High Growth Services Specialist Business Support Framework

The purpose of this ITT is to enable Scottish Enterprise (SE) to appoint suppliers to a multi Lot framework of specialists to provide commercialisation advisory and educational training support to select Scottish university pre- and post-spinout projects and other Scottish-based early-stage start-up companies within SE’s High Growth Company Support (HGCS) service. The framework will be delivered via two services, Specialist Business Support and an Executive Education Programme, and is structured around four separate Lots.

The framework is expected to be in place for 2 years with the option to extend for a further 12 months if required. Suppliers appointed to the Specialist Business Support part of the framework (Lots 1 – 3) must have lived entrepreneurial experience, role model credibility and a range of commercial and sectoral expertise that can deliver transformational value at critical points in an academic project’s progress to company creation or an early-stage start-up’s evolution towards scalable growth.

The Lot 1 supplier will have specific experience of working in the life sciences and health industry, including areas such as medical devices & technology, drug discovery and testing, industrial biotech, stem cells, therapeutics, translational & personalised medicine, and agri-tech. One Supplier will be appointed to this lot Additional information: Economic operators may be excluded from this competition if they are in any of the situations referred to in Regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.

Suppliers appointed to the Specialist Business Support part of the framework (Lots 1 – 3) must have lived entrepreneurial experience, role model credibility and a range of commercial and sectoral expertise that can deliver transformational value at critical points in an academic project’s progress to company creation or an early-stage start-up’s evolution towards scalable growth. The Lot 2 supplier will have specific experience of working in several critical technologies areas (a term used by the UK Government), including: photonics, quantum, sensing, connectivity, and semiconductors.

Related to these areas are several overlapping enabling technologies, including health diagnostics, space, climate tech, cyber-security and defence, and fintech. One supplier will be appointed to this lot Additional information: Economic operators may be excluded from this competition if they are in any of the situations referred to in Regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.

Suppliers appointed to the Specialist Business Support part of the framework (Lots 1 – 3) must have lived entrepreneurial experience, role model credibility and a range of commercial and sectoral expertise that can deliver transformational value at critical points in an academic project’s progress to company creation or an early-stage start-up’s evolution towards scalable growth. One supplier will be appointed to this lot Additional information: Economic operators may be excluded from this competition if they are in any of the situations referred to in Regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.

The Executive Education Programme provides tailored training for small cohorts (typically up to 10 participants) of spin-out projects, and early-stage start-up and scale-up portfolio companies. The programme covers several key business and commercial themes (outlined below) which we know are critical to developing knowledge, skills and capabilities among academic project teams and early-stage Founder/CEOs/executive teams.

It also offers valuable peer-to-peer networking and knowledge sharing opportunities among the cohorts. This lot will be awarded to up to 2 providers. Additional information: Economic operators may be excluded from this competition if they are in any of the situations referred to in Regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.