St Andrews entrepreneurs win awards

A University of St Andrews student and an academic have been named as winners in a prestigious Scottish entrepreneurial competition.

Suhit Armin, a second year BSc Economics and Management student, won £60,000 from Scottish EDGE for his talent management and influencer marketing agency, Saulderson Media which exclusively manages a roster of high profile social influencers (specifically in gaming and e-sports) responsible for millions of monthly impressions.

Dr Ross Gillanders, Senior Research Fellow in the School of Physics and Astronomy, won £15,000 for the Lightwater Sensors enterprise, which provides water quality sensors primarily for pesticide detection.

A pre-spin out from the Organic Semiconductor Centre in the School of Physics and Astronomy, Lightwater Sensors focuses on creating real-time, sensitive handheld optical sensors for water quality, particularly common pesticides which find their way into public drinking water sources.

The technology is based on a sensor system originally developed in St Andrews for explosives detection for humanitarian demining.

In total 29 businesses from a range of sectors across Scotland benefited from more than £1.1m of awards which were announced at an online awards ceremony on Tuesday 25 May.

Scottish EDGE is the UK’s biggest funding competition for small businesses. It supports Scotland’s most innovative, high-growth potential start-ups with up to £150,000 in cash and provides a business support package that includes mentoring, support and signposting to alternative finance.

Supported by the Royal Bank of Scotland, the Hunter Foundation, the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise, Scottish EDGE 17 follows 16 successful rounds which, they claim, have “had an unquestionable impact on the Scottish economy”.