Scottish EDGE is a competition aimed at identifying and supporting Scotland’s up-and-coming, innovative, high-growth potential entrepreneurial talent.
Jack Proctor, from the Scottish EDGE, discusses the benefits the competition brings and why you should apply.
What is Scottish EDGE?
In essence, Scottish EDGE (Encouraging Dynamic Growth Entrepreneurs) is a competition aimed at identifying and supporting Scotland’s up-and-coming, innovative, high-growth potential entrepreneurial talent. Led by a board of seasoned entrepreneurs, bankers and public sector supporters, it is a £5m+ fund endowed by the Royal Bank of Scotland, serial entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter, and the Scottish Government.
The competition is made up of four categories; Scottish EDGE, for companies of all sectors and stages; Higgs EDGE, a special technology award aimed at entrepreneurs who have a science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) based business and have a product, or product under development, which is scalable and capable of globalisation; Young EDGE, for companies where all directors are under the age of 30; and Wild Card EDGE, for companies who are currently pre-trading.
Why Apply?
Now in its tenth round, Scottish EDGE has, to date, awarded over £8 million to 234 businesses in Scotland – who in turn have created 818 new jobs, generated £45.06 million of additional turnover and attracted £44.12 million of external funding.
Our last round saw 14 Scottish EDGE winners, 2 Higgs EDGE winners, 12 Young EDGE winners and 12 Wild Card EDGE winners take a share in a £1.3 million prize pot, including Glasgow companies Sticky Heelsz (Scottish EDGE, £40,000), Staels Design Ltd (Young EDGE, £10,000) and Nu Blvck (Wild Card EDGE, £10,000). Aberdeen based subsea technology company, Exnics, receiving the largest award amount of £150,000 in the Higgs EDGE category.
In addition to up to £150,000 funding, our winners and finalists also receive mentorship and packages of support from established entrepreneurs and our leading business partners, including Harper Macleod, MadeBrave, Johnston Carmichael, James Hallam and Talented. Our Scottish EDGE final day also presents the opportunity to learn from and connect with experts from world renowned organisations such as Microsoft at the Scottish EDGE Final.
Are You Eligible?
If your company has been in operation for five years or less and has an ambitious growth strategy alongside a highly innovative business idea, then you could be eligible to apply. Scottish EDGE and Higgs EDGE are open to limited companies and registered social enterprises and charities. Young EDGE is open to all companies or sole traders/partnerships whose directors are under the age of 30 and Wild Card EDGE is open to all companies and sole traders/partnerships who are currently pre-trading. How often is the competition run?
Scottish EDGE is a bi-annual competition. The Round 10 application window closes on 8th March 2017, with the live final being held on 22nd June 2017. The Round 11 application window will open toward the end of July 2017.
All applicants receive personalised feedback from our panel of experts during each stage of the competition. This is proven successful as many applicants have come back using this feedback to reapply with a stronger business proposition which has seen many of our winners win on their second, third or even fourth application attempt.
For more information on the Scottish EDGE competition, check out the website and follow @ScottishEDGE on Twitter.
The above blog post has been made possible through the generous support of Creative Clyde and the named contributors.