A selection of the world’s most innovative early-stage companies and academic entrepreneurs delivering health technologies have been shortlisted for the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Emerging Technologies Competition 2019.

The Competition is the Royal Society of Chemistry’s annual initiative for early stage companies and academic entrepreneurs who want to commercialise their technologies to make a global impact. Health is one of the competition categories, welcoming chemistry-driven innovation related to improving and maintaining health.

Aurora Antemir, Royal Society of Chemistry Industry Manager, commended the innovation seen in competition submissions: “We’ve been bowled over yet again by how strong the entrants are. The Emerging Technologies competition provides a unique platform for large chemical and pharma companies to connect with emerging technologies, while providing the SME sector with an opportunity to showcase its talent and potential. We’re certain it’s going to be another special occasion celebrating some of the most novel chemistry in the UK and Europe.”

The health category finalists are as follows:

• Rosa Biotech, Bristol, UK ─ a sensing platform that mimics the mammalian olfactory system.
• Crystec Ltd, Bradford, UK ─ a high-performance inhalable form of a marketed drug to generate the first urge incontinence treatment for on-demand use.
• Asymmetric Suzuki Reactions, Oxford, UK ─ innovative and robust chemical reactions that access important molecular building blocks for drug discovery.
• RUBYnanomed, Braga, Portugal ─ a precise cancer snapshot tool, the RUBYchip, a microfluidic device for isolating all types of circulating tumour cells from unprocessed whole blood.
• MediSieve Limited, White City, UK ─ a new approach to the treatment of sepsis which can be used to physically remove specific components directly from the bloodstream.
• FluoretiQ Limited, Bristol, UK ─ tech that reduces the time to identify bacterial infections from two days to 15 minutes.
• Microcaps AG, Zurich Switzerland ─ an emulsification technique allowing size-controlled fabrication of microparticles, emulsions, and capsules with a monodisperse size distribution at industrial volumes.
• B-CULTURE, Guimaraes, Portugal ─ enables the use of interfaced tissues for drug testing in vitro.
• CytoSeek, Bristol, UK ─ using its technology to 'supercharge' immune cells to attack solid tumours.
• University of Birmingham, UK ─ a novel family of fluorophore dyes which enables low-cost and tunable emission across the colour spectrum.

We at Hospitals & Healthcare are looking forward to learning of the winners. With such an impressive breadth of healthcare expertise and innovation all finalists have great potential to revolutionise the healthcare space.