We are delighted to announce the eight winners of our Emerging Technologies Competition 2018.
The winners were selected by our expert judges after pitching their ideas, in front of a live audience, at Chemistry Means Business on 15 October 2018.
Read about their cutting-edge technologies below. If you would like to be put in touch with any of our winners please contact us.
nanoHEX: Keeping cool without heating the planet
Oxford nanoSystems have developed a new evaporator which is 70% smaller than a traditional unit. This new unit requires 70% less energy and uses 70% less refrigerant. 1kg of the common refrigerant R-23 does as much damage as 14.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide, nanoHEX can remove our need for these refrigerants.
Simple rapid affordable test for arsenic in drinking water
AquAffirm has developed the first enzyme electrochemistry-based test strips for rapid measurement of arsenic in drinking/irrigation water. This addresses a problem affecting over 140 million people in 70 countries, including Bangladesh, where tens of thousands die annually. Using patented disposable test-strips & electronic-reader, the web-enabled test will revolutionize arsenic mitigation management.
Novel range of biocatalysts for new approaches to selective oxidation
Oxford Biotrans has developed a proprietary, highly productive enzyme-driven oxidation platform. This technology can replace traditional synthetic routes to many fine-chemicals using low-impact, aqueous based biotransformations. OBT has taken this technology to commercial scale with our first product, a flavour and fragrance, natural nootkatone, and is now developing the pipeline.
Optimising health, welfare and productivity on dairy farms
We have isolated and replicated the molecule the mammalian immune system produces to fight infection. A safe and extremely effective biocide, it can be produced in-situ from electricity, salt and water. It replaces most of the chemicals used on dairy farms and delivers improved hygiene, cow welfare and productivity.
Polycarbonate resin inks for 3D-printing of shape-changing resorbable medical devices
We have developed a series of degradable resin inks for 3D printing biocompatible and degradable minimally invasive medical devices. The materials incorporate non-inflammatory, resorbable species, to produce a porous tissue scaffold and marker, in order to support post-operative healing and long term aesthetic restoration after surgery.
Smartwound - an infection detecting wound dressing
Smartwound is an infection detecting wound dressing that gives a clear colour change as a wound becomes critically infected with pathogenic bacteria. The detection of infection is based on understanding how bacteria behave in wounds, and how they switch from being non-pathogenic to pathogenic at the 'critical colonisation threshold' wounds.
Fully scalable equipment for manufacture of precision particles and microcapsules
Micropore has developed the only process for making particles and emulsions with extremely narrow particle size distributions that is scalable to industrially meaningful product volumes. This brings both operating economics & formulation performance benefits across a many diverse sectors including food, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, household products, cosmetics, & many more.
Sensor Platform for Fast and Sensitive Biomarker Detection
Available methods for biomarker detection are either not sensitive or not fast enough. Our sensor platform based on novel nanomaterials is both. It can be adapted for a range of different biomarkers. With our partners we have demonstrated detection of allergens, which is a major challenge for food producers.
