NANOPLUME

A scalable bio-aerogel platform for cold chain and thermal insulation applications.

Our Programme Manager – Entrepreneurship, Alex Heaffey, catches up with Theresa Hoffmann, CEO and Co-Founder of NANOPLUME to learn how they are developing more sustainable thermal insulation materials from nanomaterials.

Their technology and the impact

Currently, thermal insulation materials – including those used in cold chain and built environments – lack energy efficiency; space efficiency, which is a particular issue for bulky, heavy mineral materials; and circularity. “80% of insulation materials are petrochemical-based,” said Theresa. “We are developing a nanoporous material, a bio-aerogel, that is three times as insulating, 60% thinner and lighter, and 100% biocompatible.” This results in materials that are sustainable and safe enough to eat, as was memorably demonstrated during the pitch final.

“Aerogels sound very space age,” remarks Theresa, “and they are! They were invented over 80 years ago and have been on Mars to protect the Mars Rover. They’ve proven to be highly effective, but they’re also expensive and quite brittle. By making them bio-based, we have been able to solve those issues, make them 75% cheaper, scalable, stronger, and circular.”

The journey to date

NANOPLUME has walked a slightly unusual journey for an Emerging Technologies Competition winner. “My co-founders are chemical engineering PhDs from University of Cambridge and Birmingham University. I was living in Berlin at the time, and we met through Carbon 13, the venture builder in Cambridge.”

Brought together by the venture builder, they brought knowledge and skill-sets and looked for worth-while applications of these materials. Initially they thought the porous, highly absorbent nature of the aerogels would lead to applications in diapers, but then they discovered the outdated nature of the thermal insulation space. They have since gone on to develop a number of prototypes with different formulations, they’ve filed patents and begun to pilot their technology in the cold-chain logistics space, with further pilots upcoming in the built environment.

Taking part and why it helped

Through the competition, NANOPLUME gained valuable visibility that has continued to support the company’s growth. “Winning the competition definitely helped raise our profile,” said Theresa. “We had people reach out to us, including investors, specifically because we had won. In the UK, it’s a highly prestigious and well-recognised award, so, being a Cambridge-based company, that credibility has been extremely helpful.” The team also made a number of meaningful connections, including coverage in Chemistry World, which further extended their reach, prompting additional inbound interest.

Beyond visibility, the prize money played a practical and strategic role, enabling NANOPLUME to accelerate third-party testing and certification processes – activities that are both costly and critical for commercial progress.

“Pitching in front of such a highly respected jury, and receiving an award in such an official setting, made it a particularly special moment for us,” Theresa reflected. “It was a real honour, and felt quite different from other competitions – more relevant, more impactful, and a strong validation that we are on the right path, both technologically and in terms of commercial and economic viability.”

Top tips on how to be the next winner

“There are so many scientists and founders with exceptional technical ideas, backgrounds, and skill sets,” said Theresa. “It can be easy to focus heavily on the science and lose sight of the commercial application when pitching, but it’s essential to clearly position your product in a real market context.” She believes this was a key factor in NANOPLUME’s success. “Even though we were still early-stage, we were able to articulate where the technology fits commercially, and to communicate that clearly and simply.”

Theresa also emphasised the importance of balance. “You need a strong commercial focus, but also a presentation that is accessible and well-structured. It shouldn’t avoid technical detail altogether, but it should prioritise clarity and storytelling, rather than diving too deeply into the science during the pitch. Less is more.”

Watch the interview from the day to find out what it’s like to win. Could you be next?

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Ignota Labs

AI-driven mechanistic understanding of drug safety failures

Abstract

Ignota Labs were formed in 2022 by Jordan Lane, Dr Layla Hosseini-Gerami and Sam Windsor as they recognised a gap in the drug discovery market, where more than half of all clinical trials are failing due to safety issues. With their collective experience, three co-founders’ backgrounds Ignota Labs was born to tackle this problem through AI and Machine Learning. The founding team of two PhDs and two MBAs from top institutions including Cambridge University and INSEAD business school, includes a seasoned drug discovery expert, a machine learning researcher and an experienced healthcare strategy specialist. 

Our programme manager, Emily Vipond from the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), caught up with Ignota Labs’ Layla Hosseini-Gerami (Chief Data Science Officer) to find out what they have been up to since winning the 2024 Emerging Technologies Competition in the Health category.
Fifty-six percent of drug discovery projects reaching a phase one clinical trial will fail due to unforeseen safety problems, such as liver toxicity. This represents a huge loss of money, time and resources that have gone into a given trial. Ignota Labs are using AI and machine learning to tackle this issue. 

When the company started out in 2022, their business model was focused on identifying drug failures early in the drug discovery process. They started by doing proactive safety screening, but they quickly realised that they needed to think of an alternative business model to really capture the value within this space. There is a lot of competition “upstream” in the drug discovery process, but Ignota Labs are uniquely positioned to offer value when drugs are transitioning to the clinic, so that more drugs actually make it to the patients who need them. 

