Tag: young innovators

Next Steps Awards: Young Innovators in Scotland given critical boost

  • Young Innovators Next Steps Awards recognises trailblazing young entrepreneurs, accelerating their business growth to deliver an even bigger impact
  • Almost £1m awarded – with each winner given £50,000 to grow and scale their business over the 12-month programme
  • Innovate UK calls for next generation of innovators to come forward and apply for the next Young Innovators Awards

Two Young Innovators from Scotland have been given a further boost to their early-stage businesses by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, through the Young Innovators Next Steps Awards.

These entrepreneurs were previous recipients of the Young Innovators Award and have now been awarded a second time, based on their progress and their future growth plans.

Looking for young people with innovative ideas

The announcement comes as Innovate UK calls for aspiring entrepreneurs across Scotland to come forward and apply to be part of the Young Innovators Award 2022/23 cohort.

The programme nurtures the talents of tomorrow to tackle some of society’s most pressing challenges. Up to 100 winning young entrepreneurs will be supported for 12 months, with individuals benefiting from a £5,000 grant, one-on-one business support, and an allowance to cover living costs.

Young Innovators Next Steps award winners

With a focus on helping young people really scale up their ground-breaking ideas, the Young Innovators Next Steps Awards will see all 19 winners receive an additional £50,000. From the first prosthetic limb for children which grows as they do, to wallets made of seaweed, and technology to help monitor and protect our bees, the 19 innovators are already making a big impact in their sectors.

In just over 12 months, since winning their first Innovate UK award, the pioneers have attracted further investment, secured offices and production facilities, expanded their teams (creating over 50 new jobs), filed patents and landed important deals with the likes of John Lewis, M&S, and Microsoft.

The two winners from Scotland are:

  • Lucy Fisher (26 years old), from Aberdeen, took a childhood passion for knitting and turned it into a business. Knit It® aims to inspire the younger generations to pick up their needles and start knitting via an interactive online platform that makes knitting fun and simple, whilst teaching knitters and newbies skills and techniques. Knit It® has gone from a girl and her grandma to a thriving team. Since winning her first award Lucy has pitched at London Tech Week, launched www.knit-it.co.uk and is now on the lookout for knitting pattern designers to join her story.
  • Elena Höge (29 years old), from Edinburgh, is creating Games for Good like Wholesome, a relaxing life simulator about living in harmony with nature. It teaches children and adults about nature, including how to forage and cook wild food.
  • Since winning the Young Innovators Award, Elena has grown her team from 1 to 6, won prestigious industry awards, and raised around £90,000 in grants and small investments.

These Young Innovators Next Step winners’ ideas are improving lives and creating a more sustainable, productive and prosperous future.

New advances in technology are also at the heart of many of the innovators’ business – from an AI personal trainer, to an interactive online platform to inspire the digital generation to pick up their knitting needles, and a mobile app designed to help families monitor and improve their wellbeing.

Young Innovators 22/23 Competition

Both winners from Scotland originally scooped Young Innovator Awards in 2021. The Young Innovators Awards recognise young people, aged 18 to 30, from every region and nation of the UK with great business ideas who have the potential to become successful entrepreneurs and future leaders in innovation.

Award winners will each receive a £5,000 grant, living allowance, a package of business coaching, and mentoring from a personal Innovation Champion from Innovate UK Edge.

Aspiring entrepreneurs can learn more and register their interest in the forthcoming Young Innovators awards, which open on 13th June: https://ktn-uk.org/programme/young-innovators-22-23-registration

Commenting on her award and project, Lucy said, “I started Knit It® because I wanted to revolutionise the knitting industry and inspire a new generation to take up the craft.

“At the beginning, I could not have imagined that, right now, I would have secured funding to take my business forwards, have support from household names and avid knitters like Tom Daley and be on the lookout for collaborators and partners to make this happen big time!

“I’m so proud to have been selected for Innovate UK’s Young Innovators Next Steps Award and excited for the future!”

EDINBURGH, UK – 16th January 2022: Elena H??ge, founder of Yaldi Games, a start-up game developer. The company’s first title, Wholesome ??? Out and About, blends digital learning and traditional outdoor skills, together to create an inspirational range of activities including foraging, nature awareness, sustainability practices, healthy cooking and fun crafting. (Photograph: MAVERICK PHOTO AGENCY)

Commenting on her award and project, Elena said: “When I first applied for Innovate UK’s the Young Innovators Award, I had a vision to create games that go beyond digital with environmental, social, and cultural impact, while inspiring young people to get outdoors and benefit from the natural world.

“In a relatively short space of time, it’s gone from a dream to a reality, with support from external backers and my own excellent team.

“My advice to any innovators on the fence about their ideas is to go for it – your passion will drive the business forwards.”

