The future’s bright thanks to Scotland’s thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem

PUBLISHED ON 19 November 2019

By Ana Gallardo, Entrepreneurial Development Team Leader at Scottish Enterprise

EIE 2020 takes place in April and looks set to be the biggest and best yet. Not only does it showcase Scotland’s start-up strength in data, it also marks the start of the CAN DO Fest, which celebrates Scotland’s entrepreneurial ecosystem as one of the world’s most supportive and ambitious.

This becomes truly apparent on the day. EIE is a magnet for individuals from all corners of that ecosystem, giving participants a direct link to organisations offering different aspects of support – from Scottish EDGE, to Entrepreneurial Scotland, the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE), Linc Scotland, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and of course Scottish Enterprise and our investment arm the Scottish Investment Bank (SIB).

Much more than just a day, EIE is a full accelerator programme for the businesses that take part. It’s also a gateway to the wider support this ecosystem has on offer and the beginning of what will hopefully be a steep growth trajectory for exhibitors. Beyond the excellent training and professional advice provided by EIE’s sponsors – including lawyers, financial advisers and recruiters – start-ups are crucially signposted to a whole host of organisations that can help springboard their growth.

At Scottish Enterprise we help companies navigate the entrepreneurial ecosystem, not only through our own financial products and expert advice, but also by connecting companies with our partners including investors, industry bodies, networking organisations, incubators, accelerators, co-working spaces, innovation centres, academia and public sector funders.

A great example of recent success is the highly-innovative EIE alumni Pure LiFi from Glasgow, which took part in EIE just three years ago has been supported by Scottish Enterprise from the start. The company announced last week that it had secured £14m in Series B investment, including SIB funding.

In fact, there are many examples of successful EIE alumni – including sport technology developer Shot Scope and cancer treatment specialists TC Biopharm – who came to Scottish Enterprise for start-up support and have been nurtured by various parts of the ecosystem every step of the way. You can read some of their stories at: https://www.informatics-ventures.com/news/.

There’s still time to showcase your business at EIE 2020. Applications close at midnight on 24 November, so sign up now at https://www.eie-invest.com/sign-up-2020/ or to buy tickets as an attendee go to https://www.eie-invest.com/prices/.

You can also check out our entrepreneurial ecosystem guide at: https://www.unlockingambition.scot/files/scottish-entrepreneurial-ecosystem-guide-august-2019.pdf