ESA BIC UK is the winner with four awarded start-ups
ESA Business Incubation Centre UK has once again proven to be the right place for start-ups to turn good ideas into successful businesses with four start-ups taking home top-prizes in the Thames Valley Tech Awards 2018.
All fostered at ESA BIC UK, Serelay, Open Cosmos, Adaptix and Oxford nanoSystems were awarded top-three prizes in the categories ”Most Exciting Tech Start-ups”, ”Emerging Tech Companies, ”Innovative Tech Companies” and ”Science & Technology Award winners”.
Now with three incubation sites at Harwell, Edinburgh and Daresbury, the centre has recently been renamed ESA BIC UK from ESA BIC Harwell. Since its opening in 2011 75 start-ups have been supported with 58 graduated from the centre after the typically two years hosting support.
”I am thrilled that four of our start-ups made it to the top in this regional contest,” said Dr Sue O’Hare, Operations Manager at ESA BIC UK.
“It demonstrates once again that the use of space technology and satellite data can be turned into some very successful business solutions providing innovations here on Earth in almost any field.”
The winners were:
Serelay – Tech Start-up
The ESA BIC UK start-up Serelay took the award for the most exciting tech start-up with their ´fake news´ identification system to validate if images and videos online have been changed since they went online.
Fake news and doctored images are a real problem in today’s media, and with the rise of social media and modern digital technologies, the problem is escalating. Serelay is about to roll out their trusted media capture technology in collaboration with a handful of early adopter platforms.
Open Cosmos – Emerging Tech Company
ESA BIC UK start-up Open Cosmos was named the top rising star in the category of emerging tech companies, as they prepare to scale up their business with their one-stop-shop to get into space.
Open Cosmos is providing the set-up and tools to make it affordable and achievable for other SMEs to launch their own applications in space, from as little as £500k, within 10 months from concept to launch.
Adaptix - Innovative Tech Company and Science & Technology Award
ESA BIC UK start-up Adaptix took home two prizes with their low-dose, affordable 3D X-ray imaging system brought to the patient. This innovative approach means a quicker and more accurate diagnosis at the bedside of the patients and with less exposure to radiation. For healthcare professionals it means, in addition, saving costs and time.
Adaptix took second prize in the category “Innovative Tech Company” as well as second prize in the category “Science & Technology Awards”
Oxford nanoSystems - Innovative Tech Company winner
ESA BIC UK Oxford nanoSystems took home third prize with their innovative coating technology to improve two-phase heat transfer surfaces. Already used in refrigeration and waste heat recovery, their technology has also caught the interest of the auto industry.
The Oxford nanoSystems` coating has demonstrated a more than six-fold increase in heat transfer coefficient within two-phase systems. The technology can be implemented onto any metallic heat transfer surface and is versatile to accommodate any type of geometry from fully brazed plate heat exchangers to millimetric tubes.
About the Thames Valley Tech Awards 2018
The Thames Valley is often referred to as the UK’s Silicon Valley. Technology has been a significant part of the region’s economy for some 20 years or more with home to key international tech giants such as Microsoft, Oracle, CA Technologies, Fujitsu, Huawei and Cisco. The region is also home to many scale-ups and start-ups in the tech field with life sciences and biotech, science-based and space businesses also ‘clustered’ in the Valley.
This first Thames Valley Tech Awards was organised by launched Elcot Media & Events and staged by The Business Magazine on 24 May 2018.
About ESA BIC UK and ESA Technology Transfer and Business Incubation
Managed by UK`s Science and Technology Facilities Council, ESA BIC UK is part of the ESA Business Incubation Centres´ network of 18 centres in 15 European countries.
Operated by ESA´s Technology Transfer Programme and Business Incubation Office, the network is the world’s largest ecosystem for space related entrepreneurship and supports 160 companies per year. More than 600 new start-ups have so far been fostered.
Further information and advice about getting involved with ESA BIC UK or one of the other ESA BICs can be found at ESA BIC UK website and ESA BIC website.
More information about Thames Valley Tech Awards 2018 here.
