Thirty finalists from across Europe went head-to-head to pitch their ideas for the latest healthcare, energy and sustainability, and materials technologies to panels of industry experts.
The competition, in its third year, included small companies and academic entrepreneurs from nine countries outside the UK for the first time, including Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
Diverse pitches included diagnostic flu tests using gold and sugars, electricity generation from wastewater and wearable energy harvesting fabrics, among many others.
Nottingham-based Haemostatix Ltd took first prize in the healthcare stream for their peptide dendrimer, which treats bleeding during surgery and trauma. In second and third place, were the University of Cambridge, for their cancer therapy using artificial metalloproteins, and CytoFind Diagnostics, for their picoliter droplets for detection of circulating tumour cells.
In the Energy and Sustainable category, it was Ghent University, Belgium, which won with its idea of a chemical pump for recovery of industrial waste heat. Second and third were also respectively taken by international winners in Danish InfinityPV, for their ultra-thin foil-based photovoltaic device, and the National Institute of Chemistry in Slovenia for novel catalysis for syngas production.
The University of Cambridge (David Fairen-Jimenez and Andrew Marsden) scooped the final first prize in Materials for its idea of metal-organic frameworks manufacturing technology for gas storage. Engineering functional materials for data communications was the idea behind the University of Leeds’ second place pitch. Bridgend’s Seren Photonics Ltd came third with GaN templates enabling next generation LED.
Each of the first prize winners won £20,000 and also tailored business support from the Society’s corporate partners. Second prize received £3,000 and third prize £2,000.
Alongside a day of pitches were some inspiring talks from leading figures in innovation and design. The afternoon started with a discussion on healthcare innovation featuring Ger Brophy, Chief Technology Officer of GE Healthcare, and Anthony Walker from Alacrita, opened up afternoon discussions on healthcare innovation. BBC presenter and materials scientist Mark Miodownik talked about the future of materials, while Jaideep Prabhu, from Cambridge Judge Business School, introduced the concept of frugal innovation and Chris Thompson, from Viadynamics, spoke about design–led innovation.
Serial entrepreneur Sherry Coutu was the keynote speaker, providing insights on how to grow your small company – and grow it fast.
The event was rounded off with a black-tie dinner and prize ceremony at BAFTA Piccadilly.
Image: (L-R) Steve Pleasance (RSC Industry Manager), David Fairen-Jimenez from the winning Cambridge Materials team, and Sherry Coutu CBE, serial entrepreneur.
Picture: © Royal Society of Chemistry / MPP Image Creation
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