The Royal Society of Chemistry’s Emerging Technologies Competition 2020 reveals finalists

Category

Organisation

Technology proposal

Health

Indicatrix Crystallography Limited

Many medicines are manufactured as crystalline solids for inclusion in tablets and capsules, but discovering the correct crystalline form is often difficult.

This nanodroplet crystallisation technology utilises liquid-handling robotics to enable rapid, in-depth experimental space exploration and accelerate drug development.

Health

University of Bath

Most vaccines are only stable when refrigerated. Ensilication technology can stabilise vaccines without refrigerators, allowing an extra 2 million people ever year with the potential to be saved from vaccine-preventable diseases.

Health

Vector Bioscience Ltd

Many drugs suffer from poor localisation and are rapidly cleared from the body.

By developing porous nanoparticles called MOFs as a drug delivery platform, these materials carry large quantities of therapeutics and are readily tuned for targeted delivery and controlled release.

Health

Oxford HighQ

An instrument using optical microcavities that can characterise novel solutions by measuring loading of drug delivery nanoparticles at single particle level, a key parameter for advanced therapies.

Health

University of Cambridge

A spinal cord stimulator using thin-film, shape adaptive electronics and conductive polymers which can be introduced to a patient using minimally-invasive surgical techniques, but with the efficacy of large area conventional stimulators. The device has applications in pain management, rehabilitation and movement disorders.

Health

Fluid Pharma

Manufacturing particles suitable for inclusion in liquid medicines (that control drug release or mask drug taste) is highly challenging due to their small size.

This innovative particle engineering approach prevents particle massing d and achieves industrially advantageous yields.

Energy & Environment

Mission Zero Technologies

A decentralized and energy-efficient technology for removing CO2 from air and delivering it as a product.

Deployed in an innovative, low-cost and scalable product design, it will enable CO2 emitters/consumers to fulfil carbon net-zero ambitions.

Energy & Environment

Greenskill Environmental Technology Ltd

Globally, sewage treatment releases ~4%GHG emissions.

This negative emission process technology captures CO2, produces zero sewage sludge, eliminates nitrous oxide and volatile emissions and removes nutrients and emerging contaminants - in a single stage.

Energy & Environment

Viridi CO2

Engineering heterogeneous, high-surface area, porous catalysts capable of transforming CO2 into polyurethane feedstock materials.

This process provides a route to reduced reliance on petrochemicals.

Energy & Environment

University of A Coruna

A family of hybrid organic-inorganic materials that can be used as safe and eco-friendly solid refrigerants.

These materials exhibit large thermal changes under low pressures and can be chemically engineered to adapt to different operating conditions.

Energy & Environment

Riptron Limited

A miniaturised suspended graphene array gas sensor for real-time air quality monitoring. The sensor's ability to integrate with consumer electronics will provide a cost-effective technological solution for real-time/high-resolution selective detection of low concentrations of toxic atmospheric pollutants and help the world to breathe quality air.

Energy & Environment

Gas Recovery and Recycle Limited

A new form of sterilization for medial devices and allowing the safe re-use of PPE via a point of use ethylene oxide, EtO, generator. EtO is the most effective low temperature sterilisation agent there is.

Food & Drink

Mitocholine Ltd

A novel chemical composition of natural metabolites that, if consumed regularly in the diet, will counteract the development of metabolic syndrome and impede the onset of dementia.

Food & Drink

Glaia

A revolutionary product to boost crop yields, based on a water-soluble sugar-based material that unlocks the current bottleneck in agricultural production: the inefficiency of crops at utilising sunlight.

Food & Drink

Hide Biotech

Transform fish industry waste into a collagen-based material that replicates genuine leather. As leather is 90% collagen, this material replicates the authentic feel of leather and significantly reduce water consumption, carbon footprint, and off-cut waste generated in the leather manufacturing process.

Food & Drink

Hoxton Farms

Using mathematical modelling and machine learning to expand and differentiate adult stem cells to make cultivated meat products (meat grown from animal cells in labs).

Food & Drink

Aarhus University

Revolutionizing screening methods in the food market. A combination of colorimetric sensors note responses to different environments (e.g. different beverages’ colour changes) using advanced AI to create unique 'fingerprints' for each product.

Food & Drink

Setanta Nutrition Science

A novel, nutraceutical formula to increase endothelial nitric oxide (NO) by supplying NO precursors (nitrate and nitrite) with a natural nitrite reductase as well as antioxidants which can synergistically protect the eNO producing enzyme (NO synthase) and improve NO production from NO precursors.

Enabling Technologies

University of Cambridge

Effect pigments prepared from a single organic and renewable component extracted from wood: cellulose nanocrystals.

These pigments offer the most sustainable alternative to all existing products, including microplastic, partially biodegradable glitter, and unethically sourced mica-based pigments.

Enabling Technologies

Xampla

A replacement for single-use plastics using plant proteins.

Xampla is focusing initially on applications in microplastics, such as microcapsules for personal and home care, where we can design high performance capsules that degrade naturally in the environment at end of life.

Enabling Technologies

Manchester Biofactory

Enzymes are used everywhere, added to many everyday products from food to washing powders and used in the manufacture of vital medicines. This technology revolutionises the way enzymes are developed, bypassing expensive and inefficient approaches to rapidly develop new enzyme products.

Enabling Technologies

Chromosol Ltd

An approach to building optical amplifiers and lasers directly onto silicon chips.

This will allow for the future integration of electronic and optical communications systems resulting in greater data transfer rates with reduced power usage.

Enabling Technologies

ATLANT 3D Nanosystems

The most accurate and versatile atomic layer 3D printing technology for micro and nanodevices. It provides smart and cost-efficient atomically precise additive manufacturing in micro/nanodevices fabrication, such as MEMS & Sensors, RF devices and photonic/optics.

Enabling Technologies

Synple Chem

An automated capsule-based synthesiser working analogously to a capsule coffee maker. Requiring no optimisation, it is ideally suited to the needs of discovery chemistry. Following the addition of the starting material and a commercially available reagent capsule, the product is generated, isolated and purified at the touch of a single button.