Inverness Chamber of Commerce is hosting its annual business to business events and exhibition from 23rd to 27th September in Inverness culminating in the Highland Business Awards Lunch. This annual, five day event offers highland businesses opportunities to exhibit, network, collaborate and celebrate.

Launched this month, Highland Business Week 2024 is an opportunity to network, showcase and celebrate, whatever the scale of your business or organisation. Anchored by the popular Highland Spotlight exhibition and the annual Highland Business Awards, the week itself is an opportunity for the Inverness business community to be part of the programme and showcase their specialisms through crafted events, workshops or masterclasses that inform, inspire and educate.  Organised by Inverness Chamber of Commerce, and supported by media partner Highland News & Media, the annual business festival will take place from 23 to 27 September.

Lorraine Thomson of Interface will be in attendance during the week.

Highland Business Awards

The Highland Business Awards are now open for entries. They’re a great opportunity to tell the Highland business community about your success. The Awards are open to all Highland businesses – large and small, new and well established, and from every sector – so there should be an award category for every business to enter – you don’t even have to be a Chamber member! You can nominate your own business or any other organisation that you think deserves the recognition. Closing Date is Friday 9 August.

Contact the events team for more information: events@inverness-chamber.co.uk

A one-day event for academics from the Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Heriot-Watt, St Andrews, and Strathclyde. Hear impact success stories, find a collaboration partner from another Scottish university, and access funds for impact collaborations.

The festival will be held on 4 September 2024 at COSLA, Edinburgh Haymarket and will support you to:

• find out more about the opportunities, funding and training available to you to create impact from your research
• become a future impact leader
• network with like-minded researchers from five Scottish universities with EPSRC Impact Acceleration Accounts (IAAs)

Interface will be exhibiting at the festival please come along and say hello!

This workshop, hosted by the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions, and Cities (CFE), is part of a series of activities aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of how regional and local governments from OECD member countries are implementing more effective rural policies, leading to improved quality of life and contributing to a more resilient, sustainable, and inclusive future.

Presenters will share different perspectives on the path to economic resilience in rural communities, along with examples of successful initiatives.

The University of Glasgow, in collaboration with Scottish Enterprise, Innovate UK, the Scottish Government, and the Department for Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT) are putting on an exciting in-person networking and information event to promote the collaborative research and innovation opportunities that Horizon Europe has to offer. Discover how Horizon Europe has transformed ideas into successful projects across various sectors, and how yours could be next.

Horizon Europe is the world’s largest Research and Innovation (R&I) programme, with a budget of over £82bn. The programme runs from 2021 to 2027, and it is open to all types of R&I organisations, including large businesses, SMEs, academia, public institutions and third sector organisations.

The UK has historically been one of the best performers in European Research and Innovation Framework Programmes, and on average successful UK applicants to Pillar 2 and Pillar 3 receive around £450,000 although this figure could be much higher. A key part of Horizon Europe is building consortia with partners around the world, particularly now that UK entities can lead projects.

Howell Davies, Interface’s Head of Strategic Programmes and Funding, will be speaking at this event on “How do you define Innovation for the Food & Drink Sector?”

The Oscars of entrepreneurship at the University of Edinburgh: the Inspire Launch Grow Awards is happening on 6th June, 3pm – 6pm and is offering double the prize fund!

Inspire Launch Grow is about recognising innovation, creativity, and successes as well as the resilience, ambition, and accomplishments of entrepreneurs from the University of Edinburgh.

Accelerate your startup with the Inspire Launch Grow Awards with support, pitching advice and cash prizes to help take your startup to the next level. With three main categories to help kickstart your early-stage startup, nurture your social enterprise or accelerate your established startup. Enter now and be in with a chance of winning a share of the £48,000 prize fund.

This annual celebration of enterprise and a chance for Inspire Launch Grow finalists and winners to pitch and talk about their business with the wider enterprise ecosystem. This event is a celebration of University of Edinburgh students and alumni entrepreneurial success while giving attendees the opportunity to connect and form new partnerships and collaborations. Invitees include University of Edinburgh entrepreneurs, alumni, entrepreneurial organisations, business people, partners, investors and University colleagues. Drinks and catering will be provided. The after-party will take place at the Student Enterprise Hub with a BBQ and more drinks available.

The Business & Enterprise Breakfast Briefing being held at Heriot Watt University Scottish Borders Campus is a unique opportunity for industry leaders and businesses to engage directly with one of the UK’s leading universities in fostering innovation and enterprise.

Why Attend?

• Networking Opportunities: Connect with business leaders, innovators, and academics to expand your professional network.
• Insight into Cutting-Edge Research: Gain insights from pioneering research in sustainable design, medical technology, advanced photonics, and more, showcasing how these can translate into tangible benefits for your business.
• Tour of Innovations: Post-event, take the opportunity to visit the school’s degree showcase.

