Women in Innovation: 9 female-led businesses backed #BalanceforBetter

Innovate UK has awarded funding and support to 9 of the UK’s most innovative female-led businesses, as part of its campaign to boost diversity in innovation.

The winners of the 2019 Women in Innovation awards have been announced today, International Women’s Day. The awards are part of Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation campaign, which aims to encourage female-led innovation and help women achieve their business ambitions.

The 9 entrepreneurs will receive £50,000 business funding and a package of bespoke support to help grow their business and boost the UK economy.

To further inspire future innovators and celebrate the winners’ achievements, Innovate UK has partnered with schools across the UK to install commemorative purple plaques.

Changing the world: read the brochure introducing 2019’s Women in Innovation winners.

Tackling society’s biggest challenges

The winners are tackling some of society’s biggest challenges set out in the government’s modern Industrial Strategy, including artificial intelligence (AI) and the future of mobility.

Business Secretary Greg Clark, who announced the winners, said:

The winning women are developing pioneering innovations to tackle the grand challenges we face as a society, from a new paper coating to cut down single use plastic, to helping us train mechanics using simulators.

This is our modern Industrial Strategy in action, backing businesses of all sizes across the UK to grow and boost the economy with the skills and inventions we need for the next generation.

Find out more about the Industrial Strategy’s Grand Challenges.

The 2019 winners

From reducing cold and damp in Britain’s homes to revolutionising the factory floor, the winners are working on a range of innovative solutions:

• Agnes Czako, AirEx – smart-tech airbrick that improves a home’s energy efficiency by using AI to monitor and respond to the environment, weather and occupant behaviour
• Alex Haslehurst, Vitrue Health – a tool to help clinicians assess patient health, particularly motor function, more efficiently
• Cintia Kimura, KG Protech – a remote practical training system for car mechanics
• Daniela Paredes Fuentes, Gravity Sketch – virtual reality software that allows designers to sketch in a 3D space
• Dr Debbie Wake, MyWay Digital Health – digital platform that provides diabetes patients with personalised advice using patient information and home-recorded data
• Dolores Sanders, Total Control Pro Ltd – using big data-sharing to streamline small businesses’ manufacturing processes
• Dr Fanya Ismail, Sol-Gel Coatings and Advanced Materials – using a ‘sol-gel’ chemical process to create plastic-free coffee cup coating
• Jessica Bruce, Run3D – using 3D gait analysis originally conceived for runners to help older adults and those recovering from surgery to walk pain-free
• Sheana Yu, Aergo – wheelchair seating system which uses air cells to ensure the user remains comfortable and supported

Sheana Yu, one of the 9 winners and founder and CEO of Aergo, said:

It’s such a huge encouragement to be recognised for the work you’ve done. If my story can motivate more women like me, that will be a really exciting part of the journey.

This award will be a great platform to grow by learning from other female founders, and be a part of a network of inspirational women

Read about Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation campaign.

Breaking down barriers

Innovate UK launched Women in Innovation in 2016, after research revealed that just one in 7 applications for Innovate UK support came from women. Boosting the number of female entrepreneurs could deliver £180 billion to the economy.

By running a women-only competition, partnering with Getty Images to create stereotype-shattering portraits of female entrepreneurs, and running a mission to Boston for women in tech, Innovate UK increased the proportion of females registering for Innovate UK support by 70%.

To continue to energise the next generation of innovators, this year Innovate UK has partnered with schools across the UK, installing commemorative plaques from Forfar, Scotland to London recognising the winners’ innovative businesses. Currently, just 14% of blue plaques in the UK celebrate the achievements of women.

Dr Ian Campbell, Interim Chief Executive of Innovate UK, said:

Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation Awards address a key barrier for diversity in innovation – a lack of female role models. By recognising their achievement with purple plaques, we are making sure that our 9 newly-crowned winners inspire the next generation of female innovators.

Whether it’s inspiring young students showing a passion for STEM, someone with the spark of an idea or an innovative business ready to be taken to the next level, the Women in Innovation 2019 campaign aims to drive long term and far-reaching change.

Read about Innovate UK’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Women in Innovation: changing the world

PDF, 1.65MB, 32 pages

This brochure introduces the 9 winners of the second Women in Innovation competition.

Innovate UK initiated the Women in Innovation campaign in 2016 when we found that just 1 in 7 funding applications to us for innovation projects came from women. The campaign’s objective was simple: get more women innovating in business.

In this brochure you can find out about the innovative ideas and learn how they’ve got where they are today. It also contains advice on securing investment, hiring the right people and finding communities from some of the most influential women in business who have supported our campaign.

