Six would-be exporters scoop share of Scottish Enterprise collaboration prize

Launched for entries in September 2016, the Collaboration Prize attracted a record number of responses from across Scotland.

Entrants to the Prize had to pitch an idea for a new collaborative enterprise.

Each of the winning collaborations will receive £5,000 (to implement their collaborative idea), advice to set up as a consortium co-operative, up to £5,000 business support (delivered by Scottish Enterprise or Highlands and Islands Enterprise), and export advisor support where appropriate.

Accessing new and international markets was a specific focus of this year’s competition and two of the six prizes were awarded to consortia which demonstrated particularly strong international ambitions to be delivered via the collaboration.

The winning consortia – Made in Scotland and Look Team – were awarded the prizes at last night’s HSBC Scottish Export Awards, held in Glasgow.

Made in Scotland, which has members across the country, is a collaboration of eleven Scottish companies involved in the food and drink sector.

The consortium offers a range of products including salmon, cheese, cakes and charcuterie as well as craft gin, craft beer and whisky. The collaboration will enable member businesses to offer the basket of Scottish produce to lucrative overseas markets by pooling together their resources and experience, both intellectually and financially.

Willie Cameron from Made in Scotland, said: “It is fantastic news to hear we have been successful. The money and support will enable us to access expert advice on marketing food and drink on a global scale, as well as allowing us to develop our brand and create a website with e-commerce functionality. This will help us to really get our name and offering out there on a magnitude that would be far more difficult for us to achieve as individual companies.

“Not only does working together enable us to reach an international customer base as a whole, it also encourages us to support each other by highlighting new opportunities that we think will benefit individual members. By continuing to collaborate, we aim to further boost Scotland’s global reputation as a producer of some of the finest food and drink in the world, hopefully attracting more of the country’s like-minded, quality producers to join us along the way.”

Look Team, based in Glasgow, is a graphic design and event branding production collaboration between two businesses which provided the branding and wayfinding solutions for three major events in Glasgow: the Commonwealth Games 2014, the World Gymnastics Championships 2015 and the UCI Track Cycling World Cup 2016. The two businesses have successfully formed a consortium co-operative to facilitate pitching a total project planning and management service for other large sporting events. They plan to expand into other geographic markets across the UK and internationally.

Paul Fennon from Look Team said: “The cash and support will help us achieve a number of goals, beginning with in-depth research of the global sporting events market and investigating the best way to scale our operation internationally. The commission of a bespoke Inventory Management System for managing and tracking event Kit of Parts (KOP) will help us to streamline our services and increase efficiency, giving us a competitive edge when tendering for contracts. We also plan to get in front of the right people by identifying and attending major international trade shows, allowing us to forge potentially lucrative relationships and explore significant business development opportunities.

“Forming the consortium enables us to deliver a unique service which is usually provided by two distinct companies. Working so closely together means we can combine our expertise and push creative and technical boundaries in ways that others in our field don’t. Having achieved a significant degree of success on a national level, our ambition now is to mirror that success internationally and we look forward to the doors that collaboration will open.”