Converge Challenge generates £22m GVA for Scottish economy

Converge Challenge is an entrepreneurial development programme and company creation competition for staff, students and recent graduates from Scotland’s Universities and Research Institutes. Since its inception Converge Challenge has awarded prizes with a value of £663,000, with 56% awarded in cash, and 44% awarded in in-kind support.

In 2017, BiGGAR Economics undertook an evaluation of the programme, which found that:

Follow-on Funding – Overall, £29.7 million of follow-on funding was secured by businesses based in Scotland and of this, £12.5 million can be directly attributed to the support provided through Converge Challenge. This means that every £1 funding invested by the SFC and universities in the Converge Challenge to date has enabled Scottish businesses to leverage a further £7.51 in funding.
Company Creation – From 2011-2016, the main Converge Challenge award category, for those with the most developed ideas, has provided training to 180 individuals, 69 of whom subsequently formally incorporated their businesses. This represents an incorporation rate of 38%.
Survival Rate – Of these 69 businesses, 60 remained active in 2016, representing an overall survival rate of 87%.
Job creation – It is estimated that the businesses that have taken part in Converge Challenge supported 180 jobs based in Scotland in 2016. Out of those 100 jobs can be directly attributed to Converge Challenge.
Value Creation – 97% of Converge Challenge participants reported that they were either “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their experience as participants in Converge. The most commonly used words used by participants to describe their experience of the programme were, “supportive”, “challenging” and “informative”’.
GVA – It is estimated that the businesses supported by the Converge Challenge generated £5.2 million GVA* for the Scottish economy in 2016. Of this it was estimated that £3.4 million GVA* can be directly attributed to the support provided by the Converge Challenge. This means that each £1 of funding invested by the SFC and universities in the Converge Challenge to date generated £2.07 GVA* for the Scottish economy in 2016.
Anticipated GVA- It is estimated that in the long-term Converge Challenge could be responsible for generating £21.8 million GVA* per year for the Scottish economy. This means that in the long-term each £1 invested by the SFC and universities in the Converge Challenge could generate £13.14 GVA* per year for the Scottish economy.