Ignota Labs have now geared their business and technology to focus on understanding why things go wrong when they do. Layla says, ‘So once the drug has already gone into an animal in a preclinical study or into a human in a phase one study, often at that point, some kind of toxicity issue will be borne out that was completely unexpected. So instead of just throwing these drugs to the side, and wasting all that time and money, we analyse these drugs and understand what went wrong, understand if that's a problem that we can solve.’ Layla goes on to say, ‘And then if we believe that it's a solvable safety issue, we in-licence the drug to turn it around. By this I mean we fix the toxicity issues and then after putting it back through clinical trials up to phase one, we then sell the drug. [This means] a drug that would have been sitting on a shelf gathering dust, becomes an option for patients who are waiting for a treatment for that disease. We're coming in and giving hope to these patients by reviving these drug projects that would otherwise just be discarded.’
What have you been up to since winning the competition?
Since winning the competition Ignota Labs have been extremely busy. Their biggest milestone Layla says, ‘Is closing our seed funding round, we spent a lot of our time [on this] last year and being able to say that we won the Emerging Technologies Competition gave us validation. That what we're doing is good, a panel of experts has looked at what we've done and has said that it's innovative. It’s a stamp of approval when you speak to investors, especially ones that aren't specialists in chemistry or drug discovery or machine learning necessarily, to know that someone who is an expert has looked and has said that this is something that's award-winning.’

As well as raising investment, Ignota Labs acquired their first drug asset where they solved a safety issue that was unsolvable by the biotech that previously owned it. Ignota Labs will now take that drug through preclinical and phase one trials before they commercialise it.

Layla mentions, ‘We won Sanofi’s iDEA-Tech Award, which is a global competition aimed at accelerating breakthroughs in pharmaceutical R&D using AI and data-driven solutions. We will be working on a pilot with Sanofi to better understand the underlying mechanisms that cause organ toxicity.’

To conclude Layla says, ‘I also received Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation award. This will support a project to expand our platform to address the significant gap in drug safety understanding in diverse populations. In partnership with Genomics England and Cytochroma, we will look at how patients’ genomics profiles affect liver toxicity risks.’
Looking ahead to 2025 Layla says, ‘We are all kind of raring to go and just expand the company operations. We are focusing on acquiring more drug assets to add to our portfolio; we’re currently assessing the potential of our next asset.’ Layla continues, ‘We will start developing the drug asset that we already have in-house. We still must do some very pivotal efficacy experiments, which will then enable us to go and raise more funds to further develop the drug and actually put it into these expensive trials.’
Layla says, ‘Continuing to improve the technology, and with the Innovate UK grant, looking at genomics data that will hopefully be a step into the world of doing more personalised assessments of toxicity, so really understanding which patients will show toxicity and which ones won’t and informing clinical trials and understanding better when things have gone wrong.’

Laylas concludes, ‘In the next 5 years, I really see us making a name for ourselves in terms of being the company that can turn around failed drugs. We've had one example now, but one example is never enough. So, over the next five years, just really building that reputation for us as being that company.’
What made you apply to the Emerging Technologies Competition?
‘So, for us it was really about that validation piece,’ Layla says. ‘It’s a signal from the industry that what we're doing is good and it's the right thing to be doing. Being a very early-stage company, you don't have a lot of money to go out and do case studies, it’s really nice to have that validation from institutions like the RSC. It gives us that badge of honour that can help us to reach the next level.’

Layla continues, ‘We had applied the year before and had been unsuccessful. The business has moved on a lot since our last entry, so going back and trying again and saying, “we've taken all [the judges] feedback on board, we're here and we're ready to try again,” was also another motivating factor.’
 What did you like best about taking part in the Emerging Technologies Competition?
‘The pitch day is just an absolutely amazing day because it's a full day of just hearing about all these very smart, very talented people that have come up with something amazing in the world of chemistry. Being very inspired by the very strong competition in the room.’

What advice would you give to anyone looking to apply to the 2024 Emerging Technologies Competition?
Layla says, ‘Firstly to just go for it! Even if you think you might not win or you might not get to the final, all the feedback that you receive is very, very useful and very helpful and worth the time of applying even just for that.’ Layla continues, ‘Then I would say that when you write your application, just really keep in mind the audience and what you're trying to convey, because a lot of the time these innovations can be very technical, very specific. And I think it's important to keep the big picture in mind. When you're writing your application, really focus on the: what or what you're doing, how it can impact the world in a positive way, even if you're super early.’

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Cardiff Catalysis Institute

Hydro-Oxy: in-situ hydrogen peroxide synthesis for sustainable chemical production

Our Programme Manager - Entrepreneurship, Alex Heaffey, catches up with Dr Richard Lewis, Hydro-Oxy’s entrepreneurial lead, about how they are developing a new ground-breaking catalytic technology.

Their technology and the impact

“It’s estimated about 200 hundred tonnes of water is required to generate one tonne of hydrogen peroxide through existing processes, and that results in a significant carbon footprint,” explains Richard. “A lot of energy is also required to concentrate the peroxide to levels viable for shipping to the end user, but ultimately that energy is wasted when the peroxide is re-diluted in the chemical reactor. On top of that there are serious safety concerns associated with handling highly concentrated oxidants, which has led to a sustained interest in alternative approaches to supplying peroxide, particularly for selective oxidation chemistries.”

With nearly 2.5 million tonnes of hydrogen peroxide used every year in chemical synthesis, a long-standing goal of catalysis has been to generate this powerful oxidant in-situ. That’s where Hydro-Oxy comes in. Building on 20 years of research, this first of its kind in-situ catalytic technology “delivers and utilises peroxide directly where it is needed, enabling simpler, safer “one-pot” routes to high-value chemicals and paving the way for an integrated H2-to-chemicals sector.

