Your May update on the ecosystem

Are you interested in what is happening in the innovation ecosystem? Read selected news to keep up to date with what is impacting deep tech chemistry.

Updates from the ecosystem

Commitment to tackling antimicrobial resistance by 2029

The government has announced a new national action plan on antimicrobial resistance with a 20 year vision to contain and control AMR by 2040. This national plan includes reduction and exposure to antimicrobials, as well as investing in innovation, supply, and access to new vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutic alternatives.

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£86 million invested in developing new wind turbine technologies

An advanced testing facility for wind turbine blades will be launched with the goal to test turbines up to 150 metres long and help prevent millions of tonnes of CO2. This new R&D infrastructure will support the growth of UK supply chains and the industry’s goal of 60% offshore wind farm content coming from the UK.

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New manufacturing research hubs for areas including semiconductors and medicines

Five new hubs will be launched to address the challenges of commercialising early-stage research within key areas of manufacturing, including semiconductors and medicines. The hubs will leverage total support of £99 million and will support UK researchers with cutting edge facilities to benefit technologies such as AI and support the UK as a global leader in sustainable manufacturing.

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£1.5 million announced through the Faraday Battery Challenge

SMEs developing battery technologies will benefit from £1.5 million from the Faraday Battery Challenge to support their scale up process. The successful projects include cylindrical and pouch cell technologies and bring advanced lithium titanate oxide and new cathode active material technologies to the UK for the first time.

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Updates from our community

Thermulon co-founder recognised by Forbes 30 under 30

Congratulations to Thermulon co-founder Alexander Murdock for his Forbes recognition. Thermulon is a process chemistry start-up developing groundbreaking technology for the low-cost production of super-insulating silica aerogels.

Their process significantly reduces the cost of producing silica aerogels for use in high-performance, non-flammable thermal insulation, with one Thermulon industrial facility saving 20 megatons of CO2 when installed in homes and building.

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Nanomerics wins King’s Award for Enterprise

This award recognises the commercial and scientific excellence of the company and its Molecular Envelope Technology (MET).

Former winners of our Emerging Technologies Competition, Nanomerics develops precision medicines that reduce typical development costs, resources, and timelines, This is done by fabricating nano-scaled polymer aggregates to package or specifically interact with drugs or biological molecules and overcome delivery problems.

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Eutecthics receiving recognition from multiple awards and reports

Welcome to our latest inductee to Change Makers and congratulations on their recent recognitions. Eutechtics featured in the UKII Intelligence Report , which features 500 UK companies that are pioneers in sectors shaping the future, and also won the Innovative Startup of the Year and Green Startup of the Year for the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber region .

Eutechtics have developed EvoCarbon, a process license aimed at utilising carbon dioxide emissions as feedstock to produce valuable carboxylic acids for various industries, including pharmaceuticals, agriculture, fine-chemicals, and textiles. This process is designed to be circular, operate with higher energy efficiency, and maximises the atom economy of the process.

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Updates from Innovation Zero and CHEMUK

Innovation Zero

Focussed on the race to net zero, Innovation Zero covered topics from the technologies, investment, and infrastructure that are needed to deliver on our climate commitments. A running theme throughout this event is the urgency of this challenge and how innovation and policy must deliver faster if we are to meet net zero by 2050.

One of the things that we find most exciting about deep tech chemistry is not just the innovation and the ways it can improve everyone’s quality of life, but also how it can make sustainable choices more accessible and affordable for all consumers to help them deliver their part in the net zero puzzle.

A key item that we want to hear about in the run up to the next election and beyond is investment and support in these technologies. Companies in this space are typically less understood and their needs often unmet by generic funding and support from the government. If the UK is to be a global science superpower and leader in the push for net zero, we need funding and support to help these businesses, so that everyone can have affordable renewable energy in their homes, access to transport with reduced emissions, plastic alternatives, and any of the other ways deep tech chemistry can help us live more sustainable lives.

This is why Change Makers will be educating and working with policymakers to help them create the right mechanisms for these technologies and businesses, as well as educating investors and consumers to raise awareness of deep tech chemistry, its challenges, and the technologies that are coming to market and their potentials.

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CHEMUK

Bringing together businesses from across the chemical sciences, including manufacturing, supply, regulation, and more, this event provided a key opportunity for deep tech chemistry businesses to network and find the services they need to scale-up and commercialise their technologies.

As we met with a number of companies, one of the key challenges that came up throughout the day was the difficulties with scale-up, including finding the right location and facilities to build and test pilot plants in the UK.

Through Change Makers’ access to laboratories work and our time working closely with our businesses, we know that this is something faced across the Change Makers community. This is why we will deliver resources through our masterclasses programme and professional services provision, as well as connecting you with experienced mentors who have been through this, to support earlier stage businesses through their scale-up challenges. We are also conducting research through our access to laboratories work to understand the facilities in the UK and how ventures can better access the right equipment and space for their needs.

As part of our attendance, we were also delighted to catch up with the following Change Makers ventures in attendance across the two events:

• Bindethics Ltd
  Sustainable binder for engineered-wood boards derived from food waste. 
  
  
• Celtic Renewables Limited
  Sustainable, biologically-derived, green chemicals, produced in harmony with planet earth.
  
  
• Holiferm Limited
  Developing processes for manufacturing sustainable, environmentally friendly biosurfactants. 
  
  
• Mission Zero Technologies Ltd
  Electrochemical atmospheric carbon removal technology for carbon use or storage.
  
  
• Oxford Nanosystems Ltd
  Development of nanocoatings for improving heat transfer and hydrogen generation.
  
  
• ViridiCO2
  Catalysts to transform CO2 into high-value chemicals. 

We hope to meet more of our Change Makers businesses at the 2025 editions of these events and would encourage attendance to find out more about the trends affecting deep tech chemistry and relevant updates on the infrastructure, policy, investment and more.

Being part of Change Makers

Our Change Makers ventures receive a monthly newsletter with signposting and support from the Royal Society of Chemistry and other identified external sources. If you are an early stage start-up or scale-up focussed on deep tech chemistry, we invite you to get in touch and discuss joining Change Makers for ventures. 

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