Kate Forbes

Forbes, a former digital economy minister, was re-elected as MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch in the Scottish Parliament election in May, before being appointed as Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy on 20th May. Forbes, a former digital economy minister, was instrumental in commissioning last year’s Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review by former Skyscanner COO Mark Logan.

Karen Wood, director of enterprise, 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.

The main speakers on the day are Sir Ronald Cohen, FanDuel co-founder Lesley Eccles, UNFCCC Climate Champions for COP26’s Alexander Joss, University of Edinburgh Principal Professor Peter Mathieson, and Michael Welch OBE.

Last month, the team behind EIE, who are based at the Bayes Centre, University of Edinburgh, launched this year’s EIE Scottish Startup Survey, the first of its kind to examine the Scottish startup ecosystem. This year’s survey asks startups across Scotland about the main challenges faced and opportunities achieved in a year characterised by the ongoing Covid pandemic. The survey’s main findings are set to be released later this month.

EIE has supported over 500 tech startups since 2008 who have collectively raised around £750 million from seed through to Series A and later stage funding - with Current Health, FanDuel, Celtic Renewables, Amiqus, Two Big Ears, Speech Graphics, pureLiFi and mLed among EIE alumnus companies.