The journey to date

The underlying technology for Hydro-Oxy builds on world-leading research focussed on the direct synthesis of peroxide, started by the group in the early 2000s. Recently, led by Richard, the team have redefined oxidation catalysis as a cascade problem requiring simultaneous control over peroxide generation, activation, and utilisation. This advance has enabled a new paradigm that collapses multi-step industrial oxidation into single-reactor systems delivering improvements in atom efficiency, energy use, and process safety. They are now making a push for commercial development.

Following participation in the ICURe (Innovation-to-Commercialisation of University Research) programme at the end of 2024, where they validated their technology with a number of customers, including multi-national chemical producers, they came to realise that whilst their technology had developed significantly in an academic setting, they would need to spin-out and raise the capital needed to fully realise its potential.

Recently they have “upscaled the technology by a factor of 50 and begun extended lifetime testing under realistic industrial conditions, with no loss in performance observed,” so now they are moving their IP position forwards and getting ready for spin-out. “Our aim is to develop the technology to a point where we can licence it into a market incumbent. There's a lot of steps between academic proof-of-concept and deployable technology obviously, but I think there's a well-trodden path that we can follow, including by previous Emerging Technologies Competition winners.”

Taking part and why it’s not just about winning

“We were hoping to use the Emerging Technologies Competition to get some detailed feedback and really kick the tyres on the technology to see where things fall down.” Through engaging with the judges panel, they “identified some valid points that helped streamline our thinking on what problems we needed to address going forward.” Taking part in the competition also “opened the doors for us to have meaningful conversations with potential partners and firm up existing relationships developed through ICURe. It’s a great way to introduce ourselves, and people have really engaged with us because of that.”

Through the discussions with the judges panel, they’ve also gone on to form relationships that will support their scale-up from a chemical engineering perspective, and it also gave them options for moving from commodity chemicals into speciality chemicals, which was something they hadn’t considered previously.

“The prize money is always nice, but the validation and recognition of the technology from an organisation like the RSC… you can’t put a price on that.”

Top tips on how to be the next winner

Whilst no-one would relish the stress of a quick pivot during a power cut, and having no slides as a safety net, the 2026 RSC power cut turned out to be a valuable baptism of fire. “You had to figure out how to distil, very rapidly, the key points that you wanted to get across to the judges. We didn’t get all those great slide decks and presentations that everyone had prepared, but that meant we weren’t overly-reliant on them.” This lesson in getting across the key story, the value of the technology, and its impact is something that will be highly valuable for forming future relationships as the business develops and they engage with investors and commercial partners.

“For us, 90 to 95% of the benefits came from taking part and the feedback you get from it. The cherry on the top of the cake is nice, but the cake is just as sweet without it.”

“Don’t focus entirely on the scientific foundation of your technology,” Richard advises. “People from an academic setting, and I count myself amongst them, can be guilty of overexplaining every little nuance and detail. It’s a technology competition, but it’s about impact, translation, and innovation also, so be aware of the commercial aspects. Be realistic with yourself and the judges, the current technology limitations, are equally important, as are your next steps, and how you will translate your technology from a research setting into the real world.”

Watch the interview on the day to find out more about their win and what it’s like to win. Could this be you?

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About the competition 

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Mode Labs

Compact field-deployable sensor for real-time environmental monitoring of water pollution.

Company overview

Recent stories about sewage emissions and waste going into rivers have highlighted some troubling issues in the water industry. Less attention is given to the hard-working people in the background doing what they can to solve these problems.  One of the biggest hindrances to finding effective solutions is being able to accurately locate and identify the problems in the first place. Current sensors on the market are big, bulky instruments that require mains power, and these sensors cannot be distributed over bodies of water or on points across the water system.

That is where Mode Labs, a spin out of the University of Oxford, comes in. Building upon research first developed by Professor Jason Smith from the Department of Materials and Professor Claire Vallance from the Department of Chemistry, Mode Labs CTO, Dean James, completed his PhD developing a chemical sensing technology. Over the last six years, the founders of Mode Labs have been turning this research, together with their academic founders at the university, into low cost, portable and easily deployable sensors for the water sector. The existing prototype is the size of a small carry-on suitcase, that runs on battery power and can detect a whole array of important chemical pollution parameters. However, the technology can easily be miniaturised to a shoebox-sized device. The device can run for months at a time without any maintenance, enabling them to get a handle on where the problems are occurring and what can be done to fix them. Now, they are working with customers to make these devices as easy to deploy as possible.

Our programme manager, Emily Vipond from the RSC, caught up with Dean to see what Mode Labs has been up to since winning the 2023 Emerging Technologies Competition in the Environment category.

What have you been up to since winning the competition?
‘We've been building towards a second prototype deployment with the award we got from the RSC,’ Dean says. ‘We are expanding our team with four or five new hires as we move into our new labs and offices.’