Key Features:

• Explore the Global Research Innovation Discovery (GRID) ecosystem, Heriot-Watt’s answer to making our university accessible and easy to work in partnership with.
• Hear from some leading academics and researchers on how the university is driving global innovations from across our campuses.
• Discover partnership opportunities across talent and skills, research and development and consultancy IP and licensing. Find out about Graduate Apprenticeships, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs), and bespoke consultancy services that can propel your business forward.
• Learn about unlocking government-funded initiatives and how these can benefit your business operations and growth.

Who Should Attend?

This briefing is ideal for Chief Officers, Directors, Business Owners, R&D leaders, and anyone interested in the successful intersection of academia and industry. Whether you’re from a start-up or an established company, you’ll find valuable insights and opportunities for collaboration.

Moray Business Showcase – Moray Chamber’s business to business exhibition is the perfect opportunity for networking, collaboration & growth. Giving you the opportunity to make new business connections and gives your business the perfect platform to sell itself.

Wednesday 5th June 2024
From 10am – 2pm
Moray Sports Centre,
Linkwood Road, Elgin

Whether you want to work with local businesses for procurement, recruitment, business services such as legal, accountancy or even stationery supplies, then the Moray Business Showcase provides you the opportunity to grow your network.

Carol-Ann Adams of Interface will be hosting a table at the showcase so be sure to pop along and say hello and find out how Interface can help you.

Opportunity North East (ONE) is partnering with CodeBase to deliver a regional tech ecosystem event series: Founders’ Fireside. Each Month these sessions bring together local businesses and stakeholders to explore relevant topics for people working in innovation. These sessions will facilitate insightful conversations, broaden our networks, and help raise awareness of the resources available for organisations in the North East.

This May, Interface are delighted to be partnering with ONE and CodeBase to bring you “Getting Business-Academic Collaborations and Funding Right”. Interface are based regionally throughout Scotland and connect organisations and academics working with organisations of all sizes, in all sectors to match them to Scotland’s world-leading academic expertise to help them grow.

With connections into all Scottish universities, research institutes and colleges, Interface has an established and efficient process that will save time and money in identifying and accessing academic expertise, research, technologies, specialist facilities and funding. Gillian Hambley, Interface’s Business Engagement Executive for the North East region will be facilitating this fireside conversation between Kelly Fraser (KTP North), Corrin Fox (Kionnalo) and Dr Ann Lewendon (University of Aberdeen). We’re delighted to bring together this brilliant group of experts from across industry, academia, and funding to discuss the wide diversity of opportunities available to businesses in the North East.

Over the hour-long session, the following will be covered:

• Collaborative work bringing projects to life
• Funding including Innovation Vouchers and Knowledge Transfer Partnerships
• Nationwide support available to people working in the North East

This session is open to people based in the North East of Scotland who want to unlock the collaborative potential of Scotland’s universities, research institutes and colleges.

Do you have an idea? Well, don’t let anyone steal it!

Attend this event by the AIMS Project in partnership with Dumfries and Galloway College, taking place at the STEM Hub, in the College, and hear from local businesses and public sector experts on how to protect your intellectual property.

Speakers include :

• Scott Davidson, Founder of Radisoft Ltd who has devised an IoT monitoring device and application for boilers.
• Katie Vance founder of Bubble Flow Ltd who has devised a non-sterile paediatric Positive Expiratory Pressure (PEP) device intended to assist children with lifelong respiratory conditions such as Cystic Fibrosis, Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD) and Bronchiectasis, to clear excess secretions from their lungs.
• Iain Barbour, JBA Seeds, Jamieson Brothers is Scotland’s best known brand of horticultural seed potatoes, garden supplies and animal feeds.
• Mari Findlay, Interface, who connect organisations to academics and will talk about Innovation Voucher Funding.
• Sarah-Jane Burns, Tech Scaler, Code Base – will talk about the technology programme and mentoring scheme
• Jamie Shovelin, D&G Chamber of Commerce – will talk about the business backed mentoring scheme
• Chris Rigby, South of Scotland Enterprise, SoSE, will be sharing some information from The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) who are the official UK government body responsible for intellectual property (IP) rights including patents, designs, trade marks and copyright.
• Paul Winstanley, CEO of Censis and Board Chair of Filament STAC, will be talking about the high applications in technology and PACE.
• Euan Devlin, Part Qualified Patent Attorney from Scintilla – will give an introduction into Patent, copyright, trademarks, trade secrets and design rights.
• Ross Colquhoun, Scottish Enterprise – will discuss the core elements of Scottish Enterprises SMART: SCOTLAND programme which can award up to £100,000 of support towards highly innovative R&D projects with strong commercial potential. Ross will also touch upon how this programme relates to your own intellectual property strategy.

This free event will take place at the STEM Hub, Dumfries and Galloway College, Bankend Road, Dumfries, DG1 4FD. Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

Mari Findlay of Interface is speaking on the day so come along and find out more about what Interface can offer.