Imagine the scene. . . you've had an idea, but not just any idea. This one is the next best thing since sliced bread. Where to now? Top of the list would be Scottish Enterprise. One of the first regional development agencies to develop a strong policy towards encouraging business start-ups and entrepreneurship, it continues to find new ways to do just that.

Building upon the success of its original Business Birth Rate Strategy, Business Gateway and Scottish Co-investment Fund, the organisation launched a new £6m venture fund in January 2004. Targeted at innovative start-ups and young businesses operating within the technology, media and telecommunications sector, the Sigma Innovation Fund aims to help create 200 jobs across the east of Scotland. The first companies to benefit from the fund, which takes higher risks than traditional private sector funds, were Dundee-based Securivox (a spin out from the University of Abertay) and SFX Technologies in Rosyth.

The Scottish Executive (now known as The Scottish Government) doesn't just provide financial support though. To help Scottish firms protect and exploit business knowledge and expertise, the Executive has funded a National Intellectual Assets Centre in Glasgow. Boasting a wealth of expertise in the identification, protection and exploitation of Intellectual Assets, such as employee know-how, trade secrets and Intellectual Property, the Centre will help to build Scotland's competitiveness in the modern knowledge economy.

Complementing the Government's activities, Scottish academia also provides a wealth of support for budding entrepreneurs. The Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship at Strathclyde University in particular, is a world-class provider of entrepreneurship teaching. Established in 2000 with a generous endowment from the prominent entrepreneur, Tom Hunter, the Centre uses the latest case study techniques, based on real life business situations, to deliver practical lessons in entrepreneurial success. The Centre's flagship research project is the annual Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report (of which more later).

In recognition of its international standing, the Centre has just co-hosted the world's leading annual entrepreneurship conference. This coup followed hot on the heels of the announcement that one of the world's leading experts in entrepreneurship, Professor Colin Mason, had been lured back to Scotland expressly to take up a post at Strathclyde.

Whilst the Hunter Centre is undoubtedly the largest university-based entrepreneurship centre in Scotland, it's by no means the only one. All thirteen Scottish Universities belong to the Scottish Institute for Enterprise, on top of which there are seven recognised Centres of Entrepreneurship, reaching over 4,000 undergraduate and graduate students. In a groundbreaking initiative, one of those institutions, Edinburgh University, has recently opened its doors to entrepreneurs. Described as an 'incubator without walls', the scheme is designed to break down the barriers between academia and business by enabling promising candidates to benefit from Edinburgh's advanced facilities and expertise.

Being an entrepreneur can be a lonely business. So it's good to know that as well as providing the funding and teaching, Scotland also offers entrepreneurs the opportunity to network with like-minded people and to share the experiences and challenges of business.

The Entrepreneurial Exchange is Scotland's leading members' organisation for ambitious, growth-orientated entrepreneurs. Founded in 1994 as part of the Scottish Enterprise Business Birth Rate Strategy, the Exchange now boasts over 400 members and a Hall of Fame that reads like a 'Who's Who of Success': Sir Richard Branson, Sir Tom Farmer CBE, Tom Hunter, Brian Souter, Ann Gloag, Arnold Clark. . . Good company indeed!

The next generation of entrepreneurs will play a major role in creating a strong and vibrant economy. So it's good to see that so much is being done to encourage them and from such an early age. Enterprise, for instance, is now a formally recognised subject with over 40,000 pupils being involved in enterprise teaching at primary and secondary levels.

Incentives and rewards abound. This year saw the inaugural Scottish Institute for Enterprise Entrepreneurial Case Competition. Won by a team from Napier University, the competition allows students to test their mettle in a real-life business situation under extreme time pressure. Napier's Centre for Entrepreneurship made the headlines again recently with the news that a young Slovenian student will be spending two weeks at the university as a reward for winning the Young Entrepreneurs Award, a competition created to celebrate Slovenia's accession to the EU. Back home, students at the University of St Andrews are competing to win a top prize of £2,000 for the best sustainable business idea. The winning plans could either be taken up by the sponsor, the Entrepreneurial Exchange, or may form the basis of a small business incubator at the university.

Further north, the PICT ICT Youth Challenge is now in its second year. Aimed at young innovators across the Highlands and Islands, the information and communications technology (ICT) competition is made up of several stages, including 'three-minute' pitches, a day-long Forum and week-long Hothouse final. Run by PICT Innovation Ltd, a partnership company established by Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the challenge provides an excellent opportunity to nurture youthful creativity and resourcefulness.

Children may be the next great hope, but it's women entrepreneurs who represent one of the fastest growing business segments within the UK. Recent figures show that more and more women are choosing to become entrepreneurs, and there are more resources than ever before to help them.

Run by the Business Gateway, the Women into Business initiative provides all the information, support and motivation potential businesswomen could want to help them develop their business ideas and set up a successful business. The initiative features a Networking programme of seminars and advice; a Micro-Credit Programme (low cost flexible loans and business support); Mentoring; and the BIG (Business Investment for Growth) programme, providing customised training and support.

Entrepreneurship should know no bounds of course, so it's encouraging to see that last October, DEN (the Disabled Entrepreneurs Network) extended its reach into Scotland. Information on training, good practice and small business management specifically geared towards people with disabilities in Scotland is now available from Business Gateway.

We must be doing something right, since according to recent figures from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, Scotland is fast rising up the league of enterprising countries. Scotland's Total Entrepreneurial Activity score (based on the percentage of the population involved in some form of entrepreneurial activity) now stands at 5.5% (up from 4.6% the previous year). That's a 93,000-strong pool of genuine and would-be Scots entrepreneurs. There is less fear of failure too, one of the chief obstacles to entrepreneurial activity.

And what of individual success? Last October, Scottish entrepreneurs scooped half the prizes in the UK finals of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards, including overall UK winner – Robert Wiseman of Wiseman Dairies. The winner of this year's Scottish finals looks equally impressive. Bill Gammell, chief executive of Cairn Energy, has overseen the company's growth since the 1980s, developing it into a global business with a turnover of £155 million in 2003. Mr Gammell will now go on to represent Scotland at the national awards in London this October. We wish him every success.

Two other Scots, meanwhile, have just walked off with the Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneurs of the Year 2004 title. Neil Tierney and Neil Farish, founders of Edinburgh-based Lightweight Medical Ltd which makes intensive-care equipment for premature and sick babies, won the top industry award together with the admiration of the judges for establishing themselves as intellectual leaders in their sector in the twinkling of an eye.

And then there's Graham Bucknall, founder and managing director of IT support consultancy Adventi. Recently short-listed for one of the world's premier entrepreneurial awards, World Young Business Achiever, Graham has led the company to a turnover of over £1.5 million and nearly 30 staff – all in a little over a year.

Proof, if any were needed, that Scotland's entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well.

Courtesy of Scottish Government - Scotland.org . First published June 2004. Featured content correct at date of first publication.

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