WE Innovate grand final highlights importance of women in business
Competing for a share of £30,000 worth of funding, the five finalists for the WE Innovate pre-accelerator program represent the best of tech enterprise from across the UK, narrowed down from over 200 applicants.
The final five included start-ups from across Imperial business community, including biotech, e-sports and mindful technology.
5th place: Fluorocycle
The company presents a novel solution to forever chemical disposal that is well below the industry standard temperature, and administered through carbon conscious and risk reducing mobile units.
4th place: Epile-X
Their technology answers the need for continuous brain monitoring for epilepsy treatment and research, through a wearable device that combines EEG and AI technology in a sleek, dynamic design.
3rd place: Alphavectors Biotech
Addressing the gap between rapid mRNA vaccine expansion and costly old storage, their lipid nanoparticles transform vaccines to enable reduced dosage needs and a temperature tolerance up to 40 degrees.
2nd place: Waypoint
A first of its kind accessible game controller, Waypoint Tech aims to bring 2.2 billion visually impaired people into the mainstream gaming industry through a combination of AI, computer vision, and tactile guidance.
1st place: Snitch
An initially comedic presentation for an app pitched as Doomscrolling Anonymous, Snitch’s ethos resonated with both judges and audience. A screen limiting app based on social accountability through shared screen time with friends, it targeted at a generation set to lose an average of seven years to social media but largely left out of productivity-based marketing. An organically grown solution that strikes at the heart of what we lose to excessive social media use – community.
Snitch plans to use their funding for the legal and marketing support needed for further expansion, as well as product development to cater to their growing global audience.
Semi-finalists PHlora LABS and DisoLens were recognised with the Engineers in Business and Lauren Dennis in Memoriam Awards respectively.
The evening ended with a keynote speech by Joanna Jensen, founder of the Childs Farm, and co-author of the Rise report, as well as the announcement that WE Innovate had been shortlisted for the Julia Higgins Award, in recognition for its role in uplifting women in academia at Imperial.
