Summit offers innovation showcase for Scottish firms

Dr Laura Bell

Scotland’s national summit for innovation has launched the #SMEstage competition, offering small and medium sized  businesses the opportunity for exposure to a global audience of over 800 investors, academics, entrepreneurs and innovators.

A headline event of the VentureFest Scotland festival of innovation, the CAN DO Innovation Summit is being held virtually on February 3, 2021. The online event is designed to help SMEs adopt new technologies, build progressive working cultures and access the right support to enable innovation-led recovery and growth.

The competition will provide a select number of firms with the chance to win a slot on the  Summit’s virtual #SMEstage, where the best examples of innovation will be allocated five-minutes to showcase their business to an international audience. Winners will also win two days of support with an innovation specialist from Scottish Enterprise.

A panel of judges has been allocated to review applicant videos and select the winning SMEs: Evelyn McDonald – CEO at Scottish Edge; Bob Martin – manager for Scotland at Innovate UK and Alison Munro – head of business services & advice at Scottish Enterprise.

Summit organiser Dr Laura Bell said:The SMEstage can provide a much-needed boost to small businesses and start-ups by giving them a great platform – and profile with innovation leaders across Scotland and the UK. I wish all applicants the best of luck with your entries, we have an excellent panel of judges who I don’t doubt will select some fantastic businesses.

“For the best chance of success, keep in mind this year’s key themes; Journey to a Sustainable Future, Recovery and Resilience, Workplace Innovation, Advance Manufacturing and Digitisation and MedTech/Health Innovation. The more relevant your entries to any of these the better!”

More on the CAN DO Innovation Summit here

SME Publications/ SME XPO 2024
SME Publications/ SME XPO 2024