{"id":809,"date":"2018-06-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sprengthomson.com\/ready-steady-pitch-2018-winners\/"},"modified":"2018-09-13T12:06:06","modified_gmt":"2018-09-13T12:06:06","slug":"ready-steady-pitch-2018-winners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sprengthomson.com\/ready-steady-pitch-2018-winners\/","title":{"rendered":"Ready Steady Pitch 2018 winners"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.convergechallenge.com\/\">Converge Challenge<\/a> 2018 best of the best Top 30 came together after three days of comprehensive business training to showcase the most innovative ideas emerging from Scottish Universities. They had just 60 seconds to present their ideas to a panel of experts and esteemed industry professionals.<\/p>\n<p>Peter Orrell from the James Hutton Institute won the Converge Challenge \u2018Ready Steady Pitch\u2019 award with MycoNourish which uses fungi to act as a secondary root system, to improve plant health.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Winner<\/strong>: Peter Orrell, James Hutton Institute with MycoNourish<\/li>\n<li><strong>Runner up<\/strong><strong>: <\/strong>Richard McAdam, Edinburgh Napier University with RS McAdam Technology<\/li>\n<li><strong>Third place<\/strong><strong>: <\/strong>Tayyaba Nafees, Abertay University with Cybershell Solutions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Converge Challenge harnesses and supports Scotland\u2019s emerging entrepreneurial leaders from academia. It provides them with the skills and confidence to develop their commercial propositions to meet societal challenges and become key drivers of the economy.<\/p>\n<p>Following the intensive three day training, the Converge cohort is equipped with a robust business skills set to further develop their ventures with the aspiration of replicating the global success of Scotland\u2019s giants Skyscanner and BrewDog.<\/p>\n<p>Last year\u2019s Converge Challenge 2017 elevator pitch winner went to Dr Holly Butler of University of Strathclyde with ClinSpec Dx, a blood test-based diagnostics that can provide early detection of brain tumours, which result in the early death of more patients than any other cancer.<\/p>\n<p>Following this success, ClinSpec Dx went on to become the runner up of the Converge Challenge and secure a total prize fund of \u00a342,000, including \u00a325,000 in cash and \u00a317,000 in business support.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Olga Kozlova, Director of Converge Challenge, <\/strong>said:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThe calibre of the pitches last night was exceptional and I want to praise each and every one of the cohort involved.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI am encouraged by the development of the participants who each year become more polished and more ambitious to deliver outstanding projects and companies! <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThe impact of being shortlisted within our programme results in honing pitching and influencing skills and is another step for the participants on their own journey in becoming the next generation of Scotland\u2019s entrepreneurs.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Paul Wheelhouse, Scottish Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy<\/strong>, said:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cOur universities are world class and it is heartening to see that this group of shortlisted finalists in the Converge Challenge includes a trend toward technology, health and robotics. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThis reflects how we are at the cutting edge of these themes both in the scientific research and at applied development for economic growth and the betterment of Scotland\u2019s society and economy.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Peter Orrell, winner of last night\u2019s elevator pitch, <\/strong>said<strong>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI am so excited and proud to have been chosen as the winner from the 30 Converge Challenge pitches. The training and support we received in the three days leading up to Ready Steady Pitch was immense. The confidence and abilities of everyone who participated has grown enormously and I am looking forward to applying these skills not just throughout the rest of the competition but beyond.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The winners of each of the three Converge Challenge categories will be announced at a gala awards ceremony at the Assembly Rooms, George Street, Edinburgh on 20 September 2018.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Timeline: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Converge Challenge Business Surgeries \u2013 27 &amp; 28 June 2018<\/li>\n<li>Business Plan Submission \u2013 27 July 2018<\/li>\n<li>Converge Challenge Top 10 Selection \u2013 17 August 2018<\/li>\n<li>KickStart and Social Enterprise top 15 Selection \u201320 August 2018<\/li>\n<li>Top 6 Selection \u2013 Wednesday 30 August 2018<\/li>\n<li>KickStart and Social Enterprise winners Selection 03 September 2018<\/li>\n<li>Awards \u201320 September 2018<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Converge Challenge 2018 categories are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Converge: a developed idea<\/li>\n<li>KickStart: for early stage ideas<\/li>\n<li>Social Enterprise : positive impact on social and environmental issues<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>A full list of all finalists can be found on the Converge Challenge website: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.convergechallenge.com\"><strong>https:\/\/www.convergechallenge.com<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;Ready Steady Pitch&#8217; 2018 saw the top 30 Converge Challengers showcase their innovative ideas emerging from Scottish Universities, in just 60 seconds!<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":810,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[6,7,8],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ready Steady Pitch 2018 winners - Spreng Thomson<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Converge Challenge 2018 best of the best Top 30 came together after three days of business training to showcase their most innovative ideas.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sprengthomson.com\/ready-steady-pitch-2018-winners\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ready Steady Pitch 2018 winners - Spreng Thomson\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Converge Challenge 2018 best of the best Top 30 came together after three days of business training to showcase their most innovative ideas.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sprengthomson.com\/ready-steady-pitch-2018-winners\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spreng Thomson\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-06-01T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-09-13T12:06:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sprengthomson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/WEB-version-Peter-Orrell-winner-Ready-Steady-Pitch-Converge-Challenge-May-2018-Copy.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"885\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"585\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Graeme Thomson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sprengthomson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sprengthomson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Graeme Thomson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sprengthomson.com\/ready-steady-pitch-2018-winners\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sprengthomson.com\/ready-steady-pitch-2018-winners\/\",\"name\":\"Ready Steady Pitch 2018 winners - Spreng Thomson\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sprengthomson.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sprengthomson.com\/ready-steady-pitch-2018-winners\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sprengthomson.com\/ready-steady-pitch-2018-winners\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sprengthomson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/WEB-version-Peter-Orrell-winner-Ready-Steady-Pitch-Converge-Challenge-May-2018-Copy.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-06-01T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-09-13T12:06:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sprengthomson.com\/#\/schema\/person\/29b7375f07d1c8e1d34db8861dd225ec\"},\"description\":\"The Converge Challenge 2018 best of the best Top 30 came together after three days of business training to showcase their most innovative ideas.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sprengthomson.com\/ready-steady-pitch-2018-winners\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sprengthomson.com\/ready-steady-pitch-2018-winners\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sprengthomson.com\/ready-steady-pitch-2018-winners\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sprengthomson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/WEB-version-Peter-Orrell-winner-Ready-Steady-Pitch-Converge-Challenge-May-2018-Copy.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sprengthomson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/WEB-version-Peter-Orrell-winner-Ready-Steady-Pitch-Converge-Challenge-May-2018-Copy.jpg\",\"width\":885,\"height\":585,\"caption\":\"The Top 30\u00a0Converge Challenge participants\u00a0were each asked to pitch their business idea to the audience and judges in just 60-seconds!\u00a0\u00a0No notes allowed.\u00a0\u00a0Just one very big countdown clock! 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