The Converge Challenge is Scotland’s largest entrepreneurial training programme and competition, with a prize fund of £160,000+. It is open to staff and students at Scottish Universities and Research Institutes.
2022 marks the start of their new funding cycle, and with it some exciting changes to their programmes.
- KickStart Challenge will increase from 30 to 50 places, provide additional customer engagement training, and offer more prizes to strengthen the pipeline of early-stage projects.
- Converge Challenge will sharpen its focus on investment readiness and become more competitive with 20 places for the most advanced projects. Finalists will receive additional training in investment and funding.
- The Impact and Creative Challenges will be changing, with environmental projects getting their own Net Zero Challenge category (10 places), and social impact and creative projects joining into the Create Change Challenge (20 places). Finalists in these categories will also receive additional training in investment and funding.
- To accommodate enhanced finalist training, our awards event will take place on 3 November.
Converge will open for applications for all four programmes on 26 January, with a closing date of 5 April. Training will be delivered with a hybrid model of online and in-person events throughout June, and the Inside Innovation pitching event (hopefully in person!) will take place on 23 June.
Please bookmark this page to ensure you get the latest updates!
In advance of this, and to ensure you and your project is ready, Converge are offering a series of workshops starting January 14th bookable via the links: https://www.convergechallenge.com/workshops/
For queries regarding University IP generated from your research, please contact your School Business Development and Relationship Manager.
Post promoted by: Fiona Mason, Head of BE and IP Commercialisation.
