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Powering the Future, based in Glasgow, delivered by Sustainable Ventures will fill a key business support gap in the Scottish climate tech economy, and will help to launch and scale innovations within the Scottish climate tech ecosystem. The programme will provide 30 companies with tailored support and help drive investment opportunities for their companies, supported by the Barclays Eagle Labs’ Ecosystem Partnership Programme – funded by UK government – alongside delivery partners Glasgow City Innovation District (GCID) and the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce.

The programme will work with Scottish climate tech companies from all stages of development from early idea stage through to mature venture (scaleup) stage. The programme will provide tailored support ranging from early idea stage all the way to mature and venture stage aimed at growing Scottish climate tech businesses and creating more investment and commercialisation opportunities within the City of Glasgow.

These strands will contain support ranging from access to the unique Sustainable Ventures Spark platform, to dedicated 1:1 bespoke venture support. Spark features a curriculum that allows founders to access a bank of tried and tested climate tech venture development tools, as well as an opportunity to connect with other Climate Tech SMEs and Sustainable Venture’s team of innovation experts. The support programme will offer expert knowledge and advice across key business topics to help 30 startups accelerate from innovation to commercialisation. This spans everything from developing initial business plans, supporting technological innovation, through to scaling market expansion strategies.

Alongside this will be a series of events for all Powering the Future Cohort members, including 3 workshops focusing on investment readiness, value proposition, and marketing. These workshops will take place monthly for 3 consecutive months starting in April and finishing in June. The programme will culminate with a grand showcase event in Glasgow, where climate tech SMEs will have the opportunity to demonstrate their learnings from the programme and pitch to relevant stakeholders across the Glasgow City Region. Each member of the programme will receive an invite to the showcase event in June 2025.

Regional Development Associate (Scotland) at Sustainable Ventures, Garry Boyle commented: “Innovative technology offers huge potential in the fight against climate change and resource scarcity. Startups have the agility and risk tolerance to drive rapid commercial innovation, but find scaling notoriously challenging – just 40% survive the first three years.

“Climate tech start-ups face steep hurdles on the path to scale, often navigating capital-intensive infrastructure development, significant funding gaps, and complex market adoption barriers. Sustainable Ventures exists to address these challenges, we are delighted to be working with Scottish and Glasgow climate tech entrepreneurs to provide them with the specialised resources and support to help their ventures successfully scale and deliver the solutions needed for a greener future.”

Stephen Brown, Director of Barclays Eagle Labs said: “Eagle Labs are supporting the growth of the innovation economy in the U.K. Our government funded Ecosystem Partnership Programme enables us to allocate matched funding to organisations like Sustainable Ventures to help founders access the support they need to grow. 

 “We are proud to be able to support projects such as this, designed to help early-stage tech entrepreneurs. This ensures our ongoing commitment to the key sectors vital to the continued growth of local economies across the country.”

Alisdair Gunn, director of Glasgow City Innovation District, said: “We’re proud to be delivering the Climate Tech SME Support Programme in partnership with Sustainable Ventures — a major step in scaling Glasgow’s position as Scotland’s leading hub for climate tech innovation and entrepreneurship.”

This programme is supported by the Barclays Ecosystem Partnership Programme, funded by the UK government.