Funding Partner:
Strategic Partners:
Supported By:
Funding Partner:
Strategic Partners:
Supported By:
Funding Partner:
Strategic Partners:
Supported By:
Designed for S6 pupils, START combines the principles of design thinking and entrepreneurship with inspirational mentoring to replicate the experience of participating in a startup business incubator.
With a focus on real-world problem-solving, curiosity, resilience, empathy, and teamwork, START ignites ambition and prepares school leavers for the modern workplace, regardless of their career ambitions.
Engagement with the START programme can broadly be split into three groups:
Build student confidence and open new career pathways through experiential learning.
Use your real-world business experience to inspire the young entrepreneurs of the future.
Become a corporate partner to help us identify and support the next generation of talent.
Supported by the Scottish Government’s Entrepreneurial Education Pathways Fund, START is a free school entrepreneurship programme in Scotland that takes teams of S6 pupils through the exciting journey of launching a startup business.
Kicking off in August, the SCQF Level 6 accredited programme encourages participants to draw on their own experiences and passions to identify real-world problems and then solve them by creating new products or services.
Participants learn cutting-edge design-thinking tools and the techniques and mindsets of entrepreneurship, whilst engaging with real-world startup founders through our mentoring partnership with Scottish EDGE.
START culminates in a pitch competition in March, where students present their ideas to a panel of startup experts. Prize information TBC.
Hear from some of the students who took part in our 2024/25 pitch final in March:
The START Hackathon, a one-day, Scottish Government–funded event designed to empower the next generation of entrepreneurial thinkers, is taking place on 6th February 2026 in Aberdeen (One Tech Hub) and 27th February 2026 in Edinburgh (Edinburgh Future Institute).