Mode Labs is gearing up for the future. The new team will be working on a design ready for manufacture, before scaling up towards selling their instruments. This work will be supported by upcoming trials with customers who will be deploying sensors for months at a time to carry out testing and generate feedback. Dean tells me, ‘We’re taking our prototypes, launching them for trials and working with customers to understand what they need next. The next stage is productization. We have these prototypes, and we will need them to be as simple to deploy and as rugged as possible. That’s probably our work for the next year or two.’ 

‘This is a platform that can detect a whole host of things. The idea is to broaden our scope – looking at emerging contaminants like PFOS and PFAS, and where we can help in other sectors, such as agriculture and farming. This is a huge problem worldwide, so we will be looking to approach new markets such as Europe and America.’

What made you apply to the Emerging Technologies Competition?
'I’ve been in the chemistry field for almost two decades now, and the RSC has always been a central figure aiding with both my education and my professional development. The Emerging Technologies Competition was the perfect tie-in at the perfect time.'

What did you like best about taking part in the Emerging Technologies Competition?
 ‘The event itself was a great way of meeting lots of companies at a similar stage. Whilst a lot of my networking tends to be in the water sector, it was refreshing to speak with companies from other sectors that are having similar problems and have different approaches because of that.’ Dean explains further: ‘The quality of presentations at the event was fantastic and, despite being lucky enough to win, it helped us step up our game and we’ve taken a few tips from the presentations we've seen’.

What advice would you give to anyone looking to apply to the 2024 Emerging Technologies Competition?
Dean’s advice is: ‘be careful not to use jargon. You're the specialist and you've been talking about it so much that things might seem normal and very understandable to you. But remember that the judges come from a whole variety of backgrounds, as does your audience. Try and be as clear as you can.’ He adds, ‘as scientists, we always get very excited by the technology, but it’s the application to the market that’s important. Make sure that you understand your market and that you explain your market very clearly.’

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Thiotech

Sustainable sulfur containing technologies for capturing toxic metal compounds.

Company overview

ThioTech are a University of Liverpool spin out founded by a group of scientists who through PhD research, discovered technologies which showed a lot of promise to solve some unmet needs in the mercury capture market.

Our programme manager, Emily Vipond from the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), caught up with ThioTech’s Liam Dodd (CEO and R&D Manager) to find out what they have been up to since winning the 2024 Emerging Technologies Competition in the Environment category.

Who are Thiotech? What have you been up to since winning the competition?
In the 7 months on from winning the competition Liam explained ‘ThioTech has been really hard at work, fully optimising our flagship products to give the best possible performance, to make a splash in the market whilst also positioning ourselves for our first pilot studies with some of our more eager customers.’ He went on to say, ‘We've been gathering a full complement of technical data to show comprehensively that our inverse vulcanised coatings are well deserving of the attention that we claim they are from our end users.’

Liam continues ‘right now we're in that funding round to get the resources we need to scale up our material. We want to produce it in sufficient quantities for pilot studies and are looking at going from one kilogramme up to 20 kilogrammes in a batch. And with that, we'll be able to move into those pilot studies, test our materials in a real-world scenario with our customers to get data that's relevant to them and with the success of those pilot studies, we'll be able to cement our first licencing deals and joint development agreements before expanding to tackle more sources of mercury.’

Alongside focusing on their product development and pilot studies, ThioTech in the future will be looking to expand their team and move lab space. They currently operate out of the University of Liverpool.
What made you apply to the Emerging Technologies Competition?
ThioTech previously applied in 2019, re-applying in 2024 allowed the team to fully focus on one technology. Liam says, ‘With the breakthroughs we had previously in product development, we decided it was the right time to really start making that bigger name for ourselves and drawing that attention, which the competition was a great springboard for.’ 

He goes on to say ‘we saw the RSC Emerging Technologies Competition as an ideal way to build some reputation and prestige. Which could give us the foot in the door to start leveraging those end users and start building their trust’.
What did you like best about taking part in the Emerging Technologies Competition?
Liams says ‘one of the things that was really, really great about [competition final] was there were so many connections to make. There were companies from all different stages of development that were present and accessible in one place face to face, which is something that you can't really get elsewhere.’

What advice would you give to anyone looking to apply to the 2024 Emerging Technologies Competition?
Firstly, Liam says his golden rule for preparing a presentation is ‘never have more presentation slides than you have minutes. Especially here you don't have long for your presentation, you can't afford to be changing slides every 30 seconds.’ 

Secondly, Liam goes on to say ‘make a script and rehearse it. It is helpful with getting you to keep to time and ensuring that you're delivering the points in the most effective and efficient way possible, which is just so good for your confidence when you're on stage.’

Lastly, with regards to the application phase ‘send [your application] to someone who's not a technology person at all, e.g. your friends and family members and see if they can digest it.’

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About the competition

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Lambda Agri

Passive light management for greenhouse horticulture.

Abstract

Lambda Agri are a ‘spin in’ at the University of Cambridge where they co-developed the IP for Lambda UV-R. They are currently designing and making their chemical in collaboration with the University of Cambridge. 

Our programme manager, Emily Vipond from the RSC, caught up with Lambda Agri’s Monica Saavedra (CTO & Co-Founder) and Boris Breiner (Chief Scientist) to find out what they have been up to since winning the 2023 Emerging Technologies Competition in the Energy category.
Lambda Agri is the trading name of Lambda Energy, which was founded about six years ago as a solar company, looking into improving solar cells using spectral converters – films that can better convert sunlight and improve cell efficiency. However, in 2021 the team’s research highlighted an alternative market for their emerging technology, a pivot that had them rebrand to Lambda Agri.  

