Tag: Edinburgh Innovations

University supported companies celebrate EDGE Awards success

Innovators to share in £150K prize fund and other business growth support measures

A host of University of Edinburgh students and alumni who have founded their own startup companies are celebrating after taking honours at this year’s Scottish EDGE Awards.

Xiaoyan Ma, founder of Danu Robotics, an innovative business focused on developing sustainable technological solutions for the benefit of the environment, was named among this year’s main award winners. The company secures £75K in grant funding to accompany its award.

Three other company founders, which have also been supported by Edinburgh Innovations (EI), the University’s commercialisation service, were named as Young EDGE winners. They include Alex Hodson of Podspectrix; Niall McGrath of Robocean; and Elena Höge of Yaldi Games.

Meanwhile Ioannis Stasinopoulos of Prozymi Biolabs, a further EI-supported startup, was named as a Wildcard EDGE award winner. Between them, the four companies will share a further £45K in grant funding along with their awards.

The annual Scottish EDGE Awards, aimed at identifying and supporting Scotland’s up-and-coming, innovative, high-growth entrepreneurial talent, recognises and supports entrepreneurs and startup businesses.

Funded by the Hunter Foundation, the Royal Bank of Scotland, the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and private donors, the competition is delivered twice annually and has to date supported 395 early-stage Scottish businesses with over £15m in award funding.

The winners from this year’s Scottish EDGE Awards will share in more than £150K ingrants and benefit from other forms of support and mentoring to help them maximise their growth aspirations.

John Lonsdale, Head of Enterprise Services from Edinburgh Innovations said: “We congratulate all the University of Edinburgh students and alumni in their success at this year’s Scottish EDGE Awards.

“We are delighted to have supported these emerging companies, all of which are focused on developing innovative solutions to some of the key challenges facing society.

“As an organisation committed to helping University of Edinburgh startups reach their full potential, Edinburgh Innovations is proud of its role in supporting entrepreneurs who are driving economic growth in Scotland and beyond.”

University-supported entrepreneurs to pitch at live showcase events

Two events taking place this month will enable University of Edinburgh-supported start-ups to pitch their companies to an audience of investors, grant funding bodies and fellow entrepreneurs.

The AI Accelerator Showcase and Venture Builder Incubator Demo Day take place in Edinburgh on 17 and 25 March respectively marking two of the first major face to face eco-system events to be held since the outbreak of Covid-19 two years ago.

These events are part of the Data Driven Entrepreneurship (DDE) programme and are delivered by The University of Edinburgh’s world-leading innovation hub for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, the Bayes Centre, on behalf of the DDI hubs,  and Edinburgh Innovations, University of Edinburgh’s commercialisation service. 

Both events will also offer a virtual facility for those wishing to attend online. 

The events will provide participants with a platform to pitch their businesses to an audience of investors and grant funding bodies including Scottish Enterprise and Innovate UK. Individuals from the wider Scottish entrepreneurial community will also be attending alongside representatives from commercially-focused organisations including Fintech Scotland and Barclays Eagle Labs.

The AI Accelerator Showcase features 12 disruptive and transformative AI-driven companies which were accepted into the six-month programme last September. Throughout that period the companies have benefitted from links to investors, partners, and mentors as well as space to scale their business.

The participants, which have all received a £9K grant through the programme, have had access to the programme’s partnership with London-based community Scale Space as well as strategic design support from Edinburgh Innovation’s partner NileHQ. The company founders have further benefitted from access to commercial expertise and collaboration opportunities with University of Edinburgh’s community of like-minded entrepreneurs. 

Those taking part in the AI Accelerator include Edinburgh cancer research and treatment business Carcinotech; Indigo.AI, a Milan-based conversational AI platform being supported by the University as it aims to set up a new premises in Scotland; and Glasgow-based GIGGED.AI, a platform which transforms the sourcing and on-boarding of tech talent in the gig economy.

Katy Guthrie, Programme Leader of AI Accelerator said: “We’re delighted to provide this opportunity for our 12 AI Accelerator programme companies which operate across a broad range of industry sectors.

“Staging this face-to-face platform with investors, funding bodies, advisors and potential collaborative partners is a key aspect of our programme and one that is designed to help these businesses scale up to reach their full potential.”

Meanwhile, the Venture Builder Incubator will showcase 20 IP-focused, early-stage companies. As part of the partnership with Cancer Research UK, eight of these ventures are specifically looking at innovative forms of cancer research and treatment focusing on early diagnoses, therapeutics and drug discovery.  

