Innovation awards celebrate entrepreneurs
Students, staff and recent graduates have been recognised in the University’s innovation awards.
Worthy enterprises
The winner of the Social and Environment Award was Alison Wood, a recent graduate of the School of Economics and founder of the company Lilypads.
Her social enterprise began in Kenya, addressing a lack of affordable sanitary products that prevents girls from attending school. It has now introduced a washable sanitary product to the UK market.
The Enterprise Award went to postdoctoral researcher Dr Alireza Abbassi Monjezi of the School of Engineering. He is the creator of Waterwhelm, a technology that turns wastewater into clean water while simultaneously producing renewable energy.
Dr Luca Cassetta, Research Fellow in the MRC Centre for Reproductive Health, took the Innovation Cup for his company Macomics, which is developing antibody-based cancer therapeutics.
Commercialisation service
All of the winners in Inspire Launch Grow 2019 are clients of Edinburgh Innovations, which provides a range of free services to students, staff and recent graduates to commercialise their ideas or research discoveries.
The awards ceremony was attended by more than 100 guests from the across the University and beyond, including members of the investment community who regularly support start-ups and spin-outs launched by students and staff.