Their product is an active material that can be coated directly on to glass used in greenhouses. This converts UV light to red light, encouraging better growth in plants.  With millions of square metres of greenhouses all over the world, the market potential for their product in agritech was clear. Monica says, [on pivoting the company’s focus] '‘it also touched upon a particular drive: of working towards the UN goal of zero hunger.’'

What have you been up to since winning the competition?
Literally a few days before the competition final, Lambda Energy received exciting results from their MVP product testing in eight greenhouses at Cranfield University. Their product demonstrated a 9.3% increase in basil leaf yields and a 5% increase in strawberry sweetness. These results were independently verified by plant scientists at the University of Cranfield. The results for the strawberries have generated a lot of interest from growers who are targeting high-quality or high-value berries.
Monica says, ‘this early demonstration really brought home that this is a useful technology.’'
 
With regards to the commercial part of the company, Monica and the team currently have several ongoing conversations with paint companies. Their current business model is ‘'to sell their active material to the paint companies who will mix this into the paint that is then sold to growers to spray onto their greenhouses’. Monica goes on to say, ‘we will very likely subcontract the manufacture of the chemical to scale it up in the first instance and licence the technology after that.’'

Since winning the competition, Lambda Agri have gained a lot of momentum. They have been successful with grant applications, shortlisted for other competitions, and had a lot of interest from investors.

Monica concludes with the company’s plans for the future. ‘'On the technical side, via one of these grants we’ve been awarded, we are planning to coat  over 1500m² of greenhouses for a total A/B test size of 300m2. Growers won't be convinced unless we show them at least one growth trial with a minimum 600 m² of greenhouse covered with our material. We will be investigating different crops as well, such as various berries and herbs.’'

What made you apply to the Emerging Technologies Competition?
Boris says '‘it was [our colleague] Niall who bought it to our attention, being a member of the RSC, and it looked like a good opportunity. At the time we were seeking funding and getting the recognition in the agritech sector.’'

What did you like best about taking part in the Emerging Technologies Competition?
Boris says ‘'the impressive part to me was being in the final and listening to all the other presentations. It was an impressive line-up of companies and ideas you had there. I was blown away just looking at the list of finalists and being able to network with the other finalists during the breaks.’'

What advice would you give to anyone looking to apply to the 2024 Emerging Technologies Competition?
Boris and Monica both agree on ‘'give it a try – you never know.''

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University of Nottingham

Nottingham Vortex: scalable process platform to accelerate discovery to production.

Company overview

A collaborative research group spanning chemistry through engineering from the University of Nottingham have developed a vortex reactor technology.
The team are passionate about helping transform the way chemicals are made more sustainably, particularly using light and electricity to replace frequently toxic and wasteful reagents with continuous manufacturing called flow chemistry. 

The aim of their technology is that the new reactors will make photochemistry and electrochemistry easier in flow chemistry, allowing them to work with companies to put this technology into the marketplace.

Their continuous-flow Vortex Reactor provides access to Photo-/Electro- and Thermal chemistries in single or linked reactors. The Reactor decouples residence time from mixing efficiency delivering high-productivity, simple operation and scale-up. The Reactor is capable of Gram-to-10 Kilo Scale production of pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and fine chemicals in a small-footprint reactor. This will allow them to work with manufacturing companies with what would be plug in and play for flow chemistry.
Our programme manager – Emily Vipond from the RSC caught up with the University of Nottingham’s Professor Michael (Mike) George to find out what they had been up to since winning the 2023 Emerging Technologies Competition in the Enabling Technologies category.

What have you been up to since winning the competition?
Since winning the competition, the University of Nottingham group have been looking to work with LED manufacturers; they are closely linking now, with the pharmaceutical sector and many end users to license their technology. They are taking it from proof-of-concept scale to being commercially available. Mike says, ‘the advice from the judges in choosing your partners carefully going forward on this has been really valuable’.
Alongside these conversations, Mike and the team are developing the technology further to give enhanced performance in the areas of photo, electro, and thermal chemistry. 
What made you apply to the Emerging Technologies Competition?

University of Nottingham had applied in 2022, Mike says ‘perhaps we focused on the technology too much, the judges initial feedback was extremely helpful then’. They took the feedback on board and re-applied highlighting the huge advances they had made not only with their technology but their business plan too.  Mike goes on to say ‘It was a unique opportunity to promote our reactor technology and secure core seed funding to accelerate our commercialisation. 

What did you like best about taking part in the Emerging Technologies Competition?
Mike says ‘it was a really humbling experience to win. With so many terrific companies, there was a great spirit of innovation and infectious enthusiasm.’ He goes onto to say the publicity pre and post event has opened many opportunities. Concluding ‘when you win the prize its not just the prize, it’s validation of the technology that makes the experience really valuable’.

What advice would you give to anyone looking to apply to the 2024 Emerging Technologies Competition?
Mike’s advice ‘be clear on your USP, why would you make the difference, be bold but realistic and have evidence. Remember that it is a business competition and not focused just on the technology. Just go for it!’

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Read about what our 2023 winners have been up to since winning. 

