Press release -
Stand out from the Crowd
A Scottish crowdfunding expert who has helped budding inventors from across the world raise more than $1 million through innovative online campaigns, will speak at VisitScotland Business Events’ talk on digital collaboration.
Kaye Symington co-founded Paved With Gold in 2014 and within just three years has worked with product designers and makers from the USA to Hong Kong, London to Scotland, to help develop their businesses through crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter.
Paved With Gold is one of Kickstarter’s specially selected experts and has helped raise more than $1 million in crowdfunding across 15 campaigns.
Kaye will share her experiences creating successful crowdfunding campaigns at InnovateDigital, part of the INNOVATETHENATION free talk series, by the Business Events team at the national tourism organisation, which provides a networking opportunity for academics and the business events sector and the potential for future collaboration on business events.
Hosted by Codebase Stirling, and in partnership with STEP Scotland and Stirling Council, the event will explore the latest ideas, trends and innovations in digital collaboration, including crowdfunding, digital democracy and open source public data.
It will form part of STEP Scotland’s Digital December Week (4-8 December).
INNOVATETHENATION brings together experts, influencers and the next generation of pioneers and innovators in a series of engaging talks throughout the country, exploring the incredible innovation taking place across the country. Previous talks include InnovateLiterature, InnovateRobotics and InnovateFilm.
InnovateDigital will also hear from Matthew Davis, Director of Wittin; Dr Greg Singh, Communications, Media and Culture Lecturer at University of Stirling; and Leah Lockhart, who works at the ‘intersection of technology, academia and public service’.
Kaye Symington, Director of Paved With Gold said:
“It’s important that Scotland celebrates the innovation that is happening within its borders, both internally and with the rest of the world. I’m really looking forward to sharing the value of crowdfunding and what it can bring to people who are launching products or have small businesses in Scotland.”
Patrick Lamont, Business Events Executive - Associations & Sectors, VisitScotland Business Events said:
“Big data, crowdfunding and digital democracy are just a few examples of the exciting ways in which our modern digital world is creating new opportunities for innovation and engagement. InnovateDigital will explore these themes in greater depth, and in particular take a look at how digital platforms and open data analysis can lead to new collaborations.
“The future of our economy, our democracy and our personal lives will continue to be influenced by the technology we embrace and how we shape it to our needs – we are very excited to be partnering with Codebase Stirling, STEP Scotland and Stirling Council to showcase that this future is being made here in Scotland, and in Stirling. Scotland is already home to two Unicorn companies, and with the talent, investment and opportunities currently available, perhaps a third is in the making.”
InnovateDigital will take place on 7 December 5.30pm-7.30pm, at Codebase Stirling, Corn Exchange Rd, Stirling.
For more on InnovateDigital and to register for a place, go to http://www.conventionscotland.com/Our-Events/Scotlands-Free-Talk-Series/INNOVATE-DIGITAL
ENDS
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- corporate communications
- business events
Regions
- Scotland
Notes to Editors
- Follow us on twitter: @visitscotnews
- VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism organisation. Its core purpose is to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland.
- The organisation’s core objective is to contribute to the Tourism 2020 Strategy ambition of growing tourism revenues by £1 billion by 2020.
- This will be supported by seven overarching strategies:
- Marketing: we will market Scotland and its outstanding assets to visitors from all parts of the world, including the promotion of Scotland to people living in Scotland to visit different parts of the country
- Events: we will support the national events strategy and its delivery, and sustain, develop and promote Scotland’s international profile as one of the world’s foremost events destinations
- Internationalisation and International Engagement: we will utilise all our platforms to enable Scottish-based tourism businesses to better understand international opportunities and market to a global audience and we will work within One Scotland Partnerships to optimise the potential of Scotland’s Diaspora and our strategic partners at regional, European and global levels
- Customer Experience: we will provide information and inspiration to visitors both locally and globally via their preferred medium of choice
- Quality and Sustainability: we will provide support and advice to businesses, with the goal of improving the quality and sustainability of the tourism sector in Scotland. We will provide quality assurance to visitors through our Quality Schemes
- Inclusive Tourism: we will strive to make tourism in Scotland inclusive and available to all
- Working in Partnership: we will listen to and work with the industry, partners and communities to shape our offering and support
- To ensure everyone can safely enjoy Scotland’s amazing countryside and landscapes, VisitScotland encourages all visitors to fully respect their surroundings by behaving in a responsible and appropriate way.
- VisitScotland works together with tourism businesses to make tourism a success for everyone and ensure the industry continues to grow.
- The organisation employs 700 people and has offices and VisitScotland Information Centres across Scotland.
- Spending by tourists in Scotland generates around £12 billion of economic activity in the wider Scottish supply chain and contributes around £6 billion to Scottish GDP (in basic prices). This represents about 5% of total Scottish GDP
- The Scottish Government is the Managing Authority for the European Structural Funds 2014-20 Programme. For further information visit www.gov.scot or follow @scotgovESIF
- For VisitScotland’s press releases go to http://www.visitscotland.org/media_centre.aspx, tourism statistics and frequently asked questions go to http://www.visitscotland.org/
- Where possible, a Gaelic speaker will be made available for broadcast interviews on request (Far an tèid iarraidh, agus far am bheil sin nar comas, bruidhinnidh neach le Gàidhlig aig agallamh) 2017 Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology
- 2017 is the year to delve into the past and discover Scotland’s fascinating stories through a wide-ranging variety of new and existing activity to drive the nation’s tourism and events sector, boosting tourism across Scotland.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology begins on 1 January 2017 and will end on 31 December 2017. It will build on the momentum generated by previous themed years in Scotland including the 2015 Year of Food and Drink, Homecoming Scotland 2014, the Year of Creative and the Year of Natural.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology is a Scottish Government initiative being led by VisitScotland, and supported by a variety of partners including Creative Scotland, Scottish Tourism Alliance, Scottish Enterprise, The National Trust for Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Built Environment Forum Scotland, Heritage Lottery Fund, Museums Galleries Scotland and Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology is supported by £570,000 of Scottish Government funding.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology events fund is managed by EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate.
- For more information visit visitscotland.com/HHA2017 or join the conversation at #HHA2017
