For the third year running, top industry leaders will gather for the annual Innovation Leaders Conference held on 21st and 22nd September in Cambridge. Run by the Innovation Forum, the conference gathers leaders from industry, academia, government and start-up investors and researchers to encourage innovation across life science, pharmaceutical, healthcare, engineering and clean tech sectors.
IF! Competition
With over 700 attendees in previous years and more than 60 specialist academic, government and leading industry speakers coming from all over the world, the Innovation Forum Leaders Conference will also host the Grand Finale of the IMAGINE IF! competition and accelerator.
In July 2016, the top 50 companies that entered the IMAGINE IF! programme were selected from a pool of hundreds of applicants to join an intensive mentoring system to develop their business idea. Now only 15 of the top start-ups remain, to pitch their ideas to a panel of investors and specialists to compete internationally for a cash prize worth $30,000, as well as invaluable business partnerships and mentoring.
The top 15 finalist teams will go head-to-head on the 21st and 22nd of September 2016 at West Road Concert Hall in Cambridge, in a Dragons’ Den style competition. The impressive line-up of judges includes:
- Kieran Murphy – President and Chief Executive Officer of GE Healthcare Life Sciences.
- Ann Connolly – Senior Director of New Ventures at Johnson & Johnson Innovation, London.
- Kevin Johnson – Partner at Medicxi Ventures.
- Sarah Haywood – Chief Executive Officer of Medcity.
The top 15 final teams for IMAGINE IF! are as follows:
- AccuRx (London)
- ATS Laboratory S.A. (Krakow)
- CamSES (Cambridge)
- CustoMem (London)
- FlextraPower (New York)
- GlykoGen (Aberdeen)
- Lumigbo (formerly Tarantula) (Lausanne)
- Lymphatica (Lausanne)
- MeCURIS (Munich)
- MedEXO Robotics (Hong Kong)
- New Born Solutions (Barcelona)
- NG:Safe (Cambridge)
- Novus Life Sciences (Hong Kong)
- RNAissance Therapeutics (Cambridge)
- VisusNano (Stevenage)
Cambridge-based CamSES, which uses patented nanoparticles to purify water to remove contamination in water-stressed areas, is one of the 15 finalists at this year’s Innovation Leaders Conference. Team member Jeroen Verheyen commented, “We’ve been involved in the Cambridge entrepreneurship ecosystem for the past few years and have attended the Innovation Leaders Conference previously. CamSES focuses heavily on technology so the IMAGINE IF! competition seemed like a great fit and comes at a perfect time as we look at commercialising the business.
“The main benefit of the accelerator programme comes from the excellent list of mentors and the exposure provided, which has helped our business development massively. Being able to engage with such influential people has allowed us to challenge aspects of our business and has helped us to reach valuable organisations such as Oxfam, WaterAid and Unicef. The non-dilutive cash funding would greatly benefit us as a social enterprise and as we begin to set up the first purification/vending shops and apply for regulatory approval.”
AlgoDynamix, a risk analytics company that detects disruptive events in global financial markets, won last year’s competition. CEO and co-founder, Jeremy Sosabowski, commented, “The process of pitching, competing and producing an elevator pitch has meant that we have gone on to win further accelerator programmes – opening new doors in terms of business partnerships, connections and funding.”
“As well as the business idea competition, the event is fantastic for meeting new, interesting people. The network opportunities are second to none and the line-up of speakers each year are more and more inspirational. It really is a must for any entrepreneurs or start-ups looking to connect with professionals across a wide range of sectors to take their business to the next level.”
For a complete schedule and to secure your tickets please visit the Innovation Forum website at www.inno-forum.org/conference/