Enterprise newsletter May 2025

The science shaping society

From atoms to devices

From smartphones to glucose monitors, everyday technologies depend on increasingly miniature electronic components like sensors, memory chips, and photovoltaic cells. To push performance further, engineers are now looking to design microelectronics at even smaller scales by designing materials at the atomic level. The Royce at Imperial facility is helping academic and industrial partners to advance this cutting-edge research.

The next big thing

🌳 Plant waste is being turned into useful materials 

A natural indigo dye made from algae could provide an alternative to energy-intensive and polluting synthetic dyes. An Imperial spinout under formation to develop the technique has been recognised by the H&M Foundation, which awarded it a Global Change Award. Imperial startup PulpaTronics, which produces paper RFID tags, was also among this year’s winners.

Sustainable dyes being developed at Imperial win H&M Global Change Award

⚛️ London could be the world’s top hub for quantum technology

That’s the vision of a new initiative from the Mayor of London and three top universities – Imperial, UCL and King’s – who are partnering on a new quantum cluster. The initiative will provide resources to quantum startups in London, and give them greater presence in the innovation ecosystems the universities are helping develop. 

New cluster from top London unis to boost quantum technologies in capital 

💊 A new partnership model is rapidly advancing medicines

Biopharmaceutical company Apollo Therapeutics has partnered with Imperial to bring a potential treatment for a life-limiting disorder, pulmonary hypertension, into patient trials. It can take a career to turn a research breakthrough into a new medicine, and the ten-year timeline in this case is testament to Apollo’s model of early, sustained collaboration with UK universities. 

Imperial and Apollo developing potential treatment for pulmonary hypertension 

👗 A new generation of textiles is on the way 

Textile fibres produced using gene-edited yeast could provide a more sustainable alternative to fossil-based synthetics and resource-intensive natural fibres. And thanks to new AI models, they could be designed not merely to mimic existing fibres but to have whatever properties we choose. An Imperial spinout, Solena Materials, has raised £5.1m to develop its approach. 

Solena raises $6.7m to create next-gen textiles using AI and synthetic biology 

🦿 A new bone-like material could improve joint replacements

A new form of joint replacement, using a novel material that behaves like bone, promises to simplify surgery, reduce implant failures and keep patients active for longer. The company developing the technique, OSSTEC, is looking to gain regulatory approval in the US and begin clinical trials in the UK. 

Printed material that behaves like bone promises better joint replacements 

Partner spotlight

Partner spotlight with Dr Christian Holtze, BASF

BASF, the world’s largest chemical company, is working with Imperial to help make the chemical industries more sustainable and resilient. We asked Dr Christian Holtze, Principal Scientist Flow Chemistry and Academic Partnerships Developer at BASF, to provide an inside look at the partnership. 

What does BASF aim to achