Bayes Centre News: Kate Forbes MSP to deliver ministerial address at EIE21
Kate Forbes, Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy will present the opening statement at EIE21
The Bayes Centre is proud to announce the addition of Kate Forbes MSP to its exceptional line up of speakers at EIE21, with the Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy providing the opening statement.
You can find out more, or book a ticket for just £20 here.
She joins an impressive programme, featuring speakers from the world of business, government and education. The day will also feature EIE alumnus and well known entrepreneurs making is an unmissable opportunity to hear from thought leaders across business, government and education.
Kate Forbes is the Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch constituency and Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy in the Scottish Government. She is a former digital economy minister and was instrumental in commissioning last year’s Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review by former Skyscanner COO Mark Logan.
EIE was delighted to recently announce Sir Ronald Cohen as the keynote speaker for EIE. He is recognised as the father of impact investment and European venture capital and is a pioneering philanthropist, venture capitalist, private equity investor, and social innovator.
Speakers on the day will also include:
Lesley Eccles, an EIE alumnus and co-founder of gaming platform FanDuel, which went on to achieve a $1 Billion valuation, making it Scotland’s first unicorn. She went on to found HelloFresh and is working with the Scottish Government to help Scotland become a world-class technology hub.
Alex Joss is the Lead for Technology and Innovation with the UNFCCC Climate Champions team for COP26 and scaled an AI-led healthtech startup Sight Diagnostics through its $70m series D round.
Professor Peter Mathieson, the Principal and Vice-Chancellor at the University of Edinburgh will provide important insight into the way that Universities work with business and what the future may hold for the University of Edinburgh.
Michael Welch OBE founded online tyre retailer Blackcircles.com in 2001, going on to sell the company to Michelin in 2015. Since then, he has founded a series of other ecommerce startups including fashion site Atterley, and earlier this year Welch merged his US-based online tyre retailing business Tirescanner with American Tire Distributors’ Tirebuyer operation.
Commenting on Kate Forbes’s participation at EIE21, Karen Wood, Director of Enter-prise, Bayes Centre, the University of Edinburgh, said: “In the year when the Scottish Government is prioritising the delivery of the recommendations outlined in Mark Logan’s Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review, the Bayes Centre team is delighted that Cabinet Secretary Kate Forbes MSP is welcoming delegates to EIE21, supporting our ambition to deliver collaborative tech innovation and investment at scale on the international stage.”
Scotland’s premier tech investor conference will see company founders pitch for investment from seed level to up to multimillion series A and later stage investment rounds.
35 companies from categories including Energy, Climate and CleanTech, AI and Data Science, Fintech and Cybersecurity, Digital Health and MedTech, and Satellites and SpaceTech, will pitch to investors from around the world and an investor panel that features SEP partner and co-founder Stuart Paterson, Flavia Popescu-Richardson of Silicon Valley Bank, UK Business Angels Association CEO Jenny Tooth, and Old College Capital’s Andrea Young.
Since 2008 EIE has supported over 500 tech startups who have collectively secured more than £750m in funding, with Current Health, FanDuel, Celtic Renewables, Amiqus, Two Big Ears, Speech Graphics, pureLiFi and mLed among EIE alumnus companies.
Links
EIE21 and the Bayes Centre
EIE is run by the University of Edinburgh’s Bayes Centre in partnership with the DDI (Data-Driven Innovation) initiative and supported by Scottish Enterprise, is a year-round programme highlighted by a day of pitching to investors from across the globe.