First Minister visits Easter Bush campus
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has visited two female-founded companies at the Roslin Innovation Centre.
The visit was held to announce the publication of a report into women and entrepreneurship.
The First Minister met with University of Edinburgh graduates, Ishani Malhotra and Dr Kate Cameron, to discuss their start-up companies.
Ishani Malhotra is founder and Chief Executive of Carcinotech, a cancer research company that manufactures 3D printed living tumours developed from patient cancer stem cells, primary cells and established cell lines.
Dr Kate Cameron is founder and Chief Executive of Cytochroma, a life sciences company that has developed novel technology to manufacture complex, multicellular tiny hearts and livers.
Supporting start-ups
Both Carcinotech and Cytochroma have received support from the University’s commercialisation service, Edinburgh Innovations.
Carcinotech, has also received seed funding from the Edinburgh Innovations-managed Data-Driven Entrepreneurship (DDE) programme.
Edinburgh Innovations leads the University’s activities in industry engagement and business development, as well as enterprise support for students and staff.
Support includes grants, one-to-one business advice, access to mentoring networks, accelerator programmes and a busy calendar of enterprise events and competitions.
Female entrepreneurship
The Scottish Government’s review, "Pathways: A New Approach for Women in Entrepreneurship", has recommended 31 steps to support women and help them overcome gender barriers in entrepreneurship.
Recommendations include providing start-up training and support and integrating entrepreneurial education into schools and higher education.
The review was led by entrepreneur and investor Ana Stewart and co-authored with Mark Logan, chief entrepreneur to the Scottish Government.
Dr Catherine Martin, the University’s Vice-Principal of Corporate Services, also contributed to the review.
Related links
Edinburgh Innovations | The University of Edinburgh
[Image credit: Scottish Government / Flickr]