Here’s your Campfire for Monday, 19th October
📣 Asks, Offers, Updates, & Deadlines
CivTech Round 12 is now open and has launched with “six new Challenges and £5.7 million of investment available to help innovative businesses develop solutions to real public sector problems. Successful teams will work directly with public sector organisations, receive funded support through the CivTech Accelerator, retain 100% of their intellectual property, and have the opportunity to secure further commercial contracts. Challenges this round focus on areas including health, housing, child protection, substance use support and digital public services.” Applications close at 12 noon on Tuesday 20 October 2026. Find out more and apply here
👭 Interested in connecting with possible co-founders? Fill in your listing on Cofounder Curious today! Connect with others for possible cofounder matching here.
👷Are you hiring? Send us a blurb and we’ll include it in the next newsletter!
✍️ Want to write something for or share something with Campfire? Get in touch!
📅 Events
💜 19/10, 19:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: She Means Business Edinburgh October Networking A networking evening for female entrepreneurs and business owners in Edinburgh. MORE INFO
📉 20/10, 19:30 🗺️ Glasgow: Can Economists Explain AI? (Spoiler: Not Really) Dr Elena Papagiannaki from Glasgow Skeptics looks at why mainstream economics struggles to explain AI’s effects on productivity, wages and jobs. MORE INFO
🚀 20/10, 18:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Founders Meetup Edinburgh – October 2026 Connect with founders, potential co-founders and investors for speed networking, community shoutouts and a tactical fireside chat exploring the practicalities of building and growing a startup. MORE INFO
⛓️ 20/10, 18:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: EdinburghJS October Meetup – Self Editing Sites & Internal Tools Phil Holden speaks on building a self-editing website and Alexey Golev on building internal tools. MORE INFO
👩💻 20/10, 18:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Women in Tech Edinburgh – OutGeekWomen An evening of networking for women working across tech, with the chance to meet CTOs, developers and people behind well-known tech brands. MORE INFO
🏥 21/10, 10:00 🗺️ Glasgow: DiGiTal Get Together 2026: Collective Ambition into Action A free learning event from the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland on turning shared ambitions in digital health and social care into practical action. MORE INFO
💻 21/10, 18:00 🗺️ Online: Business Expenses: What Can You Claim? A South of Scotland Enterprise webinar for business owners on which expenses can and can't be claimed, how to record them and how to stay compliant with HMRC. MORE INFO
🧭 21/10, 18:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: thoughtbot Tech Leaders Meetup An informal evening for people leading or building tech teams across product and engineering in Edinburgh and the wider Scottish tech community. MORE INFO
🤖 21/10, 09:30 🗺️ Aberdeen: Leading AI: Strategy, Governance & Policy Programme A Scottish Enterprise masterclass for SME leaders on making decisions about AI investment, governance and implementation. MORE INFO
🔥 21/10, 16:00 🗺️ Dundee: Techscaler Dundee & Tay Cities Tech Meetup A fireside chat with Lesley Larg, Managing Partner at Thorntons Law, on digital transformation, how IP and legal strategy support high-growth tech startups, and leadership in the Tay Cities ecosystem. MORE INFO
🥪 21/10, 13:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Packed Lunch: Geovation Scotland Lunch & Learn with Jamie McHale Jamie McHale shares 15 years of working with startups and demos StandingWire, his new site analysis tool for forestry professionals and land agents, including how he’s using AI to build it and test it with customers. MORE INFO
🤖 21/10, 18:00 🗺️ Glasgow: The Future of Work: AI, People and Organisations Veer Shah and Hazel Ellender from The OpenAI Deployment Company lead an interactive discussion on how AI is reshaping work, teams and organisational design. MORE INFO
🌿 21/10, 10:00 🗺️ Kelso: Wellbeing for Business Owners: Building Resilience for Sustainable Business A South of Scotland Enterprise session for business owners on managing the pressures of running a business and protecting their own wellbeing while building for growth. MORE INFO
🌱 22/10, 13:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: Ready to RISE Information Session Explore whether social enterprise could be the right path for your next venture. Meet founders, hear real-world experiences and learn about a free 8-week programme designed for women and non-binary people in Scotland. MORE INFO
⛓️ 22/10, 17:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Lab to Launch: Turning Deep Tech Research into Impact Explore how university research becomes a startup at this Venture Café gathering, featuring a panel on spinouts, founder and investor connections, and opportunities to exchange ideas with Edinburgh’s innovation community. MORE INFO
