than 500 companies.

Aisha’s success builds on a strong year for QMU in the Converge programme, highlighting the range of entrepreneurial ideas emerging from the University’s creative and cultural community.

Her achievement was announced at the Converge Awards ceremony at Barony Hall in Glasgow, which celebrates promising university entrepreneurs and business ideas from across Scotland.

To find out more about the programme and the projects it supports visit Converge.

Edinburgh innovators land national awards across health, space and technology

EDINBURGH innovators have secured a string of national awards for university-developed ideas spanning women’s health, the creative industries and disease detection.

Leading the region’s success is WombWise, developed by Edinburgh Napier University Data Engineering graduate Emily Youngs, who was crowned winner of the Create Change Challenge at the 2026 Converge Awards.

The system has been developed to tackle the long delays many women face in securing a diagnosis of endometriosis and polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS). Endometriosis is a chronic condition where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows elsewhere in the body. It affects around one in 10 women of reproductive age, according to the Endometriosis Foundation.

Through combining data from wearable devices such as smartwatches with an AI symptom tracker, WombWise aims to give women objective evidence they can take to their GP.

Emily Youngs said: “What we’re doing at WombWise is using wearable devices that are already on the market, like Oura Rings and Apple Watches, repurposing that data and looking for pain markers.

“We’re tracking women for pain rather than fertility and pregnancy, trying to see if they’ve got potential signs of endometriosis or PMOS and helping them towards a potential diagnosis.

“I’m just so shocked to even be here, never mind win. I’m very happy”

WombWise was joined by fellow winners in the Edinburgh region, Stage Analytics from Queen Margaret University, which secured the Creative Fusion Prize, sponsored by Mark Logan, for technology that helps event venues and producers make better use of their data. Its real-time dashboards streamline information and provide stronger evidence to support decisions around scheduling shows.

Heriot-Watt University also celebrated success through RecoverPX, led by Helen Bridle, which secured the Ventures Lab Prize as well as a Blue Economy Prize for technology designed to help water companies detect potentially harmful contamination more reliably.

Its first focus is Cryptosporidium, a parasite which can contaminate water supplies and the technology has already been tested by several UK water companies.

Winners from universities across the Edinburgh region continued with Pleiades Dynamics, led by Stephen Spice from the University of Edinburgh, who secured the Space Challenge award in the first year of this new category, funded by Space Scotland and the Higgs Centre for Innovation.

The region’s universities also claimed a runner-up place in the Converge Challenge category, with Heriot-Watt University’s TissueMetrics, led by Michael Crichton and Sara Medina-Lombardero, also picking up The Data Lab special prize.

The Data Lab works with Scottish universities to advance innovation and skills in data and artificial intelligence. TissueMetrics is developing technology to help improve the treatment of inflammatory skin diseases, such as eczema.

AI for the Eye, founded by Michaela Thorne, has developed a non-invasive, AI-powered retinal imaging system designed to transform how bovine tuberculosis is detected in cattle. It rounded off a strong showing for Edinburgh region universities across healthcare, the creative industries and animal health.

Michaele Thorne said: ““The money is going to be used to make the retinal imaging prototype for cattle, which means we’ll be able to take the device onto farms and image live animals. It means we can validate the business and push things forward.

“It was unexpected and really exciting to win. It’s going to do a lot of good for the business.”

Juto Bio, represented by Commercial Lead Jude Taylor from the University of Edinburgh, won the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre special prize (IBioIC). The company uses waste from Scottish whisky distilleries to grow tiny algae, which are turned into natural products that help crops grow. It offers farmers a cheaper alternative to treatments made from seaweed.

Adam Kosterka, Executive Director of Converge, said: “Edinburgh has an extraordinary concentration of academic and entrepreneurial talent and this year’s results demonstrate the breadth of innovation emerging from universities across the region.

“WombWise is addressing a significant challenge in women’s health, while the success of Stage Analytics, RecoverPX, Pleiades Dynamics, TissueMetrics, AI for the Eye and Juto Bio shows just how varied university entrepreneurship in the Edinburgh region has become.

“These are very different ventures, but they share our ambition to take strong ideas beyond the university environment and turn them into something capable of delivering real-world impact.”

That ambition sits at the heart of Converge, which works with staff, students and recent graduates to develop the commercial skills, expertise and connections needed to turn promising university ideas into sustainable businesses.

Backed by the Scottish Funding Council, a network of corporate partners and Scotland’s universities, the programme combines practical business support and training with equity-free funding.

Paul Devoy, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Funding Council, said: “We’re proud to have been able to support Converge’s impact on Scottish innovation and entrepreneurship for the past 15 years.  

“The Converge Awards are a fabulous way to celebrate the university-led innovation that plays an important part in Scotland’s ambition to be amongst the world’s most innovative nations. 

“All the participants in this year’s programme have contributed to new thinking and entrepreneurship, and this year’s winners and finalists represent exceptional creativity in solving global challenges.”

Formed in 2011, Converge has become a driving force for university-led innovation, supporting more than 1000 academic entrepreneurs who have gone on to establish over 500 companies.

Businesses taking part in the Converge programme have a three-year survival rate of 86%, significantly above the national average. This reflects both the strength of innovation emerging from universities and the quality, support and rigour of the programme.

Building on that milestone, Converge is preparing to launch Converge 2.0 in 2027, an evolved offering which will broaden its support and introduce more tailored, sector-specific pathways for ventures at an advanced stage of development.