From Chill to Thrill: My Experience at the Scottish EDGE Awards

Caroline Maclellan, Senior Innovation Manager at Highlands and Islands Enterprise, shares her insights from attending the 24th round of The Scottish EDGE Awards. This competition showcases businesses with the highest potential for growth and success.

Having spent four years working in ski resorts, I’m no stranger to the cold but last week’s chill was something else. And, if  I wasn’t cold enough, on the evening of last week’s Scottish Edge final in Edinburgh, I took the opportunity to visit an innovative pop-up in George Street - The Polar Ice Bar.  It was the perfect way to immerse myself in the spirit of innovative start-ups.

Scottish EDGE is a bi-annual Dragons Den style business competition that has supported more than 650 companies with grants, loans and other resources to help them grow, create jobs and positively impact on the Scottish economy.

To date, 43 businesses from the Highlands and Islands have won, securing more than £2m in investment for the region.

Scottish EDGE celebrates innovation and ambition, providing finalists with invaluable experience to advance their businesses. It’s heartening to see entrepreneurship in Scotland is not only growing but reaching new heights.

I was delighted to attend Round 24 of the competition at the Royal Bank of Scotland Conference Centre, Edinburgh last Thursday (28 November), where the latest batch of finalists pitched for up to £100k in funding out of a prize pot of £1.5m. The shortlisted finalists presented their business ideas during a day-long live final session to a panel of eight judges.

Two businesses from the Highland and Islands competed, which was brilliant to see. Seb Jones of We Soy Ltd, Forres who pitched his bean-to-bottle soy sauce brewery using Japanese processes and premium organic soyabeans, and Joan Johnston of Elgin-based Bespoke Fabrics Ltd - Ava Innes who pitched her premium UK-made sustainable bedding range.

This year’s event promised to be the most exciting yet and it certainly delivered. The usual two-day schedule was condensed into a dynamic, single day event, which included workshops, networking and exhibitors.

It’s fantastic to see all these young Scottish businesses demonstrating their potential to grow succeed. We wish them the best in securing awards to help them expand. Once again, the standard of entries for Scottish EDGE was extremely high.

As well as the exciting pitching, the final and awards will also feature a keynote from a guest speaker which in the past has included TV Dragon and retail entrepreneur Theo Paphitis and Professor Chris Evans, head of Google Start-ups. 

EDGE25 opens in February 2025. Read more.

There was an additional buzz of excitement around the Scottish Edge finals today as the Scottish Government pledged an additional £400k to support entrepreneurs. 

To recognise entrepreneurial candidates from across the country, ‘Regional EDGE’ will invite innovative, high growth startups from across Perth and Kinross, Dundee and Angus, North East, and the Highlands and Islands to take part in a contest with the chance of winning up to £50,000 in prizes.

The funds will be allocated via a competitive Scottish EDGE process delivered by region specific delivery partners, including Opportunity North East, Elevator (Dundee and Angus), GrowBiz (Perth and Kinross), and HIE.  Each region will deliver its own ‘finals’, resulting in five winners, with awards in each region consisting of one £50,000 top award, two £15,000, and two £10,000 awards. Read more here.

I’m looking forward to warming up and hearing the results on the 4 December and sharing more about the Scottish EDGE regional awards.