Edinburgh wins entrepreneurial award

Edinburgh Festival fireworks - credit: Michal Ziembicki, Flickr Creative Commons

Edinburgh has beaten Cambridge, Leeds, London and Manchester to be named British Entrepreneurial City of the Year.

The city was judged against four key criteria: quality of life that attracts smart, entrepreneurial people; access to capital and talent; start-up ecosystems and entrepreneurial culture and access to mentors and support networks. 

Councillor Gavin Barrie, economy convener, said: “I’m delighted that Edinburgh has won yet another top business award, this time being recognised as a key centre for entrepreneurship. 

“Edinburgh has one of Europe’s most vibrant entrepreneurial support ecosystems ranging from Scotland’s top performing Business Gateway region supporting start-up businesses through to our world class universities promoting innovation and commercialisation.

“The city also has private sector incubation and accelerator initiatives such as Codebase, Creative Exchange and Entrepreneurial Spark. 

“The strongest community of angel investors and venture capitalists per head of population in Europe is also located in Edinburgh, while Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce spearheads Scotland’s most comprehensive mentor matching programme.”

Earlier this month Edinburgh was ranked third in the Good Growth for Cities Report and the readers of European Business magazine voted Edinburgh as the best city to locate your tech business.

The council also announced last week that Edinburgh is to host EUROCITIES in 2018, welcoming all Europe’s major city leaders to the capital.