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About the competition

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PlantSea

Plastic-free water-soluble films to replace PVOH for packaging applications.

Our Programme Manager – Entrepreneurship, Alex Heaffey, catches up with Dr Alex Newnes about how they have developed a unique and scalable seaweed biorefining process.

Their technology and the impact

Currently products such as laundry detergents and chemicals that are dependent on soluble-film encapsulation require the use of plastics like PVA and PVOH in this casing. Reducing the millions of tonnes of plastic that pollute our oceans, waste streams, and bodies every year requires alternatives that are single-use, but also sustainable and easy to breakdown whilst being stable during storage and transport.

That’s why PlantSea are developing a process that turns seaweed into soluble films.

The journey to date

PlantSea started with a group of friends that met at Aberystwyth University and shared a passion to “do something about the plastic problem,” said co-Founder, Alex Newnes. “At the time, very little was being done with seaweed, outside of pharmaceuticals and hydrocolloids.” With an initial eye on shampoos and cosmetics, their idea evolved into the soluble films of today, and – like many good entrepreneurial stories- it all began at their kitchen table. They began with basic mixes of starches and glycerols to learn the basics, plus whatever equipment they could get their hands on in the kitchen, before moving onto seaweed processing, where they started off with “very ugly, very rudimentary films.”

After securing initial grants in the order of £50,000, they have since developed this technology and their business to receive grants worth ten times that, and they are now producing more attractive, stable films, biorefining at scales on the magnitude of 500L. After winning several innovation competitions and taking part in accelerators, including the Change Makers Venture Acceleration Programme, they have gone on to raise significant investment, including a recent successful crowdfunding campaign, with the goal to continue their scale-up and start to act on letters of intents from partnerships they have been building in the past year.

Taking part and why it’s not just about winning

Alex remembers how an advertisement in Chemistry World caught his eye and it was “exactly the right thing for us. It gave us a way to attach ourselves to the RSC brand and gain profile and add to our professional image, as well as building credibility with customers and the supply chain. Also, I've not necessarily been to many other events or other competitions with specialist judges, who are all chemistry-related and relevant to the industries we're interested in. So it's a great opportunity to get a lot of highly relevant feedback all at once.” Even without a win in their first year of application, they felt it was their opportunity to throw their hat in the ring and show that they were ones to watch.

“We've been fundraising throughout this whole period and ramping up a lot since the competition, so having awards that we can reference (particularly ones that are highly relevant like this one) builds credibility, and it speaks a lot to the professional audience, the investors, and lay audiences, who understand and trust the RSC.”

Alex acknowledges that the “cash prize is a big incentive. It really helps that it’s very, very flexible. That prize money predominantly went into securing the next round of IP. Our IP is super important as a technology company, it really is everything, but it’s also quite expensive and doesn’t necessarily fall into the eligibility of conventional grant funding.”

However, one of their biggest takeaway’s from the competition was “the networking and getting to meet other people, mostly the other entrepreneurs, and get their stories and the inspiration of all the amazing things going on, which I can bring back to my team and hopefully inspire them as well.”

Building his network through the competition and Change Makers were both key things he enjoyed both times he took part. “It can be really hard, and it can be really lonely being an entrepreneur. I'm fortunate that I've got a co-founder that is also going through it. But to meet a lot of other people going through the same challenges and the same hardships… it's really good to make those connections and foster those networks.”

Beyond the peer-to-peer connection, Alex also notes that having a panel of judges from across corporates and entrepreneurship led to valuable connections that helped them build the business and product, as well as potential partnerships down the line and open doors in industry that would have otherwise been a challenge. “

The RSC has such an enormous reach, so I think it really goes a long way to help spread awareness of our brand, our mission, and the amazing things that we're trying to do.”

Top tips on how to be the next winner

One of the key pieces of advice that Alex gives future applicants is to use the opportunity to practise pitching and public speaking, “the more opportunities you get to do it, the better. Especially at high profile events and when things don’t go to plan, like with the power cut during the 2025 finals!” said Alex.

“Do it! Apply! Don’t be shy about it. The feedback that you get is invaluable in helping you shape the next steps for your business, or what you might need to do next time if you apply again.”

He also recommends that there are a lot of resources available. “Follow the advice, engage with all of the support and the practise beforehand. Go in with a mindset to just enjoy it, to learn from everybody else and to meet all of those other people. The networking opportunities are the most valuable thing you get from any event that you attend, and this is absolutely no different. There might be higher stakes in terms of what's on offer, but it's a great opportunity to meet people, to learn and to see what's out there.”

Watch the interview from the day to find out what it’s like to win. Could you be next?

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Orthogonal Peptides

Re-inventing solid-phase peptide synthesis.

Abstract

Orthogonal Peptides are an Imperial College London spinout company developing new peptide therapeutics.

Our programme manager, Emily Vipond from the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), caught up with Orthogonal Peptides Othman Almusaimi (CTO) and Daryl Williams (interim CEO) to find out what they have been up to since winning the 2024 Emerging Technologies Competition in the Enabling Technologies category.
Orthogonal Peptides are re-inventing solid phase peptide synthesis, which is the gold standard for making peptides at research and industrial scale. Orthogonal Peptides have revolutionised this methodology to be able to make more orally available peptides as well as other unique peptide structures.

