Special Awards
Entrepreneurship can be a difficult road – that’s why we’re delighted to offer some additional awards to help boost budding academic entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurship can be a difficult road – that’s why we’re delighted to offer some additional awards to help boost budding academic entrepreneurs.
If you’re a woman setting up a business, the chances are you face a number of additional challenges. Yet numerous studies show that female-led businesses tend to perform better than those of men.
To help an aspiring female entrepreneur achieve their full potential – and to inspire others to take the first step – we have partnered with the Royal Bank of Scotland to offer The Rose Award. Named after Alison Rose, CEO of the Royal Bank of Scotland, and author of the HM-Treasury commissioned independent review of female entrepreneurship, the Rose Award is open to ambitious female founders from this year’s pool of Converge semi-finalists.
Winning this award will give you a real boost - not just to your confidence but your bank balance, connections and profile.
Jodie Sinclair, Theo Health, 2021 Rose Award winner
An equity-free cash prize of £10k to progress your business idea
A money-can’t-buy mentoring session with the Royal Bank of Scotland’s CEO
Inclusion in our winners’ press release sent to local, regional and national media
The award is open to female semi-finalists from our advanced categories (Converge, Net Zero and Create Change). To be considered you need to demonstrate ambition, purpose and be leading a new or prospective business with high-growth potential.
Scotland’s technology sector could be “world class” according to the recently published Logan review but, to get there, we need a healthy pipeline of tech start-ups. That’s why we’re delighted to have teamed up with Cisco, one of the world’s leading technology companies, to offer a ‘Best in Class’ prize to springboard an innovative, break-through tech company.
As well as £10,000 in equity-free cash, this award comes with a tailored package of support from Cisco including technology, advice and mentoring.
Jonathan Feldstein, Bennui.ai, 2021 Cisco Future Tech Award winner
An equity-free cash prize of £10k to progress your business idea
A tailored package of Cisco support including technology, mentoring and advice
Inclusion in our winners’ press release sent to local, regional and national media
The award is open to Converge semi-finalists across all sectors but particularly AI, machine learning and cloud security. To be considered you need to demonstrate ambition, purpose and be leading a new or prospective business with high-growth potential.