📊 23/10, 08:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: Data Day Edinburgh 2026 A free, community-led conference for people working with the Microsoft data platform, with sessions on Azure, Databricks, Fabric, SQL Server, data governance and AI. MORE INFO
🎮 24/10, 10:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: PlayAway for a Day A one-day gathering exploring where creative technology, games and interactive media meet arts, education and community work, with talks, panels, practical demos, exhibitions and plenty of opportunities to connect. MORE INFO
💜 27/10, 10:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Women in Business: Networking Meet other women running businesses across Edinburgh and the Lothians in a relaxed, supportive setting, with opportunities to share challenges, exchange ideas and explore potential collaborations without formal pitches. MORE INFO
🍕 27/10, 17:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: Tech Meetup Edinburgh – October 2026 The monthly meetup for Scotland’s tech community, with community announcements, a tech demo, a keynote and networking. Open to all disciplines. MORE INFO
🎮 27/10, 18:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: GameDevEd Social Meetup Meet people working in or interested in game development at this informal Edinburgh gathering. A useful opportunity for game developers, designers and other creative technology professionals to make connections and share ideas. MORE INFO
⛓️ 27/10, 18:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Homebrew Website Club Edinburgh Bring your ideas, questions or latest website projects to an informal meetup for people interested in personal websites, independent publishing and the open web. All levels are welcome, from curious beginners to experienced developers and designers. MORE INFO
🚀 28/10, 09:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: She Scales A networking and co-working day for women founders at the Royal Bank Accelerator on Princes Street. MORE INFO
🔗 29/10, 17:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Blockchain Scotland Meetup The monthly meetup from Scotland’s blockchain industry association, for developers, startups, students and researchers working in Web3. MORE INFO
🧠 29/10, 17:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Neurotech Night A neurotech-themed edition of the weekly Thursday Gathering, powered by ARIA, connecting founders, investors, students and researchers from Edinburgh’s innovation community. MORE INFO
🎯 03/11, 09:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Decode Your Customers: Understand, Connect, Convert A Barclays Eagle Labs morning session for startup founders on understanding who they’re building for, so their sales and marketing reach the right people. MORE INFO
☕ 03/11, 09:00 🗺️ Inverness: Unfiltered Inverness An informal morning meetup for founders and the local tech community, run by CodeBase and Techscaler. MORE INFO
☕ 04/11, 08:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: Unfiltered Edinburgh An informal morning meetup for founders and the local tech community, run by CodeBase and Techscaler. MORE INFO
☕ 04/11, 08:30 🗺️ Aberdeen: Unfiltered Aberdeen An informal morning meetup for founders and the local tech community, run by CodeBase and Techscaler. MORE INFO
☕ 05/11, 09:00 🗺️ Glasgow: Unfiltered Glasgow An informal morning meetup for founders and the local tech community, run by CodeBase and Techscaler. MORE INFO
🎙️ 06/11, 10:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: How to Reach an Audience: Edinburgh Spokesperson and Media Training A one-day course with journalist and media trainer Julia Rampen for founders, campaigners and spokespeople, covering press releases, pitching, interviews and using social media with just a smartphone. MORE INFO
🤝 06/11, 09:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: Founders Hub Edinburgh – by Bayes and ScotlandIS A co-working morning at the Bayes Centre for founders building scalable tech businesses, from early stage to scaling up. MORE INFO
🐧 07/11, 11:00 🗺️ Edinburgh: Linux Users’ Group Edinburgh Meetup A meetup for Linux users of all levels, from sysadmins to beginners, covering shell scripting, self-hosting, troubleshooting and switching from Windows or macOS. MORE INFO
❄️ 12/11, 17:30 🗺️ Edinburgh: ESEN Winter Networking 2026 The Edinburgh Social Enterprise Network’s annual networking evening, bringing together social entrepreneurs, anchor institutions and private businesses, with speakers. MORE INFO
🏗️ 13/11, 10:00 🗺️ Dundee: Founders Hub Dundee – Digital Fortnight A co-working morning at Abertay cyberQuarter for founders building scalable tech businesses, from early stage to scaling up, run by ScotlandIS. MORE INFO
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That’s all for this week - have a great one!
Team 🔥 Campfire