ENTREPRENEURIAL academics are being offered a £25,000 cash prize if they win the Converge Challenge.

The scheme, which tries to help students and researchers in Scotland turn their inventions into businesses and is now in its third year, is offering its largest cash pot to date.

There is also £20,000 of other benefits available to the overall champion.

Olga Kozlova, enterprise creation manager at Heriot-Watt University, said: "We want budding entrepreneurs to show the higher academic landscape across Scotland is alive with early-stage business creativity."

Heriot-Watt life sciences spin-out BryoActives won in 2010, with Strathclyde University software business Bellrock Technology winning last year.