Join us for a special Thursday Gathering - in partnership with PRIMED - tailor-made for early-career researchers, industry professionals and investors! Through a panel on The Anatomy of a Spinout, ecosystem stalls, an idea-feedback workshop, and informal collaboration, we’ll unpack the roles, pathways and partnerships that turn research into deep tech spinouts and real-world impact.
Meaningful ideas and changes are sparked when serendipitous connection collides with intention. The Thursday Gathering is our free, weekly meet-up that connects people from across Edinburgh’s innovation community to make things happen. Every Thursday, we bring together innovators of all backgrounds, from founders and investors to students and researchers, to discuss big ideas and connect human to human.
Community Partners:
Powered by Advanced Research + Invention Agency
Grab a drink, and join the conversation! Whether you're looking to meet potential collaborators, exchange ideas, grow your network, or simply continue the conversation, this is a great opportunity to connect with fellow innovators, entrepreneurs, and members of the community. You never know where a conversation might lead!
Find out more about the organisations supporting researchers exploring innovation at our Ecosystem Showcase!
- PRIMED – PRIMED is a UK-wide organisation, spearheaded by Prof Sir Tony Kouzarides, designed to galvanise the next generation of impact-driven scientists towards venture creation. Our quest is to galvanise the next generation of company founders to tackle civilisationally important problems. We believe this process should start at the beginning of a researcher’s journey. This is enacted through our PRIMED programme, which educates early career scientists in the process of entrepreneurship and business in general.
- Edinburgh Innovations – Edinburgh Innovations at the University of Edinburgh supports entrepreneurship and venture creation through Student Enterprise, Staff Enterprise, Spinout Studio, the University of Edinburgh Venture Builder Incubator and the AI Accelerator. Together, these programmes help students, graduates, staff, researchers and startups turn innovative ideas into successful ventures through tailored advice, entrepreneurial training, mentoring, funding opportunities and business development support, from early-stage ideas through to commercialisation and growth.
- Nucleate – Nucleate is a free, trainee-led 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to empowering the next generation of biotech leaders. Its core mission is helping academic researchers turn science into startups. Its flagship programme, the Activator, facilitates company formation, and it serves PhDs, postdocs, PIs, and business, clinical and technical professionals from across the life sciences and bioengineering communities. Alongside the Activator, Nucleate UK runs ecosystem building events, Hackathons, Spinout Masterclasses, and sector-specific tracks like the Eco Activator for sustainability ventures. Much of its UK work is powered through a partnership with the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA). Through this partnership, initiatives such as Nucleate Identify and Nucleate Translate help bridge early-stage research and venture creation. Nucleate UK also benefits from the wider global network, which has chapters spanning 41 geographic regions and participation from over 280 academic institutions, all with an open-access ethos meant to lower the barriers to biotech entrepreneurship.
- Paperstars – On Paperstars, researchers anonymously rate and review papers - think Goodreads for Science. Across both academia and industry, Paperstars creates visible, community-driven signals of research quality, offering an additional lens to identify robust, reproducible work and potential collaborators, without relying solely on journal reputation or citation counts. Crucially, Paperstars adds a human layer of judgement: the kind of contextual and common-sense evaluation that even scientific AI tools cannot reliably provide. The long-term goal is to reduce wasted resources across the research ecosystem by making quality work easier to identify and improve reproducibility. Overall, we want to support progress and innovation through integrity and good scientific practices.
Based at Summerhall, Edinburgh, ASCUS Art & Science bridges the gap between creative arts and scientific research through workshops, projects and public engagement. We offer well equipped wet lab access at a day rate for innovators, alongside consultations to support your exploratory journey in multidisciplinary projects.
Join ASCUS for a taster session on making your own biomaterial. A hands-on introduction to BioYarn, exploring how a simple sodium alginate formulation derived from seaweed can be transformed into a thread-like material. Experiment with your own bio-polymer, discover what influences its texture and strength, and explore its potential uses in textiles, craft and design.
Please note: Preregistration does not guarantee your spot. To secure your place, please arrive at 5:00 pm, check in at the registration desk, and head to the workshop before it begins.
What if your next big idea came from someone outside your field? Or your next collaborator was sitting in a lab down the corridor?
Join PRIMED for a rapid-fire connection session, bringing together researchers and professionals from across disciplines. You’ll have five minutes per conversation to swap ideas, share your expertise, discover common interests, and explore unexpected collaborations.
Whether you have a side project in mind, are curious about entrepreneurship, want to find a potential co-founder, or are wondering what life after a PhD could look like, this is your chance to meet people you might never otherwise cross paths with.
Come with an open mind, leave with new connections, and see what you could build together!
