Imperial College London played a significant role in this year’s London Tech Week, with academics, staff, and startups participating in various events that highlighted innovation and technological advancements.
Innovation Partnerships Take Center Stage
Professor Mary Ryan, Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise) at Imperial, was featured in a panel event hosted by Rio Tinto, focusing on unlocking innovation through partnerships. She emphasized the critical role of minerals in the global clean energy transition and highlighted the newly launched Rio Tinto Centre for Future Materials at Imperial. This centre, backed by a $150 million investment from Rio Tinto over the next decade, aims to connect top researchers with industry capabilities to make material sourcing, processing, and recycling more sustainable.
Global Innovation Exchanges
Imperial’s Enterprise Lab, in collaboration with the British High Commission in India, organized an event to explore the future of global entrepreneurship and cross-border collaboration. Dr. Elena Dieckmann, Academic Co-Director of Imperial Global India, led a panel discussion on scaling ventures between India and the UK. She discussed Imperial’s new Global India hub in Bengaluru, which will foster scientific, educational, and innovation partnerships between Imperial and leading Indian universities.
The event also highlighted the Commonwealth Startup Fellowship, a six-month program supporting high-potential startups from low and middle-income Commonwealth countries. This initiative was developed by the Commonwealth Scholarships Commission in partnership with Imperial Enterprise Lab and Imperial Global Ghana.
Nurturing Entrepreneurship
A partnership between Imperial and Hammersmith & Fulham Council hosted a panel event titled ‘Scaling Smarter: The Power of Ecosystem & Serendipity.’ The session explored how founders can leverage their local ecosystem to accelerate growth, access capital, and build a strong talent pipeline. Antoinette Nothomb, Co-Founder of Cyanoskin and an Imperial Business School alumna, shared her entrepreneurial journey. Cyanoskin is developing a carbon capture technology using an algae-based coating to transform buildings into carbon dioxide-absorbing structures.
Cyanoskin has benefited from Imperial’s entrepreneurial ecosystem at White City, including Undaunted, Imperial’s climate innovation hub, and various accelerator programs. The company is also a resident of the White City Incubator, accessing specialist facilities and technical expertise.
Accelerating Health and MedTech Innovation
Empowering innovators to develop impactful medical technologies was a significant theme at London Tech Week, with Imperial involved in multiple events. The Healthcare Technologies Capability Connector showcased innovative healthcare startups that received funding and support from Imperial and other universities. Melis Eda Ekinci, Founder and CEO of Woost, an Imperial student startup, was featured among these innovators.
Hiten Thakrar, Head of MedTech Superconnector, participated in a panel event discussing AI’s impact on healthcare, funding pathways for BioTech, and MedTech collaboration models. The MedTech SuperConnector, led by Imperial, supports early-career researchers in translating lab discoveries into impactful startup companies.
These events demonstrated Imperial’s commitment to fostering innovation, entrepreneurship, and technological advancement across various fields, from clean energy and materials science to healthcare and MedTech.
