Two key entrepreneurial appointments for Scottish academia are set to ‘lead the way in turning breakthrough ideas into commercially viable businesses,’ according to one of the country’s leading health innovation bodies

Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University has appointed Gemma Stuart, founder of health start-up Gut Wealth, and Jessica Mullen, an exited founder and angel investor, as Entrepreneurs in Residence.

The experienced duo have joined the Global Research, Innovation and Discovery (GRID) ecosystem — Heriot-Watt's flagship enterprise framework — and are expected to help scale the next generation of Scottish startups while enhancing links between industry, academia, and investors.

Leading healthcare innovation organisation InnoScot Health believes that such a focus on providing bespoke collaboration-led support represents a big step forward in accelerating the ambitions of academic and student entrepreneurs, while strengthening Scotland’s innovation ecosystem.

Head of Innovation Commercialisation at InnoScot Health, Gillian Henderson said: “Appointments of this nature are vital in nurturing grassroots knowledge based on practical, real-world insights.

“They are also instrumental in fast tracking the development of healthcare entrepreneurs who are keen to take their ambitions to the next level, commercialise their ideas, and positively impact patient outcomes.

“Positioning early-stage health innovators to benefit from connections with academia, industry, and investors means they are well on their way to growing their business and attracting funding while developing the capacity to overcome significant challenges and allowing a clear route to market.”

Gemma is scaling Gut Wealth — a Scottish digestive-health business providing evidence-led gut health products and education – having recently secured seed investment.

Jessica meanwhile works with startups as an investor and advisor, including angel syndicate Apollo Informal Investment.

Both founders will work directly with students, researchers and spinouts, offering mentoring and advice. They are also dedicated to ensuring equality of opportunities for female entrepreneurs.

Jessica said: “I’m particularly passionate about supporting more women into entrepreneurship and ensuring a broader range of founders can access the funding they need — as the data, outlined in the Pathways report, clearly shows businesses founded by women still don’t receive the same levels of investment.”

InnoScot Health is part of a collaborative group of organisations supporting Scottish participation in the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme (CEP).

CEP is the biggest entrepreneurial workforce development programme of its kind. Started in 2016, it is open to both clinical and non-clinical NHS staff — including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, allied health professionals, managers, and support staff.