Akhilesh Goveas is the founder and CEO of SpectX, an autonomous aerial radiography inspection and asset management startup for difficult-to-access infrastructures such as offshore wind turbines.  SpectX is the first startup to enable X-ray inspections aerially using synchronized drones.

A mechanical engineer with prior work experience in automotive manufacturing, Akhilesh completed his master’s in Sustainable Energy Technologies (TU Delft), specializing in autonomous systems powered by wind energy. 

He modelled and optimized a wind-powered drinking water and electricity production system designed for developing countries with water shortages, before founding SpectX in 2021 and is currently driving the research and development at SpectX to make X-ray non-destructive testing inspections autonomous and cost-effective.

Akhilesh was the finalist for the prestigious Offshore Wind Innovator Awards, 2021 awarded by TKI Wind Op Zee for innovative contributions to the offshore energy transition. 

SpectX was also positioned among the most promising deeptech startups in Europe and was nominated for the Drapers Silicon Fall Pitch Prize, 2022. 

Akhilesh has two publications in the international scientific journal, Wind Energy Science (WES) and was recently selected for the Financial Times T500 list of top digital minds in the Netherlands, under the age of 30.

As CEO and co-founder of Amara Therapeutics, Brendan Staunton is revolutionising the treatment of pelvic health conditions by delivering digital support to patients’ smartphones, making healthcare more accessible, convenient and affordable.

Targeting unmet clinical needs in a healthcare setting, Staunton and his team are developing the first digital therapeutic platform for the treatment of Overactive Bladder (OAB), a chronic and debilitating condition that affects over 85 million people in the US and Europe alone. OAB is a complex condition with multiple symptoms, making it difficult to diagnose and treat. Behavioural therapy is the recommended first-line treatment but is notoriously difficult to access due to a lack of specialists and reliance on face-to-face care. Staunton’s app-based treatment, BladderBoss delivers accessible, convenient, and effective behavioural therapy to the patient’s smartphone enabling immediate access to care. Amara has raised over €3 million in funding and its growth plans aims to target other pelvic health conditions.

Staunton has over a decade of experience in the commercialisation of medical devices having initially studied Neuroscience at University College Dublin. He also holds an Executive MBA from Smurfit Business School and an MSc in Bio-Innovation from The University of Galway.

Dr Chang Gao is a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor at the Department of Microelectronics, TU Delft, who has achieved significant advancements in energy efficient artificial intelligence (AI) computation without sacrificing accuracy. By reducing the energy cost of AI, Gao’s innovations have laid the groundwork for wearable and portable devices – such as smart watches, shoes, and cardiac implants – and long-term robotic prosthesis control, to provide 24/7 monitoring to improve health outcomes and patients’ quality of life.

Rather than focussing on building biologically accurate neural network models, which can lead to high production costs and less accuracy on real-world tasks, Gao applied neuromorphic principles, sparse neuron firing and connectivity to transform deep recurrent neural networks into more cost-efficient forms. He continues to bridge the gap between artificial neural networks and spiking neural networks by applying brain-inspired neuromorphic principles to massively accelerate the computation of state-of-the-art deep neural network architectures while maintaining competitive accuracy on real-world tasks.

Gao was the Best Paper Award recipient of the 2020 IEEE International Conference on Artificial Intelligence Circuits and Systems; is a co-recipient of the 2020 Misha Mahowald Prize for Neuromorphic Engineering; and received the 2022 Mahowald Early Career Award for Neuromorphic Engineering. He also received the 2022 Marie-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship for his project on portable radar systems powered by energy-efficient AI accelerators.

Dr Mike Horia Mihail Teodorescu is an Assistant Professor at University of Washington and co-founder of SurgiBox, a startup which developed a backpack-portable operating room system. SurgiBox’s mission is to reduce loss of life from lack of access to clean operating environments by bringing the OR to the patient. 

Mike’s journey started in Romania where, as a high school student in Iasi, he applied for patents in Romania and the US and was twice winner of NASA contests. 

Accepted by Harvard and Stanford universities, he obtained his BA cum laude in Computer Science from Harvard. After working at Microsoft, he returned to Harvard for his doctorate.

Mike’s research explores the process of innovation by independent entrepreneurs and machine learning fairness. He began machine learning fairness work while working as a scholar at MIT D-Lab on an international development project. 

SurgiBox received awards from MassChallenge, Harvard President’s Challenge, and HBS New Venture Competition. Long-term, Mike wishes to reduce the cost of surgical procedures and bring equality in access to surgical care. 

