Innovation & Entrepreneurship Awards 2022
We’re celebrating the UK’s most innovative and enterprising efforts in oncology with our annual Innovation and Entrepreneurship Awards.
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Awards 2024
We’re celebrating the UK’s most innovative and enterprising efforts in oncology with our annual awards, for the second time!
Celebrating cancer innovators and entrepreneurs
We are recognising the UK's most innovative and enterprising efforts to translate discoveries into benefit for cancer patients.
Our award categories:
- Early Career Entrepreneur of the Year
- Entrepreneurial Group Leader of the Year
- Woman Entrepreneur of the Year
- New Startup of the Year
- Further, Faster, Together (Industry-Academia Collaboration)
Discover our winners below:
The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Awards 2024 winners
This award celebrates a PhD or Postdoctoral early career cancer researcher who has demonstrated excellence in entrepreneurial initiative. It recognises the attitude and entrepreneurial competencies developed by participating in bespoke training, such as, but not limited to, the initiatives within our entrepreneurial programmes.
Winner:
Matt de Vries
Shortlisted nominees:
- Anaid Benitez, The Francis Crick Institute
- Marcos Ramos Burger, Barts Cancer Institute
- Faith Howard, The University of Sheffield & NANOncolytics
- Tiffany Ma, The University of Oxford & GambitBio
- Andrew Baker, The University of Cambridge & Therasen
- Felipe Galvez-Cancino, UCL
- Robert Bentham, UCL
- Qiang Wang, The University of Edinburgh
- Mara Artibani, The University of Oxford
- Ioannis Prattis, Therasen
- Simon Richardson, The University of Cambridge
- Meysam Keshavarz, Imperial College London
This award celebrates the demonstration of leadership, innovation, and entrepreneurial spirit of an independent group leader. It recognises the emergence of entrepreneurial initiative, attitude, and the development of their own entrepreneurial competencies and those of their research group through participation in bespoke training, such as, but not limited to, the initiatives within our entrepreneurial programmes.
Winner:
Maike de la Roche
Shortlisted nominees:
- Monika Gullerova, The University of Oxford
- Kevin Litchfield, UCL
- Richard Mair, CRUK Cambridge Institute
- Michelle Ma, Kings College London
- Harveer Dev, The University of Cambridge
- Tom Bird, The University of Edinburgh
- Santiago Zelenay, CRUK Manchester Institute
- Dan Woodcock, CRUK Oxford Centre
- Nicholas McGranahan, UCL
- Salim Khakoo, The University of Southampton
- Maria Giovanna Lizio, The University of Manchester
- Kevin Myant, The University of Edinburgh
This award celebrates the outstanding achievements of women entrepreneurs at any stage of their career who have established, or are working towards establishing, a business or have set up a transformative partnership to accelerate scientific discoveries into novel treatments, diagnostics and/or medical devices for the benefit of people affected by cancer. The award celebrates the woman behind the business or partnership, her personal successes, achievements, and how she individually inspires others.
Winner:
Ishani Malhotra
Shortlisted nominees:
- Cherry Chia, Averywell Ltd
- Maya Thanou, Apeikon
- Liisi Laaniste, CoSyne Therapeutics
- Myriam Ouberai, Spirea
- Pahini Pandya, Panakeia Technologies
- Maike de la Roche, CRUK Cambridge Institute
- Bakul Gupta, Deliver Bioscience
- Annelise Soulier, Neobe Therapeutics
- Ana Gomes, The Francis Crick Institute & mPixl Technologies Ltd
- Ljiljana Fruk, Therasen
- Uzma Asghar, Concr Ltd
- Irina Babina, Concr Ltd
- Laura Towart, Vivan Therapeutics
This award celebrates new companies (UK-based) that have laid the foundations of their new business, having over the last two years raised their first funding round, and are fast-tracking scientific breakthroughs to develop new treatments, diagnostics and/or medical devices for the benefit of cancer patients. This award recognises the potential of a great business to develop ground-breaking technology with the promise of delivering growth and impact in the cancer sector.
Winner:
Dotplot
Shortlisted nominees:
- Averywell
- Sentinel 4D
- Dotplot
- Ground Truth Labs
- Spotlight Pathology
- PentaBind Ltd
This award celebrates the promotion of innovation in oncology through the working together of industry and academia, including but not limited to partnerships, licenses and knowledge exchange. It recognises outstanding examples of teamwork with clear evidence of knowledge transfer between the different sectors and organisations, and demonstrates how value and impact is maximised through working in partnership and collaboration.
Winners:
University of Dundee and Boehringer Ingelheim, and University of Edinburgh and Nuvectis
Shortlisted nominees:
- Imperial-Apollo (GCN2)
- Apeikon Therapeutics and KCL
- UCL/CRH T cell dysfunction team
- Neobe and Barts Cancer Institute
- Glo-BNHL Trial Team
- Migration Biotherapeutics and MTIF, Notthingam
- QMUL and Envisagenics
- DEL Team (Newcastle)
Special recognition categories winners
Recognising outstanding contributions to the academic cancer entrepreneurial field via three special awards.
This award recognises an established academic entrepreneur who has created a viable business, demonstrating entrepreneurship and innovation; they have made significant, innovative, and cumulatively outstanding contributions to enhancing the oncology field.
Winner:
Nitzan Rosenfeld
This award recognises individuals or teams whose research has been key to unlocking an area of research. Such breakthrough research is not yet ready for onward progression through entrepreneurial development, but has transformative capability, and is poised for translation.
Winner:
Bart Vanhaesebroeck
This award recognises a startup company (with substantial UK-based operation) that has achieved a substantial milestone during the last two years, such as pipeline progress bringing their product(s) closer towards (or to) the market, closure of financing rounds, and/or entering strategic partnerships or a significant exit. Such a company is making its mark in the cancer sector and is accelerating the progress of scientific breakthroughs into the development of new treatments, diagnostics and/or medical devices for patient benefit.
Winner:
Artios Pharma
Judging panel
All award entries have been reviewed by a Judging Panel comprised of independent experts.
- Alison Howe, Managing Director (retired) Strategic Consultants International
- Olivia Cavlan, Chief Corporate Development & Strategy Officer, Alchemab Therapeutics
- Ketan Patel, Director of the MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford
- Yupar Myint, Head of impulse Programme for Tech Innovators, Maxwell Centre, University of Cambridge
- Jonathan Tobin, Partner at Brandon Capital
- Peter Chambré, Chair of Cancer Research Horizons Board
