Last night we got dressed up in our best frocks to attend the first Launch: Great West awards. The event aimed to celebrate the growing number of new companies in the SW that leverage the world-class science base of our local universities. It was a buzzing and incredibly professional evening thanks to the hard work of the organisers at Spin Up Science. As a headline sponsor, the Bristol BioDesign Institute was there on mass and we were over the moon to see that companies that use biodesign technologies swept the board, winning five of the eight awards.
The winners were:
The Ones to Watch Award: Rosa Biotech who use biodesign to develop novel sensors inspired by the mammalian olfactory system
The Rising Star Award: CytoSeek who develop new biodesign technologies to enhance cell therapies
The BioDesign Award: Ceryx Medical develop bioelectronics to mimic nerve centres within the body
The Global Good Award: Imophoron use biodesign to develop new types of vaccines to emerging developing-world diseases
The Deal of the Year Award: Ziylo/Carbometrics who took a biodesign approach to the development of new glucose binding molecules leading to a trade sale to Novo Nordisk of up to $800M
This event really shows how far the science entrepreneurship community has grown in the last few years. As our local MP Thangam Debbonaire said in the opening speech, Bristol is growing an amazing innovation ecosystem that builds on the best elements of the University, local industries and city as a whole.
We are very much looking forward to the next event to see if biodesign companies can do even better!