Venture Builder Incubator cohorts also include companies focused on addressing some of the world’s major challenges including the climate emergency, well-being, children’s mental health, and financial security.

The programme, which includes PhD students and post doctorates from University of Edinburgh or Heriot-Watt University, is designed to help fledgling entrepreneurs build their skills and take their businesses to the next level.

Each venture is provided with £2K and support through a series of workshops, networking events, mentoring, peer to peer learnings and access to the University of Edinburgh’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and its data expertise.

Laura Bernal, Venture Builder Incubator Programme Manager, said: “This event is a brilliant platform for these early-stage ventures to present to an audience which can help them further develop their business idea.

“This event is designed to bring our cohort community together and enable them to share their ideas with key commercial contacts, create potential partnerships with like-minded individuals, and build valuable connections.”

Ventures selected for University entrepreneur incubator programme

20 innovative start-ups have been selected for a University of Edinburgh incubator programme aimed at developing and commercialising academic entrepreneurship.  

The Venture Builder Incubator 2.0, part of the Data-Driven Entrepreneur Programme, is supported by Edinburgh Innovations, the University’s commercialisation service. The incubator is delivered by the Bayes Centre on behalf of the University’s five Data-Driven Innovation Hubs. 

The start-ups selected for the incubator include eight companies operating projects in the field of cancer. This follows a new partnership, announced in September, between the University of Edinburgh and Cancer Research UK to support PhD students and researchers in developing and accelerating commercialisation of ideas aimed at combating cancer.  

The cancer-focused ventures include NanoTara, which is exploring a method for early cancer diagnosis using magnetic nanorobots; 10zyme, a start-up devising a simple method of detecting cancers through urine or saliva samples; and ForceBiology, developers of a versatile, more accurate and cost-effective high throughput drug-screening platform for cancer.  

This year’s programme also includes innovative Edinburgh start-ups in a range of other sectors including Quas, a healthy, plant-based non-alcoholic beverage. Also selected are Zoforia Technologies, developers of an online wellbeing platform for children; Amitabha, an efficient and accurate AI-driven conveyancing solution; and Robocean, a subsea robot that can plant seagrass 30 times faster and significantly cheaper than other methods.  

Other participating ventures are: Amytis Labs, Cexal, EVA Biosystems, FastMedCare, Flimology, Insilico, Janus, Onboard.ID, Outfit of Tomorrow, Oxford Onco-Therapeutics, Sentinal4D, Therapev, and Whimsylabs.  

The Venture Builder Incubator is designed to help fledgling entrepreneurs build their skills and take their businesses to the next level.  

The start-ups in this year’s cohort were chosen after an application process which includes PhD students and post doctorates from University of Edinburgh or Heriot-Watt University, as well as research staff focused on cancer-related projects from across the UK. 

Each venture is provided with £2,000 and business support through a series of workshops, networking events, mentoring, peer to peer learnings and access to the University of Edinburgh’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and its data expertise.  

The Venture Builder Incubator, funded through the Data Driven Innovation programme of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal, forms part of the ambitious Data-Driven Entrepreneurship Beacon Programme at the University of Edinburgh to support post-COVID recovery.  

The delivery of the programme is supported by Edinburgh-based strategic design consultancy Nile, Scale Space and edventure, a pan-European university venture builder and accelerator, launched in 2020 by three Edinburgh students. 

The Incubator has also formed a partnership with FinTech Scotland to leverage its network to support entrepreneurs. 

Charlotte Waugh, Enterprise and Innovation Programme Lead at Edinburgh Innovations, said: “We are delighted to welcome some of the most promising entrepreneurial students in Edinburgh along with leading academic researchers from other parts of the UK to participate in Venture Builder Incubator 2.0.

“The programme features 20 companies that have been engaged in academic research to address some of the world’s major challenges including the climate emergency, health and wellbeing, children’s mental health, and financial security.  

“We look forward to supporting these ventures, helping commercialise their ideas to transform them into world-leading businesses. This programme further builds on our ambition to establish Edinburgh as the Data Capital of Europe.”   

Laura Bernal, Venture Builder Incubator Programme Manager, said: “We’re delighted to welcome all our new cohorts including the eight start-up companies recruited in partnership with Cancer Research UK (CRUK), with ideas to transform the way we treat cancer.  

“These companies are focused on developing early diagnosis tools and less invasive testing to enable better and quicker treatments and improved outcomes for cancer patients.”