Beyond his entrepreneurship work, Mike teaches Data Science and Entrepreneurship at the University of Washington Information School.

Driven by a passion for science, Dr Flávia Sousa is developing new biological nanotherapies for brain cancer.

A pharmacist by training, she completed a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from University of Porto, Portugal. She then embarked on postdoctoral studies at Imperial College London followed by a Marie Curie MINDED fellowship at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in Genova, Italy.  

As a Senior Researcher at the Adolphe Merkle Institute, her research work in the treatment of brain cancer has shown promising outcomes. Flavia has been awarded with an independent Women in Science (WINS) research fellowship by the NCCR for Bio-Inspired Materials. She has also received renowned international grants such as Fulbright, Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship and Female Science Talents.

 Her research work has been pioneering regarding encapsulation of anti-angiogenic monoclonal antibodies and understanding the efficacy in the treatment of glioblastoma.

 It has also showed that this bioengineered nanosystem was able to shuttle intratumorally and inhibit protein secretion, being an efficient alternative to deliver intracellularly monoclonal antibodies.

Gerardo Portilla is an electrical mechanical engineer whose passion for innovation has led him to design a bicycle for Mars exploration and a robot that can walk in underwater environments for the exploration and cultivation of algae.

His latest innovation is a robot assistance dog for visually impaired and disabled people which guides the user in both internal and external environments using Google maps.

The robotic dog, called TEFI, has several models of artificial intelligence including object recognition which identifies traffic lights, cars and other potential hazards. The robot also contains voice recognition algorithms allowing the user to communicate directly and issue directions on specific tasks. It can also make calls and send messages to the user’s friends and family in case of emergency. 

As a quadruped robot, TEFI has stable locomotion which adapts well to all types of terrain, making it suitable for use in a range of environments.

The current cost of an assistance dog is around €35,000, not including its care and upkeep. Training and adaptation takes between 12 and 14 months for a service life of approximately seven to 10 years. With an immediate acquisition time and a cost of less than €5,000, Portilla’s innovation makes assistance care accessible to many more people globally.

Dr Hortense Le Ferrand has developed, published and patented several 3D printing technologies to fabricate easily-customisable and high-performance multifunctional materials. 

At present, one technology processes one type of material to make one type of object, with an urgent need for multimaterial and multifunctional devices’ digital microfabrication methods. Le Ferrand’s technologies provide a solution to this need. 

Her innovation allows an additive manufacturing technology to produce microdevices with tailored performance, such as sensors, capacitors and thermal interface materials. This allows the fabrication of a variety of multimaterial functional devices with only one technology such as a pressure microsensor with embedded cooling capability which leads to higher cycling performance. 

Another example is a thermal cooling material that extracts the heat from a source and drives it to a specific direction, which has high significance in 3D electronics. 

The technology is also able to process standard materials like reinforced polymer composites and ceramics, making the technology multimodal and adaptive.

Some of the materials created by the innovation include self-cooling mechano-sensors, strong ceramics, stiff yet morphing materials and strong, lightweight, high thermally conductive insulating composites which have applications in the advanced electronics, robotics, aerospace spheres and beyond.

The innovation represents the new technology necessary for the future of manufacturing and Industry 4.0.

Dr Jonathan C. M. Wan, MB BChir PhD, is an internationally recognised physician-scientist who has made significant contributions to the field of cancer liquid biopsy. His research focuses on developing new, more sensitive methods for detecting cancer in blood using circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA). 

Despite progress in the cancer liquid biopsy field, detecting ctDNA in patients with early-stage or residual disease remains challenging due to the very small amount of DNA released into the bloodstream. 

Wan’s innovation uses computational biology to search for combinations of mutations, or ‘mutational signatures’, to boost sensitivity.  As identifying multiple characteristic target mutations for each cancer, increases the chances of detection, the use of mutational signatures can accurately detect relapse after surgery and early-stage cancers.

This approach has delivered a ten-fold increase in sensitivity for ctDNA, unlocking the possibility of detecting early-stage and residual cancer using only a single drop of blood.

His work has resulted in multiple lead-inventor patents, which are being used in industry and translated into novel diagnostics for improved cancer care. 

Alongside his clinical practice, Wan has published first-author papers on circulating tumour DNA detection in Nature Reviews Cancer, Science Translational Medicine and Nature Communications and has published senior author papers on liquid biopsy data science in Lancet Oncology and Trends in Cancer.

