Glasgow welcomes the digital entrepreneurs of the future

Dominic Chalmers, lecturer at the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, looks at the latest showcase for Scotland’s up and coming digital entrepreneurs…

By now everyone knows the story of how Facebook emerged from undergraduate students at Harvard, and Google from a pair of PhD’s at Stanford. So, where are Scotland’s next generation of digital entrepreneurs? We would like to think that some of them are right here at Strathclyde Business School.

We know we have talent on campus and we’ve been exploring ways to promote some of the great new ideas we’re seeing in development. On the 29th of April we’ll be holding our inaugural digital entrepreneurship event. Here students will be given the chance to showcase some of the digital applications (or apps) they’ve been working on for the past year as part of their undergraduate studies.

For the first time, business students have linked up with computer science students to turn ideas into working prototypes. Many of these innovations have the potential to make a huge impact in their respective markets, something that has been confirmed by the various prestigious awards that students have already won. For starters, team Cyclops have recently returned from Texas, USA, where they won first place (and $1000) in an elevator pitch competition for their cycling optics innovation. Closer to home, Monomise, a smoking cessation application and Lifeline, an emergency services location-based app have won funding from Santander bank to develop their ideas. Both businesses are through to the finals of the Scottish Institute for Enterprise’s Young Innovators Challenge.

We know that in a practical sense simply delivering theoretical advice will, in itself, not be enough to inspire the next generation to develop new business ideas. That’s why we place a big focus on developing ideas which have practical applications. A big part of the process, which can sometime be overlooked by students, is the importance of developing effective networks and that’s something we’ve kept in mind for this event. Guest speakers include Strathclyde Enterprise Hub tenant, Raj Sark inventor of Lupo who’ll be sharing his experience establishing a high potential digital business. Joining Raj will be Norrie Innes of Rock DCM and the Barras Art and Design Centre. Norrie’s currently working on plans to develop a tech cluster at the Barrowlands and will be sharing his exciting vision to help regenerate part of Glasgow’s historic east end.

We know that it’s important to support new ideas and encourage teams to go out on a limb and develop their own ideas. While for some this will be an invaluable learning experience, for others it could mark the start of fully fledged business.

How important do you think digital technology will be for the future economy? Is enough being done to promote Scotland’s young entrepreneurs? Let us know in the comments below…

Click here to register for the event.

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About Dominic Chalmers

Dominic joined the Hunter Centre in 2011 to take up the post of Lecturer, with specific responsibility for delivering training for the TalentScotland programme. Dominic’s research explores innovation and entrepreneurship in the social context. Recent work has investigated the microfoundations of absorptive capacity routines in social organisations, and, entrepreneurial orientation in the not for profit sector.