New deputy director and enterprise outreach manager appointed for Converge Challenge

Claudia Cavalluzzo, the former head of Entrepreneurial Scotland’s Saltire Fellowship, has been appointed deputy director of company creation competition Converge Challenge.

Dr Cavalluzzo will also be the competition’s enterprise outreach manager based at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh.

In her new roles she will be responsible for supporting and developing collaborative partnerships with all Scottish universities and research institutes, all stakeholders within the entrepreneurial eco-system in Scotland, as well as advising Converge Challenge participants.

Also joining Dr Cavalluzzo at Converge Challenge as a new team member will be Lindsey Taylor, who takes up the role of marketing manager, and Adam Kosterka, the competition’s new enterprise outreach executive.

This year has been Converge Challenge’s most successful for so far, with over 212 applicants from 17 of Scotland’s universities for the company creation competition and entrepreneurial development programme.

Applications can be for a product or service, from any industry sector and at any stage of the development.

Dr Olga Kozlova the founder and Director of Converge Challenge, said: “We’re very excited to welcome our new team members who bring a wealth of experience and, most importantly, great enthusiasm to Converge Challenge. 2017 was our best year since starting in 2011 so we have an established and effective platform to build on. The team is already gearing up for the launch of Converge Challenge 2018 in January and we can’t wait to see what Scotland’s fantastic universities will be submitting.”

Dr Cavalluzzo added: “It’s brilliant to be part of Converge Challenge, a programme focussed on encouraging, supporting and mentoring a new generation of entrepreneurial academics. Having experience of both the academic and the entrepreneurial sectors has given me first-hand insight to the challenges that staff, students and recent graduates of Scottish universities and Research institutes face when they have a great idea or product and want to take it to the next level. I can’t wait to start visiting all of Scotland’s Universities, hearing about some fascinating and innovative projects and working with Olga and her team as we prepare for Converge Challenge 2018.”