Take a seat and hear from Venture Café Edinburgh Director, Claudia Cavalluzzo who will go through how to make the most of a Thursday Gathering and give you a quick preview of what's in line for this week's event.
Venture Café is a global movement built on a simple but powerful belief: isolation is the enemy of innovation.
At our weekly Thursday Gatherings, we connect creators, entrepreneurs, investors, coworkers, students and visionaries to build strong, inclusive and equitable innovation ecosystem. As ecosystem activators, Venture Café Edinburgh is creating a central hub for the city's innovation ecosystem, driving visibility, collaboration and community.
And if you’d like to get more involved with Venture Café, there are plenty of ways to join our network:
🤝 Become a partner
🎤 Speak at an upcoming Thursday Gathering
🙌 Join our ambassador team
Hear from the PRIMED Edinburgh team on this special Thursday Gathering, as they aim to build a local community of entrepreneurially-minded early career researchers across Edinburgh universities
- Anne Muir, Director of Portfolio Management at Eos
- Grant Wheeler, Head of Commercialisation at Heriot-Watt University
- Fiona Haward, Chief Scientific Officer at Ascent RNA
- Carrie Baptist, Chief Strategy Officer at Conception X - moderator
Hear from the Nucleate UK team on their upcoming Activator Programme! Nucleate is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to empowering the next generation of biotech leaders. We believe that the grand challenges of our time will be solved by the academics who transform experiment into enterprise. Nucleate removes barriers so they can concentrate on building transformational technologies.
In this 15-minute fireside chat with Abigail Barrow, we will bring Boston ecosystem insights to Venture Café Edinburgh and explore how academic entrepreneurs can shed the underdog mindset, tap into global networks, and adopt the replicable fundamentals needed to compete globally.
PRIMED is a community building initiative supported by Vellos and Fifty Years, aiming to galvanise the next generation of entrepreneurially-minded scientists.
Anne Muir has over 20 years’ experience in the early-stage commercialisation sector working in positions in Scottish Universities as well as independently via her own consultancy company supporting technology start-ups. Most recently, she was Deputy Director at the University of Dundee, heading up the commercial functions of the technology transfer office including IP management, Venture Creation, Licensing, Industrial Partnerships and Contracts. During her time at Dundee, the University was ranked in the top 5 in the UK for spin out success based on equity volume. She has a 1st class degree in Biochemistry but quickly left the lab for commercial roles in the pharma sector.
Join us for a special Thursday Gathering - in partnership with PRIMED - tailor-made for early-career researchers, industry professionals and investors! Through a panel on The Anatomy of a Spinout, ecosystem stalls, an idea-feedback workshop, and informal collaboration, we’ll unpack the roles, pathways and partnerships that turn research into deep tech spinouts and real-world impact.
Meaningful ideas and changes are sparked when serendipitous connection collides with intention. The Thursday Gathering is our free, weekly meet-up that connects people from across Edinburgh’s innovation community to make things happen. Every Thursday, we bring together innovators of all backgrounds, from founders and investors to students and researchers, to discuss big ideas and connect human to human.
Community Partners:
Powered by Advanced Research + Invention Agency
Grab a drink, and join the conversation! Whether you're looking to meet potential collaborators, exchange ideas, grow your network, or simply continue the conversation, this is a great opportunity to connect with fellow innovators, entrepreneurs, and members of the community. You never know where a conversation might lead!
Find out more about the organisations supporting researchers exploring innovation at our Ecosystem Showcase!
- PRIMED – PRIMED is a UK-wide organisation, spearheaded by Prof Sir Tony Kouzarides, designed to galvanise the next generation of impact-driven scientists towards venture creation. Our quest is to galvanise the next generation of company founders to tackle civilisationally important problems. We believe this process should start at the beginning of a researcher’s journey. This is enacted through our PRIMED programme, which educates early career scientists in the process of entrepreneurship and business in general.
- Edinburgh Innovations – Edinburgh Innovations at the University of Edinburgh supports entrepreneurship and venture creation through Student Enterprise, Staff Enterprise, Spinout Studio, the University of Edinburgh Venture Builder Incubator and the AI Accelerator. Together, these programmes help students, graduates, staff, researchers and startups turn innovative ideas into successful ventures through tailored advice, entrepreneurial training, mentoring, funding opportunities and business development support, from early-stage ideas through to commercialisation and growth.