Dr Matthew Murphy has developed a surgical technique which can regenerate articular cartilage with minimal scarring, an innovation which could revolutionise care for patients suffering from osteoarthritis (OA).

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic disease which results in irreversible, progressive damage to the cartilage of joints. Estimated to affect over 300 million people worldwide, the condition mostly affects the hip, knee and hand joints resulting in loss of function. 

A technique called microfracturing is currently used to improve patients’ symptoms however this leads to scarring or fibrocartilage. While fibrocartilage provides some temporary symptomatic relief, it is structurally weaker than articular cartilage resulting in progression of the disease and the eventual need for joint replacement.

Dr Murphy has discovered a population of skeletal stem cells in joints that can be activated following microfracturing. These activated stem cells can be encouraged to regenerate articular cartilage by controlling the stem cell environment or niche. The technique can be used in any articular surface of any joint affected. The ability to activate and control stem cell differentiation is key not only in diseases such as osteoarthritis but other degenerative disorders.

Dr Murphy is currently a Hunterian Professor for 2023, awarded for his contribution to surgery by the Royal College of Surgeons of England. 

Naroa Coretti is a Ph.D. student at the MIT City Science group whose work is transforming urban mobility by creating more sustainable transport modes. One of Coretti’s most notable contributions to the field of urban mobility is the MIT Autonomous Bicycle Project, which has captured global attention for its potential to revolutionize urban transportation. This shared, autonomous bicycle would operate as part of a mobility-on-demand service, offering a sustainable and convenient alternative to cars and other traditional modes of transportation in urban environments. The bicycle has a transformable rear-wheel mechanism with the bicycle configuration allowing users to ride it as a regular bike. Then, for autonomous driving, it transforms into a tricycle that has the necessary stability to drive by itself. When deployed as a fleet, users would request rides via a mobile app, an autonomous vehicle would drive to their location for pick-up, and users would ride it as a conventional bicycle to their destination. Through her research and academic contributions, Coretti has demonstrated that by adding autonomy, micro-mobility solutions could provide a service that is more efficient, convenient, and environmentally friendly. These new systems can transform urban mobility by offering a sustainable, seamless door-to-door service, reducing car dependency and fostering more thriving, vibrant, and human-centric cities.

Dr Olivia Borgue’s achievements in the Energy and Sustainability sphere are helping democratize space access by slashing the costs of running and launching satellites.

As a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Luxembourg, Borgue led the development, manufacturing and launch of Chipsats, the first card-size satellites with intersatellite communication capabilities. With launch and development costs of a constellation as little as €10,000, Chipsats enable ultra-low-cost space missions. 

Borgue’s design and qualification of space systems and the implementation of new technologies and mission scenarios, aims to extend space access to lower-income countries and educational establishments.

In her current role as the Technical Lead and Microgravity Systems Engineer at Yuri GmbH, Borgue leads the development of Yuri’s ScienceTaxi, a commercial microgravity test platform for biological experiments.  

Outside of work, she contributes to the ISO/TC 172 Optics and Photonics/AHG group as an expert in developing VR/AR industrial standards. She also provides research and newsletter content for the Initiative for interstellar studies (I4is) and serves as a lecturer.

Having the ability to communicate with each other makes the miniature satellites, which weigh less than 30g, more suitable for complex space operations. They are designed for short missions, and quickly burn in the atmosphere to prevent creating space debris. 

Tawfiq Nasr Allah is the Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Fairbrics, a start-up company whose mission is to fight climate change by developing circular manufacturing processes using renewable resources instead of fossil-based resources.

His innovation is the development of a strategy to transform CO2 into a raw material for the manufacture of fabric. Currently, polyester accounts for 60 per cent of all textiles produced globally and a third of the fashion industry’s greenhouse gas emissions. Replacing a petro-based product with a CO2-based product provides energy-intensive industries with an ecological and cost-effective solution to decreasing their carbon emissions at once, at scale.

Tawfiq’s interest in green chemistry began whilst studying at Columbia University where he became familiar with the potential uses of CO2 as a carbon source and its possible applications. During his PhD at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and Paris Saclay University, Tawfiq investigated innovative ways to create highly valuable nitrogen-based compounds through the catalytic transformations of CO2, CO and Hydrogen. 

Since co-founding Fairbrics, the team has improved the technology and delivered three proofs of concept to fashion brands such as H&M, On and Aigle. Work is ongoing to diversify the platform to serve other energy intensive markets, such as sports equipment, automotives and packaging.

