  We provide a realisation of a singularity-free inflationary universe in the
form of a simple cosmological model dominated at early times by a single
minimally coupled scalar field with a physically based potential. The universe
starts asymptotically from an initial Einstein static state, which may be large
enough to avoid the quantum gravity regime. It enters an expanding phase that
leads to inflation followed by reheating and a standard hot Big Bang evolution.
We discuss the basic characteristics of this Emergent model and show that none
is at odds with current observations.
