Delft, Imperial top list of finalists for European spin-out awards

A selection committee of leading industry officials and academics selected three groups each from the Dutch technical university and Imperial. From Delft, they include founders of two companies based on Delft technology, Holland Containers Innovations and iOpener Media, and Prof. Marco Waas, a Delft faculty dean who is among finalists named for promoting enterprise at universities. From Imperial, they include founders of spin-outs Bioceramic Therapeutics, Plaxica,and Novacem.

They join 12 other finalists from a broad range of European universities to compete for top prizes in the ACES Academic Enterprise Awards. Other institutions from which finalists were chosen are two each from the Politecnico di Milano and ETH-Zurich, and one each from École Politechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, ParisTech, Ludwig-Maximillians-Universitaet, Chalmers University of Technology, and the universities of Cambridge, Warwick, Surrey and Manchester.

Final judging will take place on 10 December at the Paris City Hall, in a conference and gala awards ceremony co-hosted by ParisTech and the Paris mayor’s office.

The prizes include the Amgen Life Sciences prize, for top life-science entrepreneurs, and the Microsoft ICT Prize for top information and communications technology entrepreneurs at academic institutions. Other prize categories are for top entrepreneurs in Energy/Environment and Materials/Chemistry, as well as the ‘Fast Start’ award for most promising young start-up and the ‘Bridge’ Award for an individual who has done the most to create an environment favourable to enterprise and innovation at an institution or region.

The full list of finalists chosen include founders and leaders of the following organisations (in alphabetical order, by prize category):

For the Amgen Life Sciences Award:

• Bioceramic Therapeutics, from Imperial College London (synthetic components for orthopaedic regenerative medicine)

• Cambridge Temperature Concepts, from the University of Cambridge (patch for home-testing of fertility)   

• Glycovaxyn of ETH-Zurich (glycoproteins for use in vaccines against bacterial diseases)

For the Microsoft ICT Award:

• Gostai of ENSTA-ParisTech  (server-side robotics software)

• iOpener Media, from TU Delft and the European Space Agency (data supplier to games and racing industries)

• routeRANK, from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland (travel and transport planning software)

For the Energy/Environment Award:

• Flisom of ETH-Zurich (thin-film solar cells)

• Holland Containers Innovations of TU Delft (foldable containers)

• Novacem of Imperial College London (low-carbon cement)

For the Materials/Chemistry Award

• Lamera of Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg (light-weight steel)

• Plaxica of Imperial College London (biomass plastics)

• Surrey NanoSystems of the University of Surrey (carbon nanotubes for semiconductors)

For the Fast Start Award, for most promising young spin-outs:

• Arvia Technology of the University of Manchester (device that removes organic pollutants from water)

• NanoTemper Technologies of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet, Munich (technology for analyzing molecules in blood)

• Resmon of the Politecnico di Milano (home test for monitoring respiratory disease)

For the Bridge Award, for an individual who has promoted an environment of enterprise and innovation at an institution or region

• Riccardo Pietrabissa, Professor of Bio-engineering and Vice-Rector of the Politecnico di Milano

• Marco Waas, Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering, TU Delft

• Ederyn Williams, Director of Warwick Ventures, University of Warwick

For more information about the ACES Awards, and the full list of selection committee members and judges, visit www.sciencebusiness.net/aces.