The cofinitive #21toWatch campaign launched in 2018 to showcase the homegrown innovation across the Cambridge and East of England region. The list is made up of the people, companies and ‘things’ that are shaping the future in their industries locally, nationally and globally. The list in not industry specific and represents a broad spectrum of what the region has to offer. With such a diverse list, the attributes each submission is assessed on are Innovation, Challenge, Influence, Viability and Memorability.

Many of 2021’s Top21 have gone on to enjoy great success – securing new rounds of funding, making new mentoring and business connections and securing new clients. What is evident is that this is a campaign that businesses wants to be a part of – either to be on the list themselves or to be supporting those businesses on it.

Find out more, and view the current people, companies, and ‘things’ lists on our microsite.

At a glance: Top21.2021

Aleksandra Pedraszewska, Dr Giorgia Longobardi, Dr Catherine Elton, Dr Gita Khalili Moghaddam, Francesca O’Hanlon, Prof. Justin O’Grady, Dr Tom Stubbs, Cambridge Cancer Genomics, Echion Technologies, Flusso, Iceni Diagnostics, Kalium Health, Leaf Expression Systems, SATAVIA, Better Origin, Developing Experts, Glyconics, Map of Ag, RoboK, Sook, Spotta Smart Pest Systems.

 

People Company 'Thing' Longlist Shortlist Top.21 Name Synopsis
Company 10to8
Thing 3D perception software Efficient AI-based 3D sensing software solution for resource-constrained platforms to deliver safety for the automotive and transport industries
Company AC Biode
Thing Actiphage
Company Agile Analog Founded to accelerate the pace of chip innovation by providing smaller, cheaper, more reliable, and lower power analog chip designs. Agile’s AI-driven platform replaces the existing manual design process, which has not fundamentally changed in 60 years
Company Agxio
Company AI VIVO
Company Alchemab Therapeutics
Company Alchemie Technology
People Aleksandra Pedraszewska Co-founder and COO at VividQ - a deep tech company with world-leading expertise in computer-generated holography. VividQ software and IP powers the next-generation of augmented reality (AR) wearables, head-up displays (HUD) and consumer electronics
People Alex Hughes
Company Ambify
Company Ansible Motion
Company Antobot
Thing Anvil
Thing Axon Vibe
People Ayaka Shinozaki Ayaka is a backend engineer at techspert.io. She has been named AI Professional of the Year for the Computing AI & Machine Learning Awards 2020
Thing BeadReady Atelerix provides scalable methods of cell preservation, transport and re-presentation for patient administration to offer cell therapy developers and manufacturers flexibility in workflows, and remove the need for expedited shipments of frozen packages
Thing Better Origin X1 Fully automated insect mini-farm that uses AI to manage the process on farmers' behalf. Our science-driven solution adds value, improves productivity, yield and animal welfare, while delivering 130% ROI
Thing Bimodal Electric Tissue Ablation (BETA) Ablatus has been awarded over £1M by the UK government to develop their novel minimally invasive treatment for soft tissue tumours. The award will fund a 2-year project to develop the prototype device into a final version for use in patients for the first time
Company BIOS Health
Company Blue Tap Blue Tap is an award-winning social enterprise that aims to change the way the world consumes water. Using 3D printing, we are developing low-cost water purification technology for communities in low-income and emerging economies
Company C2-AI
Company Cambridge Cancer Genomics Builds the software to enable data-driven precision oncology. The precision AI platform analyses and interprets tumour DNA, enabling oncologists to provide more effective, personalised treatment for cancer patients
Company Cambridge Future Tech
Company Cambridge Raman Imaging Ltd
Company Camena Bioscience
Company Camnexus
People Carmen Palacios-Berraquero
People Carol Cheung Carol is a DeepTech Venture Capital investor, her current investment focus is on autonomous systems, AI and machine learning, cloud computing, and fintech. Carol currently manages CIC’s investment in Cytora and GeoSpock
Thing Carryr
People Catherine Elton Catherine leads Qkine, where we are driving innovation in the growth factor protein supply chain. These proteins are essential for culturing stem cells used to develop technologies with potential to transform lives, such as precision medicine, cell therapy and the emerging cultured meat industry
Company CC Bio
Thing Censeo
Company Chorus Intelligence
Company Chronomics
Company Citispotter Limited
Thing Colorifix
Company ConcR
Thing Connect4
Company Conundrum
People Cornelius Palm
Company Cydar Medical Cydar’s AI powered imaging software means safer, shorter, less invasive operations, a lighter cognitive load for surgeons, and better outcomes for patients
Company Cyted
Company Dataswift.io
Company DefiniGEN
Thing DNA Transform Kit
People Dr Andrea De Luca A researcher turned entrepreneur and CEO. Co-founded Flusso, and now enjoying fully the journey in building something remarkable
People Dr Catherine Ramsdale
People Dr Christopher Proctor
People Dr Gareth Conduit
People Dr Keith Tsui
People Dr Niall Gallen
People Dr Ramsey Faragher
People Dr Raoul-Gabriel Urma
People Dr Saif Ahmad
People Dr Thuria Wenbar Thuria is a practicing A&E doctor, programmer and CEO of e-Surgery, a paperless prescription service and pharmacy. Alongside advocating for patient safety, accessibility and efficiency, Thuria heads the technology division of DAUK, campaigning and lobbying on behalf of front-line doctors