Manufacturing and mechanical engineer Theo Saville is CEO at CloudNC which is developing advanced software which will allow companies to create efficient and reliable manufacturing processes in a single click. 

Saville’s technology means companies who make products can now create them more efficiently, either by using the new software to accelerate their own operations, or through manufacture at the CLoudNC factory in England. 

His innovation uses cloud analytics to programme and machine high-precision engineered parts at the click of a button to help drive productivity in the sector.

Saville was exposed to CNC machining whilst working in 3D printing and realised the potential for the technology to be automated to the same degree. His proposition is an embodiment of the Industry 4.0 trend and the drive towards autonomous systems in manufacturing. 

Operating in manufacturing, one of the globe’s biggest industries, the technology has the potential to impact the lives of millions through the creation of more efficient, better produced components used in everyday objects. The opportunity also exists for this precision part production to make manufacturing accessible to a much wider demographic.

Prior to founding CloudNC, Saville worked in a number of consultancy engineering and design roles, designing numerous objects for commercial manufacture, including a compact sound diffuser and a watch.

Thomas Truong is an engineer who holds a master’s degree in the field of Artificial Intelligence from Sorbonne University. He is the inventor of an app that utilizes cutting-edge AI technology to learn and translate all sign languages into voice, text, and image with just two example videos per sign. The app makes sign language interpretation accessible and affordable for the deaf-mute community.

 Thomas’s invention is a landmark achievement as it is the first time that hardware, software and artificial intelligence are all ready for this type of solution to be used at scale. Thomas’ mechanism substantially improves the efficiency of machine learning which allows his app to recognize a given hand action with two example videos rather than the 100 previously required. 

Previous attempts to solve this problem focused on a small number of sign languages and required special equipment. Thomas’ app works with over 300 sign languages and can be used with an iPhone, iPad or Mac issued from 2018. 

The app is also highly customizable. It works with various hand types so users themselves can teach it new hand actions by providing example videos on-device.

Nanoscientist Dr Tino Matter has spearheaded the development of a wound-healing platform that not only keeps bacterial infections in check but also promotes the body’s own capacity for self-healing.

The technology addresses the growing global threat of antibiotic resistances and insufficient wound healing. Current wound healing products are severely limited in terms of robustness and bioactivity which results in millions of patients worldwide suffering complications from extended hospital stays, increasing their exposure and susceptibility to viral and bacterial infections.  Dr Matter’s innovation, which is based on metal oxide nanoparticles, addresses a vast global wound market.

Widespread academic and clinical interest in the platform has led Dr Matter to launch the startup anavo medical which has received significant traction and funding to bring the technology to patients.  The technology can be widely implemented, treating internal and external wounds, potentially saving the healthcare industry and patients billions of dollars worldwide.

While pursuing his quest to disrupt the wound care market, Dr Matter has been appointed as a Nanomedicine lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences in Bern.

Victor is a postdoctoral researcher from Madrid, Spain, devoted to understanding the human visual system for creating clinical instrumentation in optometry and ophthalmology. 

As a member of the VioBio Lab (Institute of Optics, Spanish National Research Council) in Madrid, Victor’s research focuses on understanding how the visual system perceives blur and developing clinical tools for improving diagnostics in optometry and ophthalmology. 

He is co-inventor of four patents, author of seven scientific publications and has 14 contributions to international conferences. He has also directed four master’s theses. 
His main project consists of the development of a new method using tunable lenses to evaluate the visual prescription faster and more precisely than the traditional method of identifying letters through different lenses. He has obtained funding from the CaixaResearch Validate program 2022 as Project Leader to continue with the commercial development of this technology.

As well as successfully completing several acceleration programs, Victor obtained a PhD in Biomedical Sciences and Technologies from Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M) with Cum Laude honors. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Optics and Optometry from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM).

Dr Yannis Assael is a Staff Research Scientist working on Artificial Intelligence at Google DeepMind. A graduate from the Department of Applied Informatics, University of Macedonia, Yannis completed an MSc at the University of Oxford – finishing first in his year –  and an MRes at Imperial College London, both with full scholarships.

He returned to Oxford for a DPhil degree on a Google DeepMind scholarship and, after a series of research breakthroughs and entrepreneurial activities, began working as a researcher at Google DeepMind. 

His contributions in the field of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning range from audio-visual speech recognition to multi-agent communication and AI for culture, studying damaged ancient texts. His research, which focuses on contributing to and expanding the greater good, has attracted much media attention for example, featuring on the cover of the the world’s leading multidisciplinary science journal, Nature.