Scottish startup Neve Learning recognised by Innovate UK Women in Innovation Awards for pioneering the future of personalised workplace learning

Glasgow-based learning technology startup Neve Learning has been recognised as a Highly Commended business in the Innovate UK Women in Innovation Awards 2025/26, recognising the company's vision to transform workplace learning through accessibility-first design and artificial intelligence.

Angela Prentner-Smith, Founder and CEO of Neve Learning, has been recognised as a Highly Commended applicant in the Innovate UK Women in Innovation Awards 2025/26 for the team's vision to develop the Neve Learning Personalisation Engine, an AI-powered innovation designed to transform workplace learning through accessibility and personalisation.

Angela was named among just 39 Highly Commended applicants, selected from a record 1,590 applications in the tenth anniversary year of Innovate UK's flagship Women in Innovation programme. The programme celebrates women founders developing innovative businesses with the potential to deliver significant economic and social impact, while providing mentoring, networking, business support and development opportunities to help accelerate future growth.

Founded in Glasgow and born through the Scottish Government's CivTech innovation programme, Neve Learning was created after identifying a growing challenge facing organisations across every sector.

Despite significant investment in workplace learning, many organisations still rely on learning platforms that deliver the same experience to every learner, regardless of how they learn best. Success is often measured through course completion rather than genuine understanding, behaviour change or long-term impact, leaving employers with little evidence that their investment in training is delivering meaningful results. At the same time, learners with different cognitive needs, accessibility requirements or working patterns frequently encounter unnecessary barriers that reduce engagement and learning outcomes.

Neve Learning was founded on a simple belief: learning should adapt to people, not expect people to adapt to learning.

The company has already developed an accessibility-first workplace learning platform that helps organisations create more engaging, inclusive and personalised learning experiences. Built around the principles of Hybrid. Inclusive. Personalised. Impactful, the platform combines intelligent technology with inclusive design to improve learning for everyone, while making it easier for organisations to create, deliver and measure high-quality training.

The Highly Commended recognition was awarded for Neve Learning's proposed Personalisation Engine, the next evolution of the platform and a significant step towards truly adaptive workplace learning.

Rather than relying on fixed learning journeys or asking learners to select preferences themselves, the Personalisation Engine has been designed to understand how people actually engage with learning. By observing how learners interact with audio, video, text and visual content over time, the technology will build an evolving learner profile, allowing learning experiences to adapt to individual needs, preferred formats, pace and engagement patterns, while ensuring learners always remain in control of their learning experience.

The innovation also addresses one of the biggest gaps in workplace learning today: measuring impact.

Most organisations can report who completed a course, but very few can confidently demonstrate whether learning has been understood, retained or applied in practice. Neve Learning's Personalisation Engine has been designed to generate long-term evidence of learning effectiveness, enabling organisations to understand what works, for whom and why. This insight has the potential to improve learning outcomes, increase return on investment and help organisations move beyond compliance-driven training towards evidence-led workforce development.

For learners, particularly those who are neurodivergent, disabled or time-poor, the technology aims to reduce cognitive load, improve accessibility and create learning experiences that are more intuitive, flexible and effective, without requiring individuals to disclose additional support needs. For employers, it offers the opportunity to create more inclusive workplaces while making better-informed decisions about learning, skills and organisational development.

The Highly Commended recognition comes at a pivotal stage in Neve Learning's growth. As the company accelerates development of its Personalisation Engine and expands its technical capability, it welcomes discussions with investors and strategic partners who share its vision for the future of inclusive, AI-powered workplace learning. The next phase of development will focus on bringing adaptive workplace learning technology to organisations across the UK and internationally.

Building on its existing platform and growing partnerships across the public and private sectors, Neve Learning's long-term roadmap is focused on creating intelligent learning experiences that continuously improve through evidence, accessibility and human-centred design, helping organisations better understand the impact of learning while ensuring every learner has the opportunity to succeed.

Angela Prentner-Smith, Founder and CEO of Neve Learning, said:

“I'm delighted to have been recognised for our work in innovation, and the pure wealth of talent and ingenuity in this cohort is truly inspiring. I hope Neve Learning can use this as a springboard to truly personalised learning, funding and UK wide networks.”

To find out more about Neve Learning, visit www.nevelearning.co.uk.

About Neve Learning:

Neve Learning is a Scottish learning technology company based in Glasgow.

Developed through the Scottish Government's CivTech innovation programme, Neve Learning was created to make workplace learning more inclusive, accessible and effective for everyone. Built around the principles of Hybrid. Inclusive. Personalised. Impactful, the platform helps organisations create engaging learning experiences that adapt to the needs of modern, diverse workforces while providing meaningful insight into learning outcomes.

Learn more at www.nevelearning.co.uk or connect with the team on LinkedIn.