Apply To EDGE 14

Up to 100K funding

Scottish EDGE is the main competition category, and all companies that apply and meet the eligibility criteria will be entered in to and assessed for the main Scottish EDGE competition. This category also includes three special awards: Higgs EDGE, for Science, Technology and Engineering focused businesses; Creative EDGE, for businesses from within Scotland’s Creative Sector; Social Enterprise EDGE, for Social Enterprise businesses; and Circular Economy EDGE, for circular focused businesses.

If you have an Innovative, High-Growth Potential business then you could win up to £100,000 (£150,000 for Higgs EDGE) plus a fantastic package of support from Scottish EDGE. The application process consists of each business completing the Scottish EDGE Online Application Form (available from our website) and producing a 3-minute video presentation. Your application and video submission are then assessed by our independent panel of assessors against the following criteria: Innovation, Entrepreneurial Spirit, Business Growth Potential, Customer Focused, Utilisation of Funding and Risk Awareness.

At Scottish EDGE, we recognise that growing your business can be particularly challenging for younger entrepreneurs. Whilst Scottish EDGE is open to all who meet the Scottish EDGE criteria, an additional special category has been designed to support Companies whose Directors are all aged 18-30 (excluding Non-Exec Directors and Investors) in the form of Young EDGE.

Applicants who are eligible for the Young EDGE category will be assessed as part of the Scottish EDGE 1st Stage Assessment Process and, should they meet the scoring level required following assessment, will be invited to pitch live at the Young EDGE Final, for the chance to win one of the prizes up to £15,000 (Grant only). The assessment criteria for Young EDGE is the same as in the Scottish EDGE category.

Following the conclusion of the assessment day, the judging panel will decide the top Young EDGE winner (irrespective of their Scottish EDGE assessment score) and this business will be awarded a place at a future Scottish EDGE final.

Recognising that businesses can often require support to take their product or service to market, Scottish EDGE introduced the Wild Card EDGE competition category in 2015. Open to pre-trading businesses, winning a Wild Card EDGE award results in Scottish EDGE support in the form of a grant of up to £15,000 and access to our non-financial support package, provided by leading business professionals.

This is a judges’ award category and requires the collective agreement of the assessment panel that you or your company has the innovative ‘wow’ factor. Innovation is not only about your product or service; it can be about you, your approach, your team, or the design or brand which you have adopted.

Following the conclusion of the assessment day, the judging panel will decide the top Wild Card EDGE winner (irrespective of their Scottish EDGE assessment score) and this business will be awarded a place at a future Scottish EDGE final.

You only need to submit one application to be entered in to the Scottish EDGE, Young EDGE or Wild Card EDGE competition, where eligibility permits. All applications must be submitted using the Scottish EDGE Online Application Portal, which can be accessed from the tab below or at the top of the Home Page.

No paper based or email applications will be accepted.

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Whilst the competition standard and level of expectation can often increase as you progress through the stages of the Scottish EDGE competition, the assessment criteria remains consistent across the 1st Stage assessments, the Semi-Final and the Final.

Young EDGE and Wild Card EDGE also have the same assessment scoring process but within Wild Card EDGE this will be interpreted slightly differently as these businesses are pre-trading. The assessment criteria across all rounds scores against the following key requirements:

• Innovation
• Entrepreneurial Spirit
• Business Growth Potential
• Customer Focus
• Utilisation of Funding
• Risk Awareness

Expanded definitions of each critera can be found here.

The video should be to the standard of that taken on a hand held mobile recording device or better – it is not necessary to pay for an external party to produce a professional video solely for this competition unless you really wish to do so. It is the content of the pitch which matters. We would encourage applicants to show their product or service in the 3 minute video as this often helps bring your offering to life for the judging panel during the assessment process.

YouTube is the preferred option for uploading video content and we would encourage applicants to amend their video to the unlisted option when uploading a video to YouTube (link below). The time limit for videos is 3 minutes maximum. Any video content beyond 3 minutes will not be viewed during assessments.

How to change video to Unlisted.

Once the video content has been uploaded to YouTube (or another preferred format i.e. Vimeo) then you must provide the full URL link on your Scottish EDGE Application where requested.

Please refer to the Scottish EDGE Competition Brochure for a more detailed breakdown.

For full competition FAQs, please refer to the Scottish EDGE Competition Brochure here.

Book a place on one of our application workshops throughout the country

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View a sample application with what are considered strong answers to the application questions:

View Sample

View past examples of 3-min video pitches which went on to win funding:

View Examples

Read the 2019 Competition Brochure for in-depth guidance on your application:

Download Competition Brochure