People Dr Tom Stubbs Tom is CEO and founder of UK-based biotechnology Chronomics, founded on the use of epigenetics to give people the knowledge of how their environment and lifestyle is imprinting itself on their DNA and affecting their health. He is a specialist in Epigenetics, Machine Learning, and Computational Biology
Thing DressCode
Company Drishti Discoveries
Company Eagle Genomics Award-winning AI augmented knowledge discovery platform, the e[automateddatascientist], is revolutionising how scientists conduct life sciences research and is bridging the gap between data and new insights in a rapid, systematic and traceable way
Company Echion Technologies Echion's promise to reduce the charging time for electric cars to six minutes moved closer with the demonstration of a six-minute charge, 3Ah Li-ion battery cell with 35% improvement in anode volumetric capacity over commercial competitors. This is only the beginning of what we can achieve
Thing Education Platform
People Ellie Galanis
Company Engage Health Systems
Company Enhanc3D Genomics
Thing eqWave
Company Faradair
Company Feedback
People Fiona Rust
Thing Flit Flit develops lightweight folding electric bikes for busy urban commuters
Company Flusso Flusso, a fabless semiconductor company originally spun-out from Cambridge University, developed the world’s smallest flow sensor as part of a flow sensing solution easy to incorporate in low-cost, high-volume applications
Company Focal Point Positioning
People Francesca O'Hanlon Francesca founded Blue Tap after working as a water and sanitation engineer in Mexico, India, and with Médecins sans frontières in South Sudan and The Central African Republic. She is currently completing her PhD at the University of Cambridge in Water Security and Climate Resilience
Thing FXhome
Thing Gallium Nitride power modules CGD leads the European funded GANEXT project under the PENTA Programme, targeting the design and development on highly efficient, highly compact prototypes of next-generation Gallium Nitride power modules, for low and high power applications
People George Bailey George Bailey, a student at UEA in Norwich, had a vision to create a range of renewable glasses and sunglasses from a material called Econyl
People Ghina Halabi Herdsy is an award-winning international technology company, that has developed a technology that helps to solve the biggest issue in the Beef Industry, namely sustainability
People Giorgia Longobardi Giorgia has a PhD in power devices from Cambridge University. Since 2009 she has been working on GaN power devices design and characterisation gaining extensive and in-dept knowledge of GaN reliability
People Gita Khalili Moghaddam Gita is a UKRI Innovation Scholar at the University of Cambridge leading the use of AI in medical technologies and therapeutics. In her entrepreneurial role, she established TumourVue and GlycoVue
Company Goodery
People Hakim Yadi
Thing Happyr Health
Company HexagonFab
Company Iceni Diagnostics Iceni Diagnostics develops carbohydrate-based point-of-care diagnostics and vaccines for infectious diseases, using its unique, proprietary HPGR(Trademarked) technology. Iceni has a strong pipeline of products currently lead by a Covid-19 diagnostic
Company iLevel
Thing In2Med
Company Inawisdom Inawisdom's focus is on differentiation through data exploitation, using the latest enterprise-ready techniques in predictive analytics, machine learning, natural language processing and artificial intelligence to exploit latent value in organisation’s data assets
Company Intellegens
Thing Intelligent Clothing
Company Intellisense.io Intellisense.io has created a real-time decision-making platform and AI powered applications that are enabling major mining corporations to improve productivity, save energy and reduce their water usage around the world
Thing INZIC (Industrial Net Zero Innovation Centre)
Company IOTA Pharmaceuticals
Thing IR Spectroscopy for point-of-care testing Glyconics® is developing a range of Miniaturized InfraRed (IR) products for Point of Care exploiting the ability of IR to produce distinctive molecular ‘fingerprints’ in samples. Our 1st application is Screening for Type 2 diabetes - a major global challenge
People Jane Osbourn
People Jason Mellad Jason is a scientist entrepreneur passionate about translating innovative technologies into more effective therapies and better patient outcomes. Before founding Start Codon in 2019, he was CEO of Cambridge Epigenetix
People Jean De La Verpilliere
People Jenny Tillotson Dr Jenny Tillotson is the Founder of "eScent", a patented wearable liquid delivery technology offering "personalised scent" for self-controlled activation to enhance mood and wellbeing in PPE, FashionTech, BeautyTech, gaming etc
People Jeroen Verheyen
People Jiao Li
Company Kalium Health Kalium Health is working to help millions of people living with kidney disease to manage their health at home. Their digital blood electrolyte monitoring platform is based on sensing technology developed at the University of Cambridge
People Kanta Dihal
People Katie Underwood
Company Leaf Expression Systems Leaf Expression Systems is an innovative contract development and manufacturing organisation specialising in plant-based production of proteins, vaccines and complex natural products for research and commercial applications using Hypertrans®, Leaf’s proprietary high yielding transient expression technology
Company Lightcast Discovery Cell manipulation platform that uses tiny spots of light to control thousands of cells and reagents simultaneously, allowing us to radically alter drug discovery workflows for the pharmaceutical industry
Thing Limpet
Thing lone worker safety platform Safepoint helps businesses protect and organise their staff whilst they are working alone or in high-risk situations via an app, panic buttons, a control centre, and 24/7 emergency responders
People Loubna Bouarfa
Thing Map of Ag Platform Map of Ag’s vision is to be the most trusted global data platform connecting farms and industry. They can control how and where data is used, allowing us and third parties to develop innovative solutions that drive efficiency, transparency and Net Zero
People Mario de Miguel Ramos
Thing Medwyse
Company Metrion Biosciences
Company Microbiotica
Company Microfluid X
Company Muhdo Health
Company Mursla Mursla, a liquid biopsy company, has raised £410K from the UK Government’s Future Fund and existing investors and secured a £40K COVID-19 grant from the Cambridgeshire Capital Grant Scheme. The funding will enable Mursla to finalise its work on its novel exosome-based liquid biopsy platform, ExoPheno™, with the aim of demonstrating how the platform can detect cancer signatures in plasma from solid tumours via exosomes
Company Nanna Therapeutics
Company NeoPhore
Company NeutroCheck
People Nicola Filzmoser
Company Nu Quantum
Company Okra Technologies
Thing Online Science Lessons Developing Experts offers a science curriculum for schools and a careers and recruitment platform for the whole family designed to connect the world of work to learning. We empower employers to recruit responsibly by supporting our users to make informed choices about their future careers to build the diverse workforce the industry needs
Company Oppilotech
Thing Orca Scan
Company Outfield
People Owen Thompson
People Pallav Sethiya
Company PetMedix
Company PharmEnable
Thing PitPat
Thing Plant-based resin technology A startup company designed to develop and commercialise technology using readily available biopolymer and biomass to manufacture a next generation adhesive platform to cover wood panel industry, packaging, medical devices, cosmetics and other niche applications
People Plastometrex Plastometrex combine cutting edge materials science and numerical methods to create advanced materials testing technologies. These reduce testing times from hours (or days) to just 3 minutes while producing uniquely rich & actionable data sets
Company PlayFusion
Company POCKiT diagnostics
Company Porotech
Company Premier Econergy
People Professor Julian Gough
People Professor Justin O'Grady Prof O’Grady is an expert on the diagnosis of infectious diseases. During the pandemic, his group have sequenced >10,000 SARS-CoV-2 genomes from the region (as part of COG-UK - www.cogconsortium.uk) which identifies new variants and helps with strategies to reduce transmission in the community, hospitals and care homes
Company Qkine
Company Rainbird AI Rainbird's truly intelligent automation lets you build visual models of your smartest employees’ thought processes, then uses these models to automate decision making at rates typically 100x faster and 25% more accurate, with full explainability
Thing ReCoVa-19
Company Reflection Therapeutics Harnessing anti-inflammatory cell therapies to treat neurodegeneration. Shared the inaugural LifeArc 'Accelerate@Babraham Award'
Company Rehook
Company Riverlane
People Rosanna Kierney Rosanna Kierney is the founder and CEO of RecruitmentJunky, a tech-specialist recruitment firm supporting fast-growth businesses. Learning from first-hand industry experience, RecruitmentJunky is challenging the way traditional recruitment is done
People Ruizhi Wang
Company Satavia SATAVIA's vision is to eliminate 2% of human climate impact by making aviation smarter and greener
Thing Self Distancing Assistant
Company Semarion
Thing Simpleas
Company Skinlync
Thing Smartmask
Company Solar Polar Limited
Thing Sook Spaces Sook's modular fit out allows occupiers to rapidly create a bespoke environment using digital content, audio, lighting and furniture in empty spaces. Renting by the hour allows users to target specific times priced appropriately for external footfall
Company Sorex Sensors
Company Speechmatics
Company Spirea
Thing Spotta Bed Pod Spotta aims to be the world leader in smart pest detection. Their core technology is ultra-low-power insect monitoring that detects infestations early
Thing StarDrop
People Steve Brierley
Company Stroma Biosciences
Company Tailor Bio
Thing techspert.io
Thing Thyngs platform Thyngs is a physical-digital marketing and payments platform for charities and brands. Using smartphone technology, businesses can take touch-free payments, reward customer loyalty, and fundraise despite the pandemic
People Tony Murdock
Thing TrainAsONE«
Company Turation
People Veena Adityan
Thing ViewRanger
Thing Virtual Nick
Company VisusNano
Company VividQ
Company Wyld Networks
Company XGenomes
People Yupar Myint
Company Zedify Cambridge-based Zedify has been shaking up the UK delivery sector since 2018 when its network of UK zero emission hubs launched, with operations now in 10 UK cities. Their ethical and responsible service is about making cities better for everyone who uses them; helping to bring about cleaner air, less congestion and more liveable streets

If you think you should have been on this list, the nominations for #21toWatch 2022 open until 14th January 2022. Complete the form, tell us via 21toWatch@cofinitive.com, or follow @cofinitive on Twitter and use the #21toWatch.