Sweet success as Scottish collaborations clinch £30k prize

Spirit producers Scottish Craft Distillers and The Scottish Honey and Beeswax Consortium are joined on the winners’ podium by Edinburgh-based creative design consortium Adventures in Light.

Each winning consortium receives £10,000 to help establish their new venture and grow the business in Scotland and internationally.

The judging panel also highly commended an application from businesses in the Borders to form the Ale Water Valley tourism marketing consortium.

John Swinney, Deputy First Minister said: “As emphasised through Scotland CAN DO, collaboration is a key to innovation and growth for businesses in all sectors of our economy. I am therefore delighted to see the breadth and quality of applicants to this year’s CDS Collaboration Prize.

“The judging panel clearly had a hard task in selecting the winners for this year’s Collaboration Prize. The three winning companies, however, are all shining examples of the increasing appetite from Scottish SMEs to explore the merits of working together.

“The sheer diversity of the winning collaborations demonstrates the flexibility and huge potential of this innovative model, significantly helping businesses grow at home and internationally.”

Sarah Deas, chief executive of CDS, the arm of Scottish Enterprise that supports company growth through collaborative and employee ownership business models, said: “It is inspiring to see so many businesses keen to collaborate for success. I congratulate the winners and wish them every success in their new ventures.”

Interesting and entrepreneurial entries were received from collaborative ventures across Scotland leaving judges with a difficult task of selecting one winner for each of three categories: Innovation, Marketing, and Tendering.

One of the three successful entrants has already helped more than 800 people as part of the “Become a Beekeeper for Free” initiative. Social enterprise Kelvin Valley Honey, has watched the popularity of this initiative soar with increasing demand from individuals, schools and community groups for the training.

Entering the Collaboration Prize offered the perfect platform to consider a long-term future for all involved and build a sustainable business which could grow exponentially over the coming years.

The Scottish Honey and Beeswax Consortium (SHBC) will combine resources from members to increase production, with a commitment from all members to sell a minimum of 65 per cent of honey and beeswax products under the new brand. SHBC has established a clear, united direction for its future, while keeping the core objective of saving Scotland’s ailing honeybee population.

Winning the Innovation category of the Collaboration Prize will significantly help the organisation push its new brand forward, develop uniform pricing, unrivalled quality and a competitive, collective marketing strategy which will open up previously unattainable markets.

Paul Holmes, chairman of the Kilsyth-headquartered SHBC said: “It is fantastic to have won the Collaboration Prize. Many of our producers have come from long-term unemployment or low-income households.

“Being part of the consortium will unlock the potential for members across the country to turn what has been a hobby into a viable career option. This will enable them to develop new products for sale and access a wider marketplace.

“Bees have been in decline in Scotland, but their presence is essential for Scotland’s agriculture and wildlife because they help pollinate crops. Growing this industry helps protect their future and that of our members.”

Triumphing in the Tendering category was Adventures in Light. Based in the capital, the newly formed business brings together a graphic designer, filmmaker and carpenter to offer something truly unique to clients.

Their vision is to create dynamic projected installations for musical and cultural performances – an offer which is currently not available from one company in Scotland.

To date the group has worked with Edinburgh Science Festival, T in the Park and the Scottish Dance Theatre and by winning this prize they hope to engage more prospective clients with the possibilities for using projection and mapping for events.

Working as a consortium the trio will pool their expertise allowing for seamless idea creation to execution. It will also allow the collective use of resources enabling the group to purchase more advanced equipment and embark on more ambitious installations.

Chairwoman, Cristina Spiteri said: “While we are individual businesses, we have been collaborating together for two years. When we found out there was a way for us to form a business from our collaboration, we were really excited. It's absolutely perfect for us and we were already naturally working in that way.

“It makes sense for clients to be talking to one body rather than three individual businesses. It also means we can grow to involve other companies and artists to go for bigger jobs. Forming our official consortium is so exciting and offers so much growth potential for us.”

The Scottish Craft Distillers co-operative brings together 12 small-volume distillers to form one entity to improve members’ exporting power.

Winning the Marketing category the business intends to accelerate its plans to become a major international brand, increasing their global customer base.

The new co-operative is pooling members’ resources to create one marketing strategy which will allow more ambitious world-wide campaigns, bringing each distiller’s products to wider attention. Members will also share ideas on cost savings and new product development.

Tony Reeman-Clark, chairman, said: “We’re thrilled to win the Collaboration Prize. We are a group of craft distillers with ambitious plans but we lacked the time, funds and specific expert knowledge to put them into action. Thanks to the prize, we will be able to accelerate our efforts and make those plans a reality.

“The cash will allow us to create a marketing strategy, gain a presence at a much faster pace and enter markets we couldn’t otherwise reach. The consultancy is equally valuable as it will help us develop a trading entity and establish our legal structure.

“Winning the Collaboration Prize has been such a boost to the whole group – spirits are certainly high!”

Highly commended Ale Water Valley consortium will see 10 companies in the Borders join forces to develop new products for domestic and international tourism operators.

A mix of outdoor, educational, cultural and hospitality businesses, the group will also launch a marketing campaign to attract more visitors from Europe, the USA, and China.

CDS worked in partnership with the Scottish Council for Development and Industry, the Supplier Developer Programme and Business Gateway in promoting and judging this year’s prize.

For more information see: www.cdscotland.co.uk or call 0141 951 3055.