The James Hutton Institute launches pilot to connect Scotland’s climate-tech founders with investors
Hutton Scientific Services (HSS) is delighted to launch the Climate Venture Exchange (CVE), a new Scottish Government-backed pilot programme designed to help Scotland’s most promising climate-tech ventures connect with investors through the power of storytelling.
Building on its expertise in science, innovation and commercialisation, HSS has developed an approach that creates a more accessible and engaging route between founders and investors with its delivery partner, The Research Adventure. The initiative runs until March 2027 and will allow some of Scotland’s most exciting climate-tech ventures actively seeking investment to communicate their innovation, impact and growth potential more effectively to investors.
Dr Ian Archer, Managing Director of HSS, said, “Scotland has no shortage of brilliant climate-tech ventures, but too many of their stories never reach the investors who need to hear them. The Climate Venture Exchange gives founders the time and support to tell their story properly and gives investors a far richer picture than any pitch deck could.”
“Scotland has no shortage of brilliant climate-tech ventures, but too many of their stories never reach the investors who need to hear them.”
Dr Ian Archer, Managing Director, Hutton Scientific Services
The initiative addresses a long-standing challenge faced by science and technology founders. While many climate-tech ventures are tackling complex global challenges, translating highly technical innovations into compelling investment propositions can be difficult. Traditional pitching formats often reduce a venture’s story to a matter of minutes, leaving little opportunity to communicate fully the scale of the problem being addressed, the strength of the founding team or the potential impact of the technology.
As a result, promising ventures can struggle to attract investment, slowing the growth of businesses that are critical to Scotland’s net zero ambitions and energy transition goals.
Dr Rachel Clark, Director and Co-founder of The Research Adventure, said, “This is a problem we’ve been learning about for years, from both sides: founders who know their science but struggle to sell it, and investors who tell us they prefer warm introductions through a trusted partner rather than a cold pitch.
“The Climate Venture Exchange is acting as that bridge, using what we’ve learned on both sides to build a channel that could work for everyone.”
Participants will receive specialist communications training and work one-to-one with an AI-powered storytelling coach to develop a clear and credible investment narrative, which will become a professionally recorded conversation hosted by Zach Sorrells of TheResearch Adventure. Each conversation will share the story behind the venture, the challenge they are solving and the founder’s vision for growth. It will be released as a 15-minute podcast episode, accompanied by a 60-second trailer, published on the Climate Venture Exchange website and major podcast platforms.
This approach gives investors the flexibility to discover ventures in their own time, gain deeper insight into founding teams and technologies and connect directly with ventures that align with their interests.
Episodes will be released weekly from November 2026 through to early February 2027, with the programme culminating in a dedicated investor event in March 2027.
