Glasgow’s first Venture Studio, dedicated to developing innovation-driven enterprises has been launched by the Glasgow City Innovation District (GCID).
The project is supported by Glasgow City Council and funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
The GCID Venture Studio, in a pilot phase to 2025, will help founders based within Glasgow City to develop new ideas, products, and business models into high growth companies whilst supporting social innovation and community benefits.
The programme involves assembling teams of founders, designers, developers, and other experts within the studio to create, validate, build, and scale new business ideas.
Four pillars of activity are designed to support the needs of Glasgow’s digital, tech, engineering, and creative sectors – Challenge, Make, Innovate and Impact and a series of innovation programmes will be delivered where multiple projects and different businesses collaborate.
The first call is Challenge – Space Data for Industry that offers grant funding for Glasgow City-registered businesses selling or utilising innovative solutions that use space data to further collaborations with existing or potential customers.
Led by GCID, this challenge is in partnership with Scottish Enterprise’s mission programme team with support from the University of Strathclyde’s Space Group and the West of Scotland Space Cluster, with successful companies receiving grants of up to £30,000 to deliver a service or product with space data at its core.
Applications for funding will be followed by workshops and focus groups to test the challenges and develop proposals with up to six awards being made. All successful projects will be expected to apply for larger rounds of funding to continue the work carried out as part of the Challenge.
Director of GCID, Alisdair Gunn, said: “The funding for the Venture Studio will support the development of innovation-driven businesses, products, and services, to create a leading international innovation hub at the centre of Glasgow City Innovation District for new product creation and collaboration which will support the future growth of Glasgow’s tech ecosystem.
“We’re excited to issue the first call for businesses to take part in the Challenge pillar, which is focused on Space.”
On making an allocation of SPF funding to GCID, Councillor Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council, said: “Glasgow’s digital, tech, creative and engineering sectors are hugely important to the city and the whole city region. Our investment in the city’s first Venture Studio will further drive the innovation that is key to the city’s future economic growth.
“This is a very exciting project that brings together all the people necessary to develop the new business ideas, products and services in high-growth sectors that will create jobs and attract investment to Glasgow.”
GCID, Scotland’s first innovation district, is a collaboration between the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow City Council, Scottish Enterprise, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce and Entrepreneurial Scotland.
