Scotland's National Innovation Summit &
Innovation week 2025
Scotland's National Innovation Summit
Scotland’s National Innovation Summit from the Scottish Government is the flagship event of National Innovation Week 2025 and will run alongside ScotSoft at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.
The Innovation Summit will invite policymakers, academics, investors and leading experts to celebrate Scotland’s history of innovation and showcase its continued influence on the global stage.
The event will spotlight groundbreaking work across four priority sectors – life sciences, digital and data technologies – and showcase businesses at all stages of growth including emerging, scaling, and internationally established.
You can find out more about the speakers involved and their companies here.
National Innovation SUmmit Agenda
Thursday, September 25th, 2025
08:30 - 09:00
registration
Tea, coffee and breakfast rolls on arrival.
09:00 - 09:05
Welcome
Karen Meechan, CEO, ScotlandIS
09:05 - 09:55
Ministerial Address
- Kate Forbes MSP, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic
- Richard Lochhead MSP, Minister for Business and Employment
09:55 - 10:55
Keynote - Adventures in Scottish IT
Peter Palmer, Tech Entrepreneur
Peter Palmer (MBE, MA, MSc, DPhil, MBCS) was a founder of Spider Systems in 1983 and AXON Networks in 1992. Both were successfully sold in the mid-1990s.
In the late 1980s, he was a founder of ScotlandIS (then the Scottish Software House Federation) and was its first Chairman.
In his keynote, Peter will talk about the background to the founding and success of Spider Systems, and how those experiences led to the founding of SSHF. Peter will also relate the history of AXON, which, based on the experience of Spider, was founded as an American company with product development in Scotland. Spider and AXON together offer an interesting case study in the differences between two markets.
Peter has lived in the USA for the last thirty years, initially working for AXON, and subsequently as a business angel in the Boston area.
11:00 - 11:20
coffee break
Tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided, with the chance to network and browse the exhibition hall.
11:30 - 12:10
Emerging Company Showcase
Andrew Williams, CEO, Apptrix; Marcus Brook, CEO, Ournet Energy; Pawel de Sternberg Stojalowski , MD, Aseptium; Toby McCartney, Co-Founder/CEO, MacRebur Manufacturing
Hear four Case Studies from emerging companies across the key pillars: Data & Digital, Health & Life Sciences, Energy and Manufacturing. Chaired by Russell Dalgleish, Founding Chair, Scottish Business Network.
12:20 - 13:00
Scaling Company Showcase
Mostafa Afgani, Co-Founder/CTO, Purelifi; Craig Bradley, Head of Innovation Services, Natural Power Services; Dr Matthew Freer, Founder/CEO, Infix; Stephen Sandilands, Product & Innovation Manager, Ross-shire Engineering
Hear four Case Studies from scaling companies across the key pillars: Data & Digital, Health & Life Sciences, Energy and Manufacturing. Chaired by Michael Boniface, CEO, Kythera AI.
13:00 - 13:50
Lunch
14:00 - 14:40
Keynote: Doug Hall
Doug Hall, Inventor and Entrepreneur
Doug Hall is a pioneering inventor, entrepreneur, and author who founded the Eureka! Ranch, helping global brands innovate smarter. A former Procter & Gamble Master Marketing Inventor, he's also a bourbon maker, media personality, and North Pole explorer with a passion for bold ideas and creative systems.
In his keynote speech, Doug will talk about his pioneering work on System Driven Innovation, for which Doug was awarded Honorary Doctorates by the University of Maine and the University of Prince Edward Island.
14:50 - 15:30
Global Company Showcase
Prof Mark Parsons, Executive Director (Research & Commercialisation), EPCC; Adam Liddle, Head of Sustainability, RoslinCT; Archie Browning, Customer Performance Director, Scottish Leather Group; Lukas Bergmann, Head of Product Management and Regulatory Affairs, Sunamp
Hear four Case Studies from global companies across the key pillars: Data & Digital, Health & Life Sciences, Energy and Manufacturing. Chaired by Alison McLaughlin, Director, ETMAD.
15:35 - 15:55
coffee break
Tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided, with the chance to network and browse the exhibition hall.
16:00 - 17:00
keynote - Pivot Point: Back to the future
K D Adamson, Futurist and Ecocentrist
The age of technology optimisation is over, and the age of resilience has begun.
In a future shaped by moralism, meta-mercantilism, and meatspace global business was a great start-up, but it isn’t going to scale. Like all good start-ups it has to pivot, which means challenging some basic assumptions. Because the greatest handicap that leaders face is not uncertainty about tomorrow, it’s overconfidence in their beliefs about today.
17:00 - 17:15
conference close
Karen Meechan, CEO, ScotlandIS
Scotland's National Innovation Week 2025
National Innovation Week celebrates Scotland’s proud legacy of innovation and showcases Scotland’s global leadership in technological advancement.
The week will highlight events taking place across Scotland between 22nd and 26th September – visit the website below to find out more or to list your event.
National Innovation Week 2025 is being delivered by the Scottish Government in collaboration with ScotlandIS, the Scottish Funding Council, enterprise agencies, and innovation centres.
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