Peptides have a value in treating several therapeutic areas such as diabetes and weight loss but also in cancer and antimicrobial treatments. Daryl says, ‘Peptides are probably becoming the therapeutic mode of choice for those key disease states. However, the problem with peptides as a general comment is that they are very difficult to deliver orally, which means you must inject them into patients which is not popular or therapeutically ideal’.  He continues, ‘It turns out if you make cyclic peptides, they're much more compatible with oral delivery. And the technology that orthogonal peptides has invented is a new sustainable way of making peptides, specifically cyclic peptides as well as highly constrained structures that can’t be accessed with the existing technologies.’
What have you been up to since winning the competition?
Currently Orthogonal Peptides are completing the spinout of their company from Imperial College London which they hope to complete by Q2 of 2025 as they finalise the IP for their newly incorporated company.

Daryl says, ‘One of our focuses has been extending and solidifying the IP portfolio for the business. We have received some EPSRC research funds at the university, which is allowing us to do some more work pre spinout and some more technology development work to support the business.’ Othman adds, ‘We have appointed 2 research fellows to complete this EPSRC project work.’

In the time since winning the competition Daryl says, ‘We’ve signed 12 NDAs with companies interested in their technology as well as a number of Material Transfer Agreements, highlighting the commercial interest in our technologies.’ 
What made you apply to the Emerging Technologies Competition?
Othman says, ‘We all know the Royal Society of Chemistry is a prestigious institute and I did apply in 2023, but I didn't win and the judges who marked my proposal, encouraged me to reapply the next year. When I applied the first time, the patent was not filed, and they said we appreciate that you are not able to speak much and maybe when you file the patent and the technology is more mature, reapply next year. We re-applied and we won.’
 
What did you like best about taking part in the Emerging Technologies Competition?
Othman says ‘I truly enjoyed meeting people from various levels, including PhD students, postdocs, and academics, all striving to take their science to the next level. Also, I found the discussion with the judges during my pitch to be an invaluable experience.’

What advice would you give to anyone looking to apply to the 2024 Emerging Technologies Competition?
Othman says, ‘Don’t give up—keep pushing boundaries and following your passion. Remember, failure is just the first step on your journey to success.’

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University of Liverpool

Synthetic Teixobactins: multitargeting antibiotics to combat resistant superbugs.

Our Programme Manager - Entrepreneurship, Alex Heaffey, catches up with Dr Ishwar Singh from the University of Liverpool about how they are tackling the challenge of antimicrobial resistance.

Their technology and the impact

“Antimicrobial resistance – in simple terms, when antibiotics don’t work – is labelled as a silent pandemic, which sadly kills nearly 5 million people every year. Without action, it’s going to increase.” With this in mind, the University of Liverpool has pioneered a robust, scalable, and automated synthetic platform that effectively eliminates drug-resistant pathogens without detectable resistance, adding a new tool into the kit of medical practitioners in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.

“We aspire to bring new hope to improve and save lives currently lost due to antimicrobial resistance. We aim to achieve this by discovering and developing innovative molecules to refresh the AMR pipeline and provide new therapeutic options to tackle antimicrobial resistance.”

“The reason we started with this teixobactin was that they already showed very powerful antibacterial activity… however, in terms of its chemistry, it is a complex macrocyclic peptide, which means the synthesis is challenging. We have simplified the design of this teixobactin so that we can make it at scale, improve the safety and efficacy, and reduce the cost by 4000 times, as well as improve yields up to 40%.”

The journey to date

With their research starting in the Antimicrobial Drug Discovery and Development group at the University of Liverpool, they have recently completed ICURe to understand the route to commercialisation and impact. They are currently assessing the next steps towards spinning out, “our success in the Emerging Technologies Competition has been a very important step in that direction.” As part of this development, they have also since taken part in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Change Makers Pre-Acceleration programme to help them build their business and technology proposition and accelerate them along this journey.

Taking part and why it’s not just about winning

From taking part in the competition, their team was able to access “valuable exposure to a community of like-minded innovators developing a diverse range of genuinely transformative technologies.” Getting their networking time with the other finalists and judges was important in “highlighting the importance of understanding the whole innovation journey; rather than being limited to the scientific excellence and discovery, it helped us to consider the manufacturability, intellectual property position, and the investment and market adoption.”

Beyond this, interacting with the judges and utilising their deep knowledge of the commercial and industrial angles of technology, helped them “articulate their technology to a non-specialist audience.” They’ve also received offers of advice from experts that attended the day, to help them on spin-out and bridge the gap between academia and industry. This is advice that Ishwar notes is rare to get in a university. Through the competition audience, they have received connections to interested investors to help them on this journey to commercialisation. 

“This perspective has been particularly important for translating complex antimicrobial science into a compelling and credible proposition for investors, partners and policymakers.”

 Ishwar points out that they applied previously in 2024, and the feedback they received from the judges was invaluable in coming back and taking home the win the following year. “We used the judge’s feedback to understand what was missing, for our pitch and for our commercial development. It helped us to balance the unmet need and market with the value that comes from lives saved.

By using the judges’ feedback we are now able to tell the complete story, but also strengthen our business case.” This helped them advance their technology in the year between competitions and be in a better position for the competition, but also their overall goals for the business. 

