New & Events
Find out more about our events where you can meet the cohorts and find out more about the programmes.
The University of Edinburgh AI Accelerator Showcase is taking place in March. This is a great opportunity to meet the exciting scale-ups that have taken part in the Accelerator; find potential investment opportunities and network with the city's data-driven entrepreneurship scene.
AI Accelerator Showcase - Wednesday 22 March, 13.30-19.00 (Registration from 13.00, networking from 17.00)
Cancer Research Horizons renews partnership with Edinburgh University entrepreneur incubator programme
Cancer Research Horizons, the innovation engine of Cancer Research UK, the world’s largest independent cancer research organisation is renewing its partnership with the University of Edinburgh’s flagship Venture Builder Incubator which supports the commercialisation of data-driven PhD research.
Cancer Research Horizons, through its Entrepreneurial Programmes, will sponsor ten places for cancer-related research projects from across the UK to take part on this 16-week programme which aims to drive academic entrepreneurship by supporting PhD students and early career researchers to develop their business ideas, build their skills and secure funding.
In 2021, the first year of the Cancer Research Horizons collaboration, eight companies operating in the field of cancer were selected as start-ups for the incubator.
For the second year running, Cancer Research Horizons’ continued support for PhD students and researchers will play an important role in accelerating the commercialisation of ideas aimed at conquering cancer.
The Venture Builder Incubator, delivered by the Bayes Centre, the University of Edinburgh’s world-leading innovation hub for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, on behalf of the University’s five Data-Driven Innovation Hubs and Edinburgh Innovations, the commercialisation service of the University, will start later this year and builds on the success of the previous cohorts which have seen considerable success, attracting £1.8m in funding in the last 12 months.
Previous oncology-related ventures focused on developing early diagnosis tools and less invasive testing to enable improved outcomes for people affected by cancer. They included: OncoAssign, a precision medicine startup integrating AI and onco-diagnostics to deliver accurate treatment prediction; 10zyme, a start-up devising a simple method of detecting cancers through urine or saliva samples; ForceBiology, developers of a versatile, more accurate and cost-effective high throughput drug-screening platform for cancer and Therapevo, a screening platform striving to fill the gap between research and the medical testing of new therapeutic strategies.
Commenting on her experience as a participant in last year’s cohort, Estefania Esposito, Co-founder of Therapevo, said: “Being introduced to a network of Venture Builder cohorts past and present was invaluable. They all had different backgrounds, and even when they had similar backgrounds, they all added something: an experience, an idea or an opinion.”
The Venture Builder Incubator is designed to help fledgling entrepreneurs across all sectors build their skills and take their businesses to the next level. Start-ups are chosen after an application process which is open to PhD students, early career researchers and academic staff from the University of Edinburgh or Heriot-Watt University, as well as early career researchers focused on cancer-related projects from across the UK.
Each startup is provided with £2,000 as well as business support through a series of workshops, networking events, mentoring, peer-to-peer learnings and access to the University of Edinburgh’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and its data expertise.
Applications have now opened for the Venture Builder Incubator 3.0. For more information visit https://edinburghdde.com/dde-p... The final deadline for applications is Friday 9 September.
Our entrepreneurs look forward to meeting you there!
