Hannah Jones

Ms Jones is the CEO of The Earthshot Prize, a prize and platform founded by HRH The Prince of Wales and the Royal Foundation in 2021 to search, spotlight, and scale solutions that can repair and regenerate the planet in this decade.

Karen Wood, director of Enterprise at EIE, Bayes Centre, said: “Through her experience in senior sustainability roles with organisations like Microsoft and Nike, to her current position leading the inspirational initiative that is The Earthshot Prize, Hannah is one of the most important climate leaders of our times. The Bayes Centre’s EIE team has enjoyed a close relationship with Earthshot since it was established, becoming an official nominator for future prize winners, and we’re absolutely delighted to have Hannah address EIE22 tomorrow.”

Hannah Jones, CEO, The Earthshot Prize, added: “We are a global search engine. We scour the earth for incredible solutions with an eye to diversity and representation.”

In addition to other keynote speakers Mark Logan, the Scottish Government’s chief rntrepreneur, Ana Stewart, chair of the Women in Enterprise Review, Sheila Flavell, President of techUK, other speakers on the day include Scottish Enterprise’s recently appointed CEO Adrian Gillespie, Jarmo Eskelinen, executive director at Data-Driven Innovation Initiative, and Professor Iain Gordon, vice president and head of College of Science and Engineering at the University of Edinburgh.

At EIE22, 39 early to later stage startups will showcase their pitching skills to investors across the UK and beyond, plus investor panels made up this year by: Kerry Sharp, Director, Entrepreneurship & Investment, Scottish Enterprise Growth Investments; Paul Callaghan, Investment Director at Scottish National Investment Bank; John McNicol, Founder and Director, Kelvin Capital; Devina Paul, Founding Partner, Galvanise Capital; Amelia Armour, Partner, Amadeus Capital, and; Fraser Lusty, Director, Equity Gap.

The EIE Investor Readiness Programme delivered by the University of Edinburgh’s Bayes Centre has helped over 540 companies raise more than £1.1 billion since 2008.

Findings of the 6th annual Scottish Startup Survey were released last week, indicating that the nation’s tech companies are in a resilient mood in the face of concerns around economic headwinds. While 89% of survey respondents said they are concerned by the global economic outlook, 88% said their startup had grown in 2022, although 68% said Brexit had slowed growth.

While 93% of respondents said Scotland is a good place to launch a startup, 88% of startups are targeting investors outside Scotland. London and Rest of the UK (46%), followed by North America (30%), and Europe (21%) are the most targeted investor regions.