The University of Edinburgh has exceeded a key government objective to drive innovation by supporting businesses to secure more than £200 million of investments – four times the initial target.
As part of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal signed in 2018, the University was set the goal of supporting more than 400 entrepreneurs raise a minimum of £50 million within ten years.
Over the course of five years, the University has provided specialist programmes and initiatives to help 500 cutting-edge companies raise funds to boost their work to drive innovation. Half of the funding has been secured by businesses registered within the city region area.
E.V.A. Biosystems, founded by bioengineering PhD Alexander Speakman, is developing new degradable packaging products to tackle huge issues of plastic waste in landfills and oceans.
Supported to start up by Edinburgh Innovations, he also took part in the University’s Venture Builder Incubator programme, which helped the company secure £10,000 to buy equipment and grow the business.
Also based in Edinburgh, Trade in Space uses satellite technology to broker better deals for coffee suppliers and producers, by tracking the bean through the supply chain.
The Trade in Space team secured £380,000 after taking part in the University-led AI Accelerator programme designed to nurture AI-driven scale-ups and help garner investment. This enhanced the business’ understanding of the benefits of AI can provide, and how to be investor-ready.
The Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal is a UK and Scottish government-led £1.5 billion investment to improve transport, housing, culture, skills and employability and innovation.
The University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University lead on the delivery of Data Driven Innovation (DDI) initiatives, utilising the area’s strengths in technology and data science.
Secretary of State for Scotland, Ian Murray MP said:
It’s fantastic to see the world-leading excellence in innovation being pioneered at the University of Edinburgh. Seeing the Data Driven Innovation programme surpassing its target in entrepreneurial investment is a huge milestone. We need to encourage more of this kind of investment in our local economies to ensure growth in all parts of the UK and our world-class universities will help us achieve this. ”
Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said:
Innovation is the life-blood of a thriving and vibrant economy and nurturing our pipeline of entrepreneurs and start-up companies is crucial to economic success.
“The support secured by companies through the Data Driven Innovation programme, backed by investment from the Scottish Government through the Edinburgh and South East Scotland Regional Growth Deal is hugely promising, and demonstrates the important role public and private sector collaboration has in delivering on our potential. It is great that the DDI team are ahead of target for company engagement and I look forward to seeing the innovation that support unlocks in key sectors of our economy. ”
Professor Kim Graham, Provost of University of Edinburgh said:
It is a privilege to be leading on such a vital programme which is already having significant economic impact and benefit. Investment in businesses, within and outside our region, have allowed them to far exceed their growth expectations and we relish the chance to further enhance support for emerging companies to deliver research and innovation impact using advanced data, digital and AI technologies. ”
