Three Scottish SMEs win big at Scotland’s CAN DO Innovation Summit
Scotland’s CAN DO Innovation Summit #SME stage competition has unveiled three winning small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) based around the country.
Edinburgh-based Scene Connect, Aberdeen-based Recycl8 and Edinburgh-based Space Intelligence have secured a prize spot and gained global exposure to more than 800 investors, academics, entrepreneurs and innovators.
As well as this, the three firms will benefit from two days of support from an Innovation Specialist at Scottish Enterprise.
The #SMEstage competition winners were selected by an independent panel of judges made up of senior representatives from Scottish EDGE, Innovate UK and Scottish Enterprise.
Scottish EDGE CEO Evelyn McDonald commented: “Judging the #SMEstage competition was a great way to start the year as it reminded us all that despite the challenges we are currently facing there are a wealth of entrepreneurs and businesses in Scotland creating new technologies to enable innovation-led recovery and growth.
“Winning the competition will give the businesses access to a wide audience which will hopefully bring useful connections and support as well as linking them into invaluable support from Scottish Enterprise.”
This is the second summit, following a successful inaugural event in Glasgow, and is the first time it has been held virtually.
CAN DO Innovation Summit is a headline event of the VentureFest Scotland festival of innovation, and will support Scottish SMEs to build innovation-led recovery, resilience and sustainable growth after recent national and global challenges.
It will feature a speaker line-up of over 40 multi-sector SMEs and a range of innovation support agencies across 12 industry-led panel sessions.
Panel discussions and live Q&A sessions will run throughout the day covering the following themes:
Commenting on the event, Dr Laura Bell of the CAN DO Innovation Summit, said: “Recent events have created huge challenges for SMEs, who will now be critical to tackling the economic and societal challenges we are facing.
“This year’s Summit has been carefully crafted to help SMEs explore opportunities to develop new and better business models and to drive sustainable competitive advantage.
“Our virtual focal point for business will help SMEs adopt new technologies, build progressive working cultures and access the right support for innovation-led recovery and growth.”
Enabling connections is a key objective of the summit, at a time when networking can be difficult in a virtual world. With multiple opportunities to connect with new people, share knowledge and ideas and explore opportunities for partnership, the summit makes it easier than ever to spark new connections online.
Bell continued: “We have a wide selection of world-leading experts and local talent lined up to speak at the event, as well as interactive sessions which can benefit SMEs across all sectors.
“I’d also like to thank our panel of judges for selecting three excellent winners to take their well-earned place in the spotlight at the Summit on the #SMEstage. We look forward to welcoming many more SMEs on 3 February.”
Delegates can register for free here: https://www.