The Young Innovator Awards enable entrepreneurship and innovation among more young people to help them bring more diverse ideas and businesses into the economy, champion innovations for the underrepresented, and provide a platform for gamechangers looking to make a societal, economic and environmental impact.

Emily Nott, Head of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion at Innovate UK said: “It’s one thing to have a business idea and – as so many aspiring entrepreneurs would attest – quite another to make it a reality.

“These innovative young people have worked relentlessly to realise their ambitions and we are proud of the role we are able to play in helping them on this journey. Their disruptive ideas stand to make a big impact, but their stories are important in other ways too – if they can inspire other young people to come forward and innovate, we will all benefit”.

Innovate UK’s Chief Executive Officer, Indro Mukerjee, said: “Innovate UK is committed to inspiring and supporting the next generation of innovators. We will work to inspire, involve, and invest in their talent to create a strong future economy and society.

“Congratulations to the Young Innovators Next Steps award winners and I look forward to seeing their businesses develop even further”.

Aspiring entrepreneurs can learn more about the forthcoming Young Innovators awards, which open for applications on the 13th June: https://ktn-uk.org/programme/young-innovators-22-23-registration

Edinburgh women part of upsurge in young entrepreneurs starting their own businesses

  • Number of young people (18-30) setting up businesses nearly doubles in last decade
  • Innovate UK’s Young Innovators programme sees 87% increase in applications over last year
  • Data shows young innovators putting energy into health and digital technology ideas

New data released by Innovate UK, points to a dramatic increase in the number of young people setting up their own businesses in the last decade – with the number nearly doubling (98% increase) from 2009 to 2020.

What’s more, despite the pandemic – and in some cases inspired by the impact of COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdowns – numbers continued to jump in 2020, with a 15% increase in the number of young people starting their own businesses from 2019.

This trend mirrors the increased appetite seen by Innovate UK for its support programmes for 18-30 year olds. The Young Innovators Awards, which recognise young people from across the UK with great business ideas who have the potential to become successful entrepreneurs and future leaders in innovation, saw an 87% increase in applications this year.

This growth combined with the high-quality of applications, led Innovate UK to award 64 Young Innovators, double any previous year.

In particular, young innovators are responding to the needs of the pandemic, with a growing number of business ideas for health and in digital technology.

From socially-aware robotic companions for people living in care homes to projects tackling childhood incontinence and arthritis, double the number of this year’s winners had health projects compared to the 2018 competition winners (13% vs 27%).

Similarly, from a project connecting knitting enthusiasts online to an online marketplace where burgenoing gardeners can sell their home-grown produce, an even greater increase was seen in digital, with 31% of the projects in this field, compared to 13% in 2018.

This trend also reflects the latest report from the UK Business Angel’s Association (UKBAA), which found the sectors where Angels were investing most were Healthcare, Digital Health and MedTech, Bio Tech, Life Sciences and Pharmaceuticals, Software and FinTech.

The UKBAA report these industries and education technology, e-commerce and gaming have been performing better since the onset of Covid-19 – given their role in helping consumers deal with the many challenges of lockdown.

Young Innovators capitalising on this demand include Iona Mackenzie (26, (ABOVE) from Edinburgh), whose Talk and Grow business aims to take the stress out of finding a therapist with an online matching and booking platform to pair clients with local counsellors and Elena Höge (28, (below) also from Edinburgh), who is creating educational games like Wholesome, a mobile forest school experience that teaches children and adults about nature, including how to forage and cook with wild food.

Reflecting on the start-up journey, sustainability entrepreneur Alex Newnes (27, from Aberystwyth), who is producing a fully degradable and non-toxic alternative to plastic, said, “We started PlantSea Ltd with nothing but passion and an idea.

“Since then, we have won awards, networked, and learned an awful lot along the way! None of us knew what the road would look like for a biotech”.

Musician and founder of online music tuition service Starling Music Academy, Rhiannon Jeffreys (27), from Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire, says, “I have been amazed to see how quickly your network can grow, just by having conversations.

“Even people in a completely different sector may be able to put you in touch with someone they know who is in your sector, and I love the idea of being able to do that for others in the future.”

Similarly, Young Innovator Chris Elliot (23, from Reading), creator of Untrapped, a onestop student rental portal, says: “I think the number of new skills you learn as an entrepreneur is surprising. In the last year I’ve gained more skills than any other period of my life.”

Emily Nott, Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Innovate UK says: “With 2020 proving to be an incredibly difficult year, it is inspiring to see so many young people continuing to take steps to develop their own business ideas and innovations.

“It is this generation of innovators who have the potential to tackle some of the big challenges we’ll face in the wake of pandemic and we must do all we can to support them and to encourage others to follow in their footsteps”.

If you’re an inspiring young innovator, check out how Innovate UK could support you here: https://ktn-uk.org/programme/young-innovators/