Find out more about Innovate UK’s diversity and inclusion work and its results so far

In this second competition we looked for women with ideas that could meet society’s biggest challenges, as outlined in the government’s modern Industrial Strategy’s Grand Challenges.

Find out more about the Grand Challenges.

Pioneering female inventors have been awarded funding and business support to develop and grow their business

• 9 women with pioneering inventions have been awarded £50,000 each to develop and grow their business, as part of Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation competition
• winners represent the next generation of world-leading female innovators
• these women are tackling some of the biggest challenges facing society as set out in the government’s modern Industrial Strategy – from meeting the demands of an ageing society to developing a cleaner economy

Pioneering female inventors have been recognised today for innovations including responsive wheelchair seating and a new digital app for diabetes as part of the 2019 Women in Innovation Awards.

The Awards, announced on International Women’s Day by Business Secretary Greg Clark, follows a search for female innovators who are tackling some of the biggest challenges facing society as set out in the government’s modern Industrial Strategy.

The winners will receive £50,000 each and a year-long package of bespoke support, coaching and mentoring.

The winners being awarded funding include:

• Sheana Yu, who is developing a device built into wheelchairs where movement is monitored and air cells are automatically inflated and deflated ensuring better posture and comfort
• Debbie Wake, who is offering diabetes patients a digital health app so they can monitor and receive advice for treatments ‘on the go’
• Agnes Czako, who is creating a state of the art home ventilation system to help reduce a home’s heat demand, resolve damp and condensation issues and cut energy bills. It uses ‘smart tech’ airbricks that use a simple open and shut mechanism where the brick regulates airflow and ensures the right level of ventilation
• Fanya Ismail, who has developed a chemical process called ‘sol-gel’ which produces solid materials from small molecules that will make disposable coffee cups waterproof without the need to use plastic

Business Secretary Greg Clark said:

I would like to congratulate all these women on developing inspiring and pioneering innovations to tackle the grand challenges we face as a society, from a new waterproof coating to cut down single use plastic, to helping us train mechanics with simulators.

This is our modern Industrial Strategy in action, backing the innovators and businesses of all sizes across the UK to grow – and develop the products, industries and sectors of tomorrow, boosting the UK economy with the skills and inventions we will need for the next generation.

Marking the outstanding contributions to innovation, Innovate UK has commissioned and installed commemorative plaques recognising each of the award holders where their innovation journey began, to inspire young innovators and communities alike.

Innovate UK Executive Chair Dr Ian Campbell said:

Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation Awards address a key barrier for diversity in innovation – a lack of female role models. By recognising their achievement with purple plaques, we are making sure that our 9 newly crowned winners inspire the next generation of female innovators.

Whether it’s inspiring young students showing a passion for STEM, someone with the spark of an idea, or an innovative business ready to be taken to the next level, the Women in Innovation 2019 campaign aims to drive long term, far reaching positive change.

Supporting female innovators is a key commitment of Innovate UK, and registrations for funding from female innovators on existing competitions have increased by 70% since 2016.

Previous winners have gone on to become ambassadors for Prince’s Trust and develop breakthrough innovations. These include:

• Carmen Hijosa, who has created a sustainable alternative to leather using pineapple leaf fibre
• Elena Dieckmann, whose company produces novel products – such as thermal packaging – using surplus feathers from the poultry industry
• Fanzi Down, who has developed a revolutionary chocolate moulding technique by industralising the process of displacement

This announcement comes on the first day of British Science Week 2019.

Research suggests that the proportion of UK women engaging in entrepreneurial activity is around half the level of men and that if participation was increased to equal levels, women-led SMEs could potentially contribute £180 billion to the UK economy by 2025.

2019 Women in Innovation Award Holders

• Agnes Czako of AirEx Technologies (inventor of smart technology for healthier homes)
• Alex Haslehurst of Vitrue Health (innovator in digital assessment of patient health)
• Cintia Kimura of KG Protech (inventor of smart simulation tech to train car mechanics of the future)
• Daniela Paredes of Gravity Sketch (inventor of pioneering virtual reality transportation design tool)
• Debbie Wake of MyWay Digital Health (creator of digital innovation to support diabetes patients)
• Dolores Sanders of Total Control Pro (inventor of pioneering tech to improve small business manufacturing)
• Fanya Ismail of Sol-Gel Coatings & Advanced Materials (inventor of innovative paper coating to eradicate single-use plastic)
• Jessica Bruce (nee Leitch) of Walk 3D (pioneer of innovative 3D analysis that helps older people to walk pain-free)
• Sheana Yu of Aergo (inventor of air-powered seating to improve patients’ posture)