Record success for Heriot-Watt with four wins at national Converge Awards
Heriot-Watt University has set a new benchmark for entrepreneurial success, winning four awards at Scotland’s Converge Awards – more than any other university in 2025.
The annual competition, Scotland’s flagship programme for university entrepreneurship, recognised four Heriot-Watt projects spanning health, hydrogen, and digital technologies.
Winning four awards – the highest number of any university this year – shows the depth of talent we have across our global community.
Research Associate András Kufcsák and Principal Investigator Michael Tanner secured third place in the flagship Converge Challenge with OptoLoc, earning £15,000 for their life-saving medical device that ensures safer placement of feeding tubes.
Research Associate Scott MacLeod won a KickStart Challenge runner-up award worth £7,500 with UroFlo, a digital health innovation that shortens delays in diagnosing urinary tract conditions and has the potential to transform community care.
Postgraduate student Michael Walsh triumphed in the Hydrogen Challenge with Waste2Watt, a £10,000 prize plus in-kind support, for his novel approach to generating green hydrogen from wastewater.
Graduate Adam Lockhart claimed The Data Lab Advanced Award worth £20,000 for ParkinSense, an AI-powered mobile platform that supports early detection of Parkinson’s disease and more timely patient treatment.
Professor Gillian Murray, Deputy Principal for Business and Enterprise at Heriot-Watt, said: “This is an exceptional achievement for Heriot-Watt and a proud moment for our community. Winning four awards – the highest number of any university this year – shows the depth of talent we have across our global community. It reflects not only brilliant individual ideas but also the supportive ecosystem at Heriot-Watt that helps our people turn innovation into impact. Whether in health, sustainability or technology, these ventures demonstrate the difference our researchers and graduates can make to society.”
Adam Kosterka, Executive Director of Converge, said: “At Converge, we believe Scotland’s universities are home to the next generation of world-changing innovations. This year’s winners exemplify exactly what’s possible when brilliant academic minds are equipped with the business expertise and networks to transform their ideas into commercially successful, impactful companies.”
Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes added: “To ensure we capitalise on the innovation and ingenuity within our academic institutions, it is vital that we work together across organisations and across sectors to create a supportive environment for our spinouts to start-up and scale-up. I am delighted that a strategic partnership between Converge and Scottish Enterprise is being developed, helping drive the joined-up support required to help our university entrepreneurs thrive.”
Since its launch in 2011, Converge has trained over 830 aspiring founders and supported more than 450 companies with an above-average survival rate.