Finalists revealed for 2021-22 Cambridge Independent Science and Technology Awards
The shortlist for the Cambridge Independent Science and Technology Awards can now be revealed.
The finalists were chosen following a series of judging sessions from an expert panel, who pored over a record number of entries to the awards, which are now in their fifth year.
From start-ups to established big hitters, the shortlist showcases once again the remarkable talent in the Cambridge region.
The winners will be revealed at a ceremony at the Hinxton Hall Conference Centre on the Wellcome Genome Campus on May 11, starting with a networking reception from 6pm.
Editor Paul Brackley said: “Congratulations to all those who made our shortlist from the hundreds of entries we considered.
“The standard this year was again extraordinary, with fantastic achievements evident across multiple sectors. This year, we’ve seen the emergence of intriguing new start-ups and ideas. We’ve witnessed promising young companies grow ever more confident and innovative as they scale. And we’ve seen established companies stretch their wings further and achieve greater levels of success, against the backdrop of an ongoing pandemic.
“I’d like to thank all those who entered, or nominated others, our judging panel for generously giving their time, and all of our sponsors for the invaluable support that enables us to host this celebration of talent. We look forward to revealing the winners later this spring.
“We are delighted to be holding our ceremony at one of the most prestigious locations for science and technology anywhere in Europe.”
New categories this year include Employer of the Year, sponsored by Cambridge office and lab design and fit-out specialist COEL, and the Enterprise Skills Award, sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Centre at Cambridge Judge Business School. There are also two awards for individuals – the Bidwells-sponsored CEO of the Year and the AstraZeneca-sponsored Researcher of the Year.
Invitations to the ceremony will be sent out to our finalists shortly. Each finalist will get two free places.
A small number of additional tickets will go on sale – details on this will be announced soon.
The Cambridge Independent Science and Technology Awards 2021-22 finalists
Start-up of the Year
Sponsored by Kao Data
- Creasallis
- electronRx
- Ever Resource
- iKVA
STEM Initiative of the Year
Sponsored by CityFibre
- Cambridge LaunchPad from Form the Future
- Epigenetics Escape Room Team, from Babraham Institute
- My STEMM Future from Wellcome Connecting Science and Wellcome Sanger Institute
- PDB Art project, led by Deepti Gupta, of the Protein Data Bank in Europe (PDBe) at EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute
- PuntSeq Cambridge, led by Dr Lara Urban, Dr Maximilian Stammnitz and Dr Andre Holzer
- Virus Fighter, from Babraham Institute
The Enterprise Skills Award
Sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Centre at Cambridge Judge Business School
- Abcam
- bit.bio
- Owlstone Medical
- Wellcome Genome Campus
Medtech Company of the Year
Sponsored by Sagentia Innovation
- 52 North Health
- C2-Ai
- Equivital
- Kalium Health
- Medovate
Cleantech Company of the Year
Sponsored by Woodfines Solicitors
- Camnexus
- Carbon13
- DressCode Shirts
- Ever Resource
Employer of the Year
Sponsored by COEL
- Abcam
- BIOS Health
- Bit.bio
- Domino Printing
- Shearline Precision Engineering
Researcher of the Year
Sponsored by AstraZeneca
- Dr Robert D Finn, section head, genome assembly and annotation, and team leader, microbiome informatics, EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute
- Dr Ewan Harrison, career development fellow at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, senior research associate at the Department of Medicine and honorary senior fellow at the Department of Public Health and Primary Care, both at the University of Cambridge
- Dr Gemma Mudd, group leader, peptide medicinal chemistry, Bicycle Therapeutics
- Dr Immacolata Porreca, senior scientist II, Horizon Discovery
- Dr Nadia Radzman, research associate, Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge
AI Company of the Year
Sponsored by Appleyard Lees
- C2-Ai
- electronRx
- Featurespace
- iKVA
- Luminance
- OKRA.ai
Biotech Company of the Year
Sponsored by Chesterford Research Park
- Arecor Therapeutics
- Bicycle Therapeutics
- bit.bio
- Healx
- Microbiotica
CEO of the Year
Sponsored by Bidwells
- Sarah Howell, Arecor Therapeutics
- Alan Hirzel, Abcam
- David Hughes, CN Bio Innovations
- Mark Kotter, bit.bio
- Kevin Lee, Bicycle Therapeutics
- Prashant Shah, CEO of o2h co work labs and co-founder, o2h Group
- Owen Thompson, Cambridge Future Tech
- Stuart Thomson, MD of Medovate
The Tech for Good Award
Sponsored by Allia Future Business Centre, Cambridge
- 52 North Health
- AudioTelligence
- Congenica
- DressCode Shirts
- Healx
- Springboard Pro
The One to Watch
Sponsored by cofinitive
- Cambridge Future Tech
- PitPat
- electronRx
The Award for Innovation
Sponsored by Illumina
- Advent Bioservices
- Evonetix
- Grant Instruments
- Milner Therapeutics Institute
- Start Codon
- Value Xd
Technology Company of the Year
Sponsored by the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Anglia Ruskin University
- Congenica
- Featurespace
- FocalPoint Positioning
- IQGeo
- Meteor Inkjet
Life Science Company of the Year
Sponsored by BioStrata
- Avacta
- CN Bio
- Microbiotica
- PetMedix
- PhoreMost
In Search of Wonder Lifetime Achievement Award
Sponsored by JDJ Creative
We will reveal at our awards ceremony our choice for the inaugural winner of the In Search of Wonder Lifetime Achievement Award.
Sponsored by JDJ Creative, the Waterbeach-based creative agency, this award will honour an individual whose work has made an extraordinary and lasting impact on a sector or field. The award was not open for public entry. Instead, the winner has been carefully selected after long consideration.
The award is named after JDJ Creative’s In Search of Wonder initiative, celebrating the work of individuals who dared to wonder – and broke new ground by doing so.
Our panel
The panel involved in shortlisting and/or selecting the winners – chaired by editor Paul Brackley and including the Cambridge Independent’s business correspondent Mike Scialom – featured a range of experts from multiple fields.
We would like to thank those involved, including David Broach, of Allia Future Business Centre, Daniel Bradfield, of Appleyard Lees, Faye Holland, of cofinitive, Rob Morgan and Paulo Pinheiro, of Sagentia Innovation, James Wilkinson, of Woodfines, and the team from AstraZeneca.
Read more
Meet the sponsors of the 2021-22 Cambridge Independent Science and Technology Awards