The winners of the annual awards, led by Bright Red Triangle, the university’s innovation and entrepreneurship practice, will share £12,000 in prize money and £17,000 worth of legal support from the law firm
Shepherd and Wedderburn.
Finalists have now been chosen across five categories: Bright Ideas, Going for Growth, Staff Superhero, Business for Good, and Innovative Entrepreneur. The winner of an additional wildcard category will be announced at the awards ceremony.
Shepherd and Wedderburn is supporting the Bright Ideas, Business for Good, Staff Superhero and Going for Growth categories. John Morrison, an associate in the firm’s corporate finance team, joined the judging panel in the Going for Growth category.
The winners will be announced at the first Bright Red Sparks Awards dinner, which will be held at The Hub on the Royal Mile on Saturday 26 May. The keynote speaker at the awards will be Edinburgh Napier alumnus Kevin Dorren, former Chief Executive of one of Scotland’s first listed tech companies, Orbital Software, and one of the founders and entrepreneurs behind Move Fresh, an investment company for e-commerce, fast-moving consumer goods brands.
Nick Fannin, Head of Bright Red Triangle, said: “The Bright Red Sparks Awards are a celebration of the breadth of innovation and enterprising activity across Edinburgh Napier University.
“We have been so impressed by the creativity, drive and enthusiasm of all of the applicants to solve problems, to create opportunities and to drive new businesses.
“It’s great to be able to reward all this hard work and we couldn’t have done it without our generous supporters and sponsors: Shepherd & Wedderburn, Santander Universities and the Moffat Charitable Trust.
“The package of support Shepherd and Wedderburn have offered will allow our winners to really hit the ground running as they set up and grow their businesses.
“We expect great things from our winners so look out for them.”
John Morrison, of Shepherd and Wedderburn, said: “I was delighted to be asked by Bright Red Triangle to judge the Going for Growth award this year. The quality of the submissions is testament to the innovative ecosystem being created at Bright Red Triangle.
“The team here at Shepherd and Wedderburn is excited about the future of our partnership with Bright Red Triangle, which will see us provide in-kind legal advice to the award winners and ongoing support to the incubator.”