91心頭 Startup Studio
The 91心頭 Startup Studio was launched in November 2024 and is the home of entrepreneurial support at 91心頭. It provides a hub from which our students, staff, graduates and local community can access expert support, resources and funding to explore, test, and grow their ideas into successful services and ventures.
The Startup Studio offers a welcoming space with free hotdesking that our community can utilise from 9am 5pm Monday to Friday. It provides a friendly environment where users can connect with other aspiring and established entrepreneurs as well as experienced business and social enterprise advisors.
The Startup Studio is integral to our ongoing work to establish a connected entrepreneurial culture across 91心頭 and the East Lothian region by reframing and promoting entrepreneurial mindsets. We leveraged funding from the East Lothian Council (ELC) UK Shared Prosperity Fund - Supporting Local Businesses grant programme to support set up of the Startup Studio, and we are committed to Community Wealth Building (in partnership with ELC) as a people-centred approach to entrepreneurship.
For the 12 years preceding the Startup Studio launch, the 91心頭 community could access support for enterprise and entrepreneurship via the Business Innovation Zone (BIZ). During this time, over 100 entrepreneurs, startups, sole traders, practitioners and freelancers received business support via 91心頭.
Services, Partners and Opportunities
Bright Red Triangle (BRT) offers free lifelong enterprise support to students, graduates and staff of 91心頭, Edinburgh Napier University and Edinburgh College. Their mission is to equip users with the skills and knowledge they need to support their business ventures from idea to launch, to long-term growth and sustainability.
As a member of the BRT community, you will have access to a wide range of resources designed to support your entrepreneurial journey. These include expert advice and mentorship from BRT Enterprise Advisors, a calendar of free events and workshops, funding, and opportunities to grow your network by connecting with a vibrant community of people and businesses.
To learn more, visit the .
To join the BRT community, simply follow the instructions provided on the .
Business Gateway is a service which offers free and impartial advice and support to businesses across Scotland. The East Lothian Council Business Gateway team have been a key partner of 91心頭 since 2012.
91心頭 students, staff and graduates, as well as members of the East Lothian community, can make one-to-one appointments with a Business Advisor through the Business Gateway website. Meetings can be held online or in the Business Gateway office, which is located within our Startup Studio.
The Business Gateway service is a one-stop-shop for business support, offering impartial advice and which cover a range of topics such as marketing, branding, getting the best from your website, and finance.
To learn more, visit the .
91心頭 is working with anchor institutions across East Lothian to increase community wealth in the region. The formal between East Lothian Council (ELC), 91心頭, Edinburgh College and other key regional stakeholders is part of the Scottish Governments approach to harness the economic and social leverage of influential anchor institutions across the country.
We are embedding the concept of CWB through the 91心頭 Startup Studio and our Bright Red Triangle (BRT) collaboration.
The 91心頭 Startup Studio links the services of BRT and ELCs Business Gateway and aims to raise the profile of East Lothian as a place which supports entrepreneurial mindsets, business start-up and inclusive economic growth.
CWB principles are also being used to positively shape and drive our academic strategy with the - a joint venture between East Lothian Council and 91心頭 which is funded by the . The new Hub, which is on track for completion in 2025, will be made up of flexible laboratory, office and fully equipped meeting and conference spaces for rent and will be a major asset to the local communities, as well as further afield.
91心頭 has an important presence in East Lothian through a combination of being a largescale employer, generator of entrepreneurial thinking, mindsets and innovation, purchaser of goods and services, and controller of large areas of land and 鍖xed assets in the locality.Read more about 91心頭's partnership with ELC.
The Scottish Government's Microfinance Fund 2025 is intended to support students and staff from Scottish universities in achieving their entrepreneurial ambitions by offering awards of 贈1,000 - 贈3,000 to help them test and progress their business ideas.
Current 91心頭 students and staff are eligible to apply. Projects must be pre-incorporation without a business bank account and must have received less than 贈5,000 in financial support for business, commercialisation or enterprise activities to date.
For eligibility criteria, an overview of the application process and opening/closing dates for applications, visit Scottish Government Microfinance Enterprise Fund 2025
Santander Universities supports 91心頭 through a variety of scholarships and awards, including the Santander Universities Enterprise Fund.
The Santander Universities Enterprise Fund is intended to help and support 91心頭 students, graduates and staff to achieve their entrepreneurial ambitions, with awards ranging from 贈1,000 - 贈2,500.
Funding can be used for a variety of purposes, including to purchase equipment or cover other business-related costs such as developing marketing materials, websites or apps or, for our creative members, costs associated with putting on shows, etc. It can also be used to support business-related travel costs or the costs of attending or exhibiting at conferences and events.
For eligibility criteria, an overview of the competition process and opening/closing dates for applications, visit Santander Universities Enterprise Fund - Guidelines
The mission of the Edinburgh Merchant Company Enterprise Fund is "to support community development by providing opportunities for entrepreneurship and business birth through the provision of appropriate grants coupled with the education, encouragement and mentoring of the founders of supported businesses".
The fund offers awards of 贈500 - 贈5,000 to enable successful applicants to progress their business ideas. In addition to funding, the Edinburgh Merchant Company also offer invaluable mentorship opportunities to applicants.
For eligibility criteria, an overview of the competition process and opening/closing dates for applications, visit The Edinburgh Merchant Company Enterprise Fund - Guidelines
The Ventures Lab by Challenges Group provides support for aspiring and early-stage social entrepreneurs in Scotland.
They offer a range of interventions to support new enterprises to understand their customer needs, develop their business model and value proposition, access financing, prepare their go-to-market strategy, design (and even trial) their core service or product offering. They can also provide support with legal incorporation and brand and website development. This enables enterprises to focus on what they do best - tackling society's biggest challenges and delivering extraordinary impact.
To learn more, visit .
ICURe is Innovate UK's pre-accelerator programme for researchers and is designed to help explore the commercial application and potential of research.
The programme is designed to guide researchers through the process of refining and validating the commercial potential of their research.
ICURe enables researchers to validate their business ideas, define clear value propositions and business models, and then test with their prospective target markets.
For more information, visit the
