Awards season is truly upon us, and this week was a welcome break from being a finalist (awaiting your fate is a true test of patience!), as I was sitting on the other side of the fence as a judge.
Judging awards is never easy, but it is a huge privilege and always inspiring. This week, I was delighted to be offering my expertise to Scotland’s up-and-coming entrepreneurs and sit on an assessment panel for one of Scottish Edge’s virtual pitching days for Scottish EDGE Round 19 semi-finals.
Scottish EDGE is a competition to identify and support Scotland’s up-and-coming, innovative, high-growth entrepreneurial talent. Scottish EDGE believes that it’s essential to help entrepreneurs and start-up businesses in any way they can; they also recognise that supporting businesses isn’t a one-off thing. From providing prize funding of up to £150,000 to a quick catch-up, they are there for the long haul – it’s this approach that has drawn me to working with the team at Scottish EDGE.
The Scottish EDGE suite of awards now consists of the core Scottish EDGE, Young EDGE and Wild Card EDGE categories, as well as the specialist category awards: Net Zero EDGE (supported by Royal Bank of Scotland), Social Enterprise EDGE (supported by Postcode Innovation Trust), Circular Economy EDGE (supported by Zero Waste Scotland), STV Growth EDGE (supported by STV), Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre EDGE (supported by IBioIC) and Creative EDGE.
It was an inspiring afternoon. It was fascinating to listen to applicants’ business proposals, all innovative and diverse, tackling issues head-on and solving problems in their respective sectors. But it was also a real pleasure to be part of the semi-final judging panel that plays a crucial role in assessing the entrants.
At this stage; I can’t say much more than get ready for the live final on 25 and 26 May – good luck everyone!