“The recognition significantly increased external interest in the technology, leading to a growing number of enquiries from key stakeholders who are keen to learn more and explore potential collaborations and investment opportunities to address drug-resistant bacterial infections.”

Top tips on how to be the next winner

Despite the challenge of a power cut during the finals, Ishwar reflects that there are some key learnings they took on that future applicants should also take into account.

“The power cut was a bit of a challenge, but we prepared to a level where we didn’t need the slides, and that came through. So focus on presenting the complete innovation story. Being an academic, we often get biased towards scientific excellence, but clearly articulate the problem you are solving, why it matters, how technology creates real world impact, and how it can be translated, scaled and adopted. The judges value clarity, credibility, and a compelling story, it’s not just about the technical strength. So try to build your story based on what evidence you have.”

Watch the interview from the day to find out what it’s like to win. Could you be next?

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NIQS

Quantum optical sensors for non-invasive, accurate and continuous glucose monitoring.

Company overview

NIQS Tech (Leeds) Limited is a spin-out from Leeds University, and was founded from the leading research groups of Prof. Gin Jose and Dr Almut Beige. NIQS’ sole focus is developing a truly non-invasive, continuous, and accurate glucose sensor.

NIQS developed their technology after seeing the limitations with the current solutions in the market, such as finger prick (blood) tests and the continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) that people wear on their upper arms. These current practices are supposed to help people living with diabetes maintain close glycemic control. However, the drawbacks associated with these practices tend to deter people from making frequent glucose measurements, which is core to good diabetes management. Ultimately, this increases the risk of nasty complications or other negative impacts on a person’s health, and increases the burden on healthcare providers.

NIQS’ optical-based sensor enables a more proactive and user-friendly approach to diabetes management; one that does not require needles to draw blood samples or any other invasive measurement process. Accessible and user-friendly solutions that encourage frequent glucose measurements will support better management practices, which will reduce the likelihood of complications and reduce the impact of diabetes on individuals and healthcare providers, such as the NHS. Our programme manager, Emily Vipond from the RSC, caught up with NIQS’s co-founder, Nicholas Furtak-Wells, to find out what they have been up to since winning the 2023 Emerging Technologies Competition in the Health category.

What have you been up to since winning the competition?
NIQS are currently developing and improving their technology, and Nicholas says ‘our starting point was a large setup which utilised big, bulky laboratory-grade equipment and occupied an entire optics table. Our recent efforts have significantly reduced our form factor down to a handheld-sized device with a 5x increase in the signal-to-noise ratio. This device enabled the team to move into ex-vivo (outside the living body) testing using porcine (pig) skin, as the dorsal site of pig ears represents the area of porcine tissue with the highest similarity to human skin. These studies demonstrated a 95.3% measurement accuracy across a broad range of glucose concentrations (0-450mg/dL), which is sufficient for commercialisation and already far exceeds the accuracy of the first commercially available continuous glucose monitors.

The quality and accuracy of this data gave great confidence to our clinical advisory board who are supporting NIQS’ efforts to move into human studies. Our focus now is finalising the necessary paperwork so the team can begin generating clinical data through in-vivo (within the living body) studies in a real-life environment, which we anticipated to conduct towards the end of Q1 2024. 

NIQS’ efforts have been supported in combination by grant funding from Innovate UK grant and equity investment from SFC Capital and an value-add angel investor. The team are aiming to raise further investment following the results from their testing in mid to late 2024.
On looking at the future goals of the company, Nicholas says, ‘raising that money will mean we can progress down both the technology readiness level and the manufacturing readiness level, and accelerate our time to market.’ He goes on to explain, ‘the funding will enable us to conduct larger scale clinical studies to support our progress down our chosen regulatory pathway. This will enable us to engage with the regulatory bodies to understand what evidence from our clinical data they need to see in order for us to move to the next stage and ultimately secure regulatory approval.’

What made you apply to the Emerging Technologies Competition?
NIQS applied in 2022 and were shortlisted as finalists. However, they later had to pull out. Nicholas considers this, ‘it probably worked out for the best, because we might not have won last year. But we reapplied. We had scaled our technology down to handheld size, generated some very strong ex-vivo data and filed a new patent. All these things fell into place by not being able to do it last year.’

What did you like best about taking part in the Emerging Technologies Competition?
Nicholas says, ‘I really enjoyed the opportunity to get on stage and pitch to a panel of industry experts who are working in medical technology, healthcare, or pharmaceutical companies. Being able to be questioned and get feedback from them is priceless.’ Nicholas adds, ‘the networking side of it was all really fun, being able to chat to people over lunch and in the coffee breaks.’

What advice would you give to anyone looking to apply to the 2024 Emerging Technologies Competition?
Nicholas breaks his advice into three sections. Firstly, he says, ‘I recommend starting as early as possible because the sooner you start, you can start to figure out the areas that you don't know and you can get additional input from colleagues to make the written application as strong as possible.’ Secondly, ‘on the pitch side: practice, practice, practice. You’re then more familiar and comfortable with the material and less likely it'll be thrown off if something unexpected happens.’ Lastly, ‘modelling and preparing some practice Q&A. I tried to look at my pitch and think “If I was a judge, what would I try to pick out? What would I try to find out more about?”.’

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Read about what our 2023 winners have been up to since winning. 

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About the competition

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