Who Is Eligible?
To be eligible to enter, businesses must:
- have started to trade on or after 1st May 2014
- be based in Wales
- be independently owned i.e. is owned by its founders/independent investors and is not a subsidiary of another business
The Judging Process
The Wales Start-Up Awards have been designed to be as simple as possible.
Applications are to be received by 5pm on 30th June 2017. Following receipt of entries, the Judges will draw up a shortlist of a minimum of three finalists for each award who will then be interviewed in early September by a panel of judges (which will also include an independent judge).
The interviews will be the process by which the winner of each category is chosen. Initial entries will be assessed by a small panel of judges consisting of Professor Dylan Jones-Evans (chair), along with representatives from NatWest Bank/Entrepreneurial Spark (the main sponsor of the awards) and Welsh ICE.
The decision of the judges is final regarding all categories for the Wales Start-Up Awards
Categories
The Wales Start-Up Awards have the following awards in 2017:
- Construction Start-up of the Year
- Creative Start-Up of the Year
- Digital Start-Up of the Year
- Financial and Professional Services Start-Up of the Year
- Food and Drink Start-Up of the Year
- Global Start-Up of the Year
- Green Start-Up of the Year
- Innovative Start-Up of the Year
- Life Sciences Start-Up of the Year
- Manufacturing Start-Up of the Year
- Retail Start-Up of the Year
- Services Start-Up of the Year
- Social Enterprise Start-Up of the Year
- Technology Start-Up of the Year
- Tourism and Leisure Start-Up of the Year
- Young Entrepreneur of the Year
All entries will be automatically entered into one of the four regional awards namely
- Cardiff Capital Region start-up of the year
- North Wales start-up of the year
- Rural start-up of the year
- Swansea Bay Region start-up of the year
The Wales Start-Up of the Year 2017 will be chosen from the winners of all the above categories.