- Nucleate – Nucleate is a free, trainee-led 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to empowering the next generation of biotech leaders. Its core mission is helping academic researchers turn science into startups. Its flagship programme, the Activator, facilitates company formation, and it serves PhDs, postdocs, PIs, and business, clinical and technical professionals from across the life sciences and bioengineering communities. Alongside the Activator, Nucleate UK runs ecosystem building events, Hackathons, Spinout Masterclasses, and sector-specific tracks like the Eco Activator for sustainability ventures. Much of its UK work is powered through a partnership with the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA). Through this partnership, initiatives such as Nucleate Identify and Nucleate Translate help bridge early-stage research and venture creation. Nucleate UK also benefits from the wider global network, which has chapters spanning 41 geographic regions and participation from over 280 academic institutions, all with an open-access ethos meant to lower the barriers to biotech entrepreneurship.
- Paperstars – On Paperstars, researchers anonymously rate and review papers - think Goodreads for Science. Across both academia and industry, Paperstars creates visible, community-driven signals of research quality, offering an additional lens to identify robust, reproducible work and potential collaborators, without relying solely on journal reputation or citation counts. Crucially, Paperstars adds a human layer of judgement: the kind of contextual and common-sense evaluation that even scientific AI tools cannot reliably provide. The long-term goal is to reduce wasted resources across the research ecosystem by making quality work easier to identify and improve reproducibility. Overall, we want to support progress and innovation through integrity and good scientific practices.
Based at Summerhall, Edinburgh, ASCUS Art & Science bridges the gap between creative arts and scientific research through workshops, projects and public engagement. We offer well equipped wet lab access at a day rate for innovators, alongside consultations to support your exploratory journey in multidisciplinary projects.
Join ASCUS for a taster session on making your own biomaterial. A hands-on introduction to BioYarn, exploring how a simple sodium alginate formulation derived from seaweed can be transformed into a thread-like material. Experiment with your own bio-polymer, discover what influences its texture and strength, and explore its potential uses in textiles, craft and design.
Please note: Preregistration does not guarantee your spot. To secure your place, please arrive at 5:00 pm, check in at the registration desk, and head to the workshop before it begins.
What if your next big idea came from someone outside your field? Or your next collaborator was sitting in a lab down the corridor?
Join PRIMED for a rapid-fire connection session, bringing together researchers and professionals from across disciplines. You’ll have five minutes per conversation to swap ideas, share your expertise, discover common interests, and explore unexpected collaborations.
Whether you have a side project in mind, are curious about entrepreneurship, want to find a potential co-founder, or are wondering what life after a PhD could look like, this is your chance to meet people you might never otherwise cross paths with.
Come with an open mind, leave with new connections, and see what you could build together!
Take a seat and hear from Venture Café Edinburgh Director, Claudia Cavalluzzo who will go through how to make the most of a Thursday Gathering and give you a quick preview of what's in line for this week's event.
Venture Café is a global movement built on a simple but powerful belief: isolation is the enemy of innovation.
At our weekly Thursday Gatherings, we connect creators, entrepreneurs, investors, coworkers, students and visionaries to build strong, inclusive and equitable innovation ecosystem. As ecosystem activators, Venture Café Edinburgh is creating a central hub for the city's innovation ecosystem, driving visibility, collaboration and community.
And if you’d like to get more involved with Venture Café, there are plenty of ways to join our network:
🤝 Become a partner
🎤 Speak at an upcoming Thursday Gathering
🙌 Join our ambassador team
Hear from the PRIMED Edinburgh team on this special Thursday Gathering, as they aim to build a local community of entrepreneurially-minded early career researchers across Edinburgh universities
- Anne Muir, Director of Portfolio Management at Eos
- Grant Wheeler, Head of Commercialisation at Heriot-Watt University
- Fiona Haward, Chief Scientific Officer at Ascent RNA
- Carrie Baptist, Chief Strategy Officer at Conception X - moderator
Hear from the Nucleate UK team on their upcoming Activator Programme! Nucleate is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to empowering the next generation of biotech leaders. We believe that the grand challenges of our time will be solved by the academics who transform experiment into enterprise. Nucleate removes barriers so they can concentrate on building transformational technologies.
In this 15-minute fireside chat with Abigail Barrow, we will bring Boston ecosystem insights to Venture Café Edinburgh and explore how academic entrepreneurs can shed the underdog mindset, tap into global networks, and adopt the replicable fundamentals needed to compete globally.
PRIMED is a community building initiative supported by Vellos and Fifty Years, aiming to galvanise the next generation of entrepreneurially-minded scientists.
Anne Muir has over 20 years’ experience in the early-stage commercialisation sector working in positions in Scottish Universities as well as independently via her own consultancy company supporting technology start-ups. Most recently, she was Deputy Director at the University of Dundee, heading up the commercial functions of the technology transfer office including IP management, Venture Creation, Licensing, Industrial Partnerships and Contracts. During her time at Dundee, the University was ranked in the top 5 in the UK for spin out success based on equity volume. She has a 1st class degree in Biochemistry but quickly left the lab for commercial roles in the pharma sector.