We’re hunting out the people and companies that deserve a place on their respective #21toWatch lists. But for many it’s their invention, product or development – their ‘thing’ – in their field of expertise that has made them secure a place on the #21toWatch list.

A leader of innovation, the Cambridge Phenomenon has earned its impressive name. From pacemakers to potatoes, as science and technology has evolved we’ve marvelled at the products that people and companies create.

What ‘things’ do you think are setting the standards in innovation? Here is the #21toWatch 2023 list (in alphabetical order):

Longlist Shortlist Top.21 Name Synopsis
Thing 52North Health 52North is a multi-award-winning med-tech company on a mission to reinvent the healthcare journey, and we're starting by transforming care for people undergoing cancer chemotherapy with Neutrocheck®
Thing Alpha Alchera’s cloud-based AI software, Alpha, powers enterprise-grade intelligent mobility and intelligent infrastructure applications. It provides operators and commercial users of road infrastructure with absolute, real-time data on vehicle and pedestrian movements around cities and major infrastructure at extreme scale
Thing Blueshift Memory Blueshift Memory has completed a 13-month project to demonstrate the performance of its Cambridge Architecture™, funded by an Innovate UK Smart grant. The resulting computer vision AI accelerator chip, with 16x – 128x speed improvement, was showcased at the Flash Memory Summit in Santa Clara in August, where it was awarded a ‘Most Innovative Memory Technology’ award in the prestigious ‘Best in Show’ awards
Thing Connect: Health Tech Connect: Health Tech catalyse connections which spark collaboration at the interface between medicine and technology. Bringing together academia, industry and healthcare to transform innovative ideas into tangible outcomes that benefit society
Thing Drawing Experiences Drawing Experiences is a new platform created by Human Experience Dynamics for measuring subjective aspects of experiences. It offers a more intuitive and informative method than traditional methods like Likert Scales. The platform allows users to graph their experiences in time, providing richer, more sensitive, and precise measurement of mental health outcomes. Drawing experiences platform has wide applicability, from healthcare, psychology and mental health, education, customer satisfaction, and social sciences
Thing Ediform Eating brings joy to many, poses challenges for some. Ediform crafts exceptional food for those who can no longer find pleasure in eating but require tailored nutrition for their well-being
Thing EPIHERD Antler Bio’s new platform, EPIHERD, is harnessing gene expression data and AI to evaluate the status of livestock and prescribe targeted husbandry interventions to increase performance, efficiency, welfare and sustainability
Thing Greenjets We are building ground-breaking emission free jet engine technology for drones and air taxis. Our unique insight was to combine the 'hard' science of psychoacoustics with 'cutting edge' electric jet engine design. This allows our customers to blend into the background noise of the city enabling widespread adoption
Thing Gus, the automated asparagus picker Autopickr's flagship innovation is 'Gus,' a fully automated asparagus harvester. Gus incorporates cutting-edge AI and navigation technologies, robust robotics, and new cutting technology to optimise the harvesting process
Thing Heartfelt Technologies Heartfelt Technologies are the future of heart failure telemonitoring: An automatic, AI supported, non-contact telemonitoring solution for heart failure patients
Thing iBoxit iBoxit creates natural, sustainable and carbon negative packaging and logistical solutions. Our replacements for ubiquitous and non-recyclable wooden pallets and expanded polystyrene (EPS) boxes promises to revolutionise transport ecology on a huge scale. Coupled with our natural anti-microbial coating, which protects product and extends perishable food shelf life, we can drastically minimise food waste and landfill, and bring better food for all
Thing Innovative Approaches for environmental sustainability of laboratories The venture promotes innovative approaches for environmental sustainability of laboratories using specialist knowledge and expertise on lab sustainability and established effective mechanisms to deliver a range of services for organisations across industry and research
Thing Lark Optics Lark Optics has developed a way to address the issue of AR sickness. The company has created AR glasses that project images directly onto the user’s retina, eliminating the depth mismatch that causes discomfort and physical symptoms
Thing Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery future Molyon has developed a new cathode material to enable high energy-density and long-life lithium-sulfur batteries. This opens up fundamentally new modes of transport and facilitates the net-zero transition
Thing MVPea MVPea’s mission is to bridge the gap between science and consumers by converting cutting-edge research into innovative pea-based food products. They aim to create delicious, healthy and sustainable products that will improve consumer diets
Thing neumind app Using technology to improve long-term quality of life and independence of people living with neurological conditions or injuries
Thing NoBACZ NoBACZ is a Wound Care Company Specialising in Sustainable, Rapid-Setting Liquid Barrier Dressings. Veterinary and human wound care is wasteful, unsustainable and time consuming. Change is needed to improve care, reduce waste and enhance sustainability. NoBACZ has a novel, patent-protected solution to address these issues
Thing OPAU OPAU's no-heat technology helps industry removes up to 98% water, transforming products into waterless, lightweight, preservative-free dry sheets without compromising quality and performance. OPAU making waves without water
Thing Stickerbook (By Obliquity) Stickerbook makes organisation wide sustainability upskilling and engagement easy and effective. Learn by collecting stickers with bite-sized learning, gamification, nudges to action and competitions, designed to make upskilling convenient
Thing Supersense Technologies Our remote monitoring product empowers families and carers with insights, alerts, and support to maximise the quality of life for their loved ones and enable respite for carers
Thing Tenyks Tenyks is inventing the way humanity interacts with AI to protect and delight. To protect the world from the misuse of AI, but also to ensure that AI is developed with passion, excitement, and joy
Thing The Chemistry Shed The Chemistry Shed is a new biotechnology business that uses an innovative in silico platform, developed by scientists at the UEA, to accelerate the discovery of new medicines. This platform will help to lower the cost and accelerate the development of new medicines whilst also providing training and employment opportunities for young scientists here in Norfolk
Thing Treekly Treekly is turning footsteps into forests. Engage your staff and customers in a steps challenge with impact: maintain a daily walking habit of 5,000 steps with the reward of mangrove trees - planted in areas devastated by deforestation. Norwich based
Thing Verinnogen Verinnogen serves the global need of more accurate and reliable pre-clinical tumour measurements by digitising physical 3D profiles using its novel pin profiling technology, expediting clinical translation and saving lives
Thing William Oak Diagnostics Developed an innovative point-of-care test with integrated blood-collection which simplifies the identification of various micronutrient deficiencies. With just a push of a button, William Oak Diagnostics are making maternal, child, and infant testing more accessible
Thing Words.Tel What if you could bypass Google and directly connect with businesses and individuals using simple, memorable phrases? No more relying on search algorithms and expensive ad campaigns. Be Memorable, Be Found
Thing Yakbit Yakbit will lead the next chapter in measuring inclusion in the workplace. Hybrid working has disrupted how we work and is here to stay. ‘Talent’ seeking professionals know that ‘soft skills’ are as important as hard skills; but it is difficult to assess soft skills accurately. This tool will help both the identification and development of these soft skills of communication and participation

Should your ‘thing’ be on this list too? Or what ‘thing’ have you seen recently that really stood out? Submit your nomination by completing the form, emailing 21toWatch@cofinitive.com or following @cofinitive on Twitter and using #21toWatch.

Remember, we’re also looking to create the lists for the companies and people who could be a #21toWatch Top21.