International Women's Day: Scots among winners at prestigious Women in Innovation Awards

Two Scottish businesswomen are among those honoured by Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation Awards, with winners announced today to coincide with International Women’s Day.

In total, 38 “trailblazing” female entrepreneurs from across the UK have been recognised, with their pioneering work described as tackling some of society’s biggest challenges.

Their specialisms range from a blood test that allows earlier diagnosis of ovarian cancer to wearable tech that acts like your own physio, and “leather” made from garden waste. Each winner will be awarded £50,000, as well as bespoke mentoring and coaching to enable them to scale up.

Nimrah Munir from Bathgate is working to tackle glioblastoma, said to be the most common form of primary brain cancer in adults. Picture: contributed.

Among the names selected is Nimrah Munir from Bathgate, who is developing a “first-of-its kind” electric field therapy known as GRACE, which can be implanted in the brain to treat glioblastoma, the most common form of primary brain cancer in adults.

Also representing Scotland is Jane Stewart from Dunblane, who, as part of the leadership team at Topolytics, is helping to cut back the huge proportion of the world’s waste that ends up in landfill. Innovate UK said the firm’s data analytics platform WasteMap enable producers, recyclers, brokers and government bodies to map the flow of waste.

Emily Nott, head of equality, diversity and inclusion at Innovate UK, said: “It has continued to be a challenging year of uncertainty, but these pioneering, resilient women inspire us to dream big – and make an impact despite the difficulties we face.”

Meanwhile, PwC has revealed that Scotland has improved its performance in the firm’s Women in Work Index, saying this is thanks to advances in the nation’s gender pay gap, and an increased share of women in full-time employment.

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