Scotland Cohort 1

• The team launched a three-year Entrepreneurship Support Program.
  • Highlands & Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise—the two major economic development agencies in the region—have invested several million pounds into enabling entrepreneurs in Scotland to think more globally and work more effectively through networking and education.
  • The program conducts 12 workshops over the course of a year delivered by industry experts and leading thinkers from all over the world.
• Strategic Intervention(s):
  • Team Scotland used the MIT REAP program to establish a collaborative strategy for multi-sector action to drive innovation-driven entrepreneurship. Scotland’s participation in MIT REAP also resulted in a series of targeted interventions that work alongside each other such as:
    • Scottish Edge – competition to address the shortage of seed capital; 15 prizes awarded between £10,000 and £50,000 cash, with up to a £50,000 loan to businesses up to 5 years old; provided around £1.5 million of additional cash to early stage businesses. scottishedge.com
    • Scotland Can Do SCALE – Mass democratisation of entrepreneurship in Scotland; bringing disciplined entrepreneurship teaching to 2,000 people in a few years.  cando.scot/scale/
    • Entrepreneurial Scotland – organization emerged focused on high growth entrepreneurship, over 700 members to date https://www.entrepreneurialscotland.com/
    • Enterprise Teaching in Scotland’s Universities – Royal Society of Edinburgh undertook research and published a report on undergraduate and graduate entrepreneurial education; all 19 University Principals have convened on next steps  https://royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/advice-papers/2015/AP15_09.pdf
    • Global Ambitions Network – close network of highly skilled and trained entrepreneurs.

MIT REAP Scotland Team Strategy

• More recently, three public agencies in Scotland teamed up with leading entrepreneurial teachers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard Business School to run the Scotland SCALE program, the first of its kind in Scotland. The SCALE program is an initiative that will offer high impact, internationally focused training for both start up and scale up entrepreneurship. Experienced Scottish entrepreneurs and world-leading academics will also be invited to deliver parts of the program, sharing their knowledge of the challenges and routes to success for growing a global business from Scotland.  The program will boost Scotland’s status as a dynamic business location, resulting in an increase in the number and range of high growth businesses and enhance attractiveness to international investors.