VentureFest launches year-round entrepreneurship festival

A Glasgow business innovation summit is transforming to become an all-year festival of Scottish entrepreneurship.

The core VentureFest programme will constitute a cluster of headline events, including Startup Summit. Picture: contributed

VentureFest Scotland, previously a one-day summit held at Glasgow Science Centre, has become a festival by the same name, encompassing a year-round string of events to supporting innovators, entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs).

The core VentureFest programme constitutes a cluster of headline events in November of each year, including Startup Summit, which was held at Edinburgh’s Assembly Rooms yesterday, and ClimateLaunchpad Global Grand Final, which takes place in the capital today, along with a series of connected fringe events throughout the year.

Together with its sister festival Can Do Fest in the spring, it aims to support the Scottish Government-backed “Can Do” agenda by connecting people, programmes and funding to further Scottish businesses.

VentureFest Scotland will now be led by Glasgow City of Science and Innovation, replacing Scottish Enterprise.

Susie Mitchell, programme director at Glasgow City of Science and Innovation, said: “Scotland is a nation of innovators and entrepreneurs, and SMEs are the backbone of the Scottish economy, accounting for over 99 per cent of all private sector enterprises.

“We look forward to delivering a programme of events, delivered by a range of national agencies, that will connect Scotland’s SMEs to the game-changing innovators, academics entrepreneurs and investors that will help them to grow, scale and succeed.”