The Royal Bank of Scotland and the University of Edinburgh have announced a new partnership to better support Scotland’s entrepreneurs.
The Royal Bank of Scotland Accelerator will pool expertise with the University’s entrepreneurship programmes, particularly its AI Accelerator, which is currently recruiting its tenth cohort.
Building on previous collaborations and a shared commitment to entrepreneurial and research-led growth, the new facilities and renewed partnership will bring an expanded programme of support for Scottish entrepreneurs, as well as for alumni, staff and student founders.
A dedicated member of Bank staff, based between University’s data-driven innovation hubs the Bayes Centre and the Edinburgh Futures Institute, will work with the AI Accelerator programme team to provide strategic coordination between University of Edinburgh entrepreneurs, academic innovation teams and the Royal Bank Accelerator community, driving growth, insight and commercial impact.
Through practical, in-person advice as well as large-scale sessions and boutique events, the Royal Bank Accelerator team, which opened a new hub in Edinburgh’s west end last week, will help businesses scale and succeed, tapping in to the University’s innovation expertise and networks.
For founders working at the intersection of entrepreneurship and advanced research, the Royal Bank also announced that it will provide £30,000 to the University of Edinburgh’s AI Accelerator, enabling participants to boost their offering by accessing support from academics, PhDs or other resources from across the University.
The AI Accelerator programme has supported over 100 companies so far to collectively raise over £120 million in funding.
The University of Edinburgh partnership spans four key themes: Accelerator, Innovation, Research, and Student Experience and Recruitment. Each area is designed to strengthen the pathway from idea to impact, enabling founders across Scotland to access tailored support as well as helping research-led innovation to connect more effectively with industry.
Douglas Graham, Director of Innovation Clusters at Edinburgh Innovations, the University’s commercialisation service, said:
This new alignment of entrepreneurship expertise and resources between the Royal Bank of Scotland and the University of Edinburgh is great news for the entrepreneurs across our cohorts.
Offering our combined support to talented founders and their emerging ideas and technologies strengthens our regional and national innovation ecosystem, and helps harness data, digital and AI for the good of all.”
Heidi Simpson, Regional Accelerator Director at the Royal Bank of Scotland said:
Scotland is full of talent and bold ideas and through our new alliance with the University of Edinburgh, we’re focused on helping founders turn them into real businesses. This partnership strengthens Accelerator support where innovation is already thriving within the university environment.
Building on a foundation of years of collaboration, we’re supercharging our partnership to support the innovators of the future. We’re putting a complete support system in one place, with hands-on coaching, expert insight and a community that founders and students can tap into. This is about making it easier for start-ups and scaling businesses across Scotland to move faster, think bigger and turn ambition into growth that in turn benefits the Scottish economy.”
