Jane Stewart, a director of Edinburgh-based waste tech firm Topolytics, has been recognised by Innovate UK as one of the UK's leading female entrepreneurs.
The National Women in Innovation Awards received over 830 applications, with 38 entrepreneurs finally awarded a £50,000 grant to tackle society's biggest issues.
Stewart, the only Scottish entrepreneur to be recognised this year, commented: "The program is a great opportunity to spotlight our work at Topolytics and to fund further development of our WasteMap data analytics platform.
"In my role at Topolytics and beyond, including as an Ambassador for Women's Enterprise Scotland, I seek to be a visible role model, to actively encourage more women to lead, to found and to be the change they wish to see in delivering the next phase of transformation in their sector."
She added: "I am proud and humbled to have won this award although surprised to learn I was the only Scottish winner this year given the wealth of amazing female business talent we have in Scotland."
A qualified chartered accountant, Stewart has spent decades in the fields of investment, corporate finance, venture capital and private equity.
Prior to becoming a director of Topolytics, she held roles as strategy director and group chief financial officer at William Tracey Group (now Enva), a waste management and recycling company. As one of the leadership team she was instrumental in building the business nationally through acquisitions, alliances and organic growth over a 12-year period, through to exit in 2017.
Now an independent director, she works with a portfolio of high-growth SMEs and investment funds.
The flagship Women in Innovation Awards is a key part of Innovate UK's commitment to boosting the number of UK female entrepreneurs. As highlighted in the recent Rose Review, if women could start and scale businesses at the same rate as men, it could add up to £250bn to the UK economy.
Innovate UK launched the Women in Innovation programme in 2016, after research revealed that just one in seven applications for its support came from women. The programme empowers female business leaders to develop commercially-successful solutions to major social, environmental and economic challenges.
Support includes a £50,000 grant for each individual, as well as a bespoke package of mentoring, coaching and business support. Since founding Women in Innovation, the number of female-led applications haves increased by 70% across all of Innovate UK's support programmes.
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