51cg

Call for Business Ideas (DEADLINE: 27 September 2026)Get free software development support to turn your idea into something real.Our next event will take place at the 51cg on Monday, 5 October, 5–9 pm, and the selected projects will be delivered by the Aberdeen Software Factory, based at the 51cg (/ncs/departments/computing-science/aberdeen-software-factory/).The deadline for applications is 27 September 2026.The Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance has launched its Jump Start programme, aimed at partnering aspiring software start-up founders with student-delivered software services. Our aim is to give students the skills for early-stage start-up experimentation and iteration, and aspiring software start-up founders the opportunity to take the first steps with a business idea.Who are we looking for?We're looking for aspiring founders who have an idea for a software-focused start-up and, crucially, are looking to establish greater confidence in their product-market fit before they can progress to realising a full solution. We're looking for founders who are open-minded about the need to refine their idea and willing to pivot as they gain more insights.What do we offer?In the first stage, you will pitch your business idea to an audience of students and entrepreneurs in residence. This will take place at a number of in-person and online sessions at one of four universities across Scotland. Where possible, we’ll be seeking to match you to your nearest institution and will cover travel for selected founders to the event. We'll be looking for you to show that you've thought a little bit about the product-market fit of your idea, but also that you've begun identifying areas of risk or things that may need to change. You'll be judged not on the maturity of your idea, but on the way you engage with the audience's questions and feedback.In the second stage, successful applicants will work with a small team of students in a university-based software service to help you to make the most important risks (hidden assumptions or uncertainties) for your idea explicit and to develop software-based experiments to test those assumptions as quickly as possible. We'll be giving the students access to training on building through the lean start-up methodology and using technology efficiently to generate prototypes rapidly.We'll then help you to refine your business idea rapidly through successive iterations over 6–14 weeks. We'll also seek to connect you with other specialist expertise drawn from across the SICSA and wider RIS networks. At the end of the scheme, your idea should be better placed to secure funding or investment for the next phase as you move to fully realising a more refined product idea.ApplyIf the scheme sounds like it's for you, then complete the application form below and we'll be in touch. Remember that the most important thing is not to have a perfected business idea for implementation, but to be open-minded about challenging the assumptions and uncertainties.Apply here: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=KVxybjp2UE-B8i4lTwEzyJ-S7u6ciFlBjQJoDhJ-fGJUNzk5MzlVRDNUWDhVVVFRVlNMTEswNE5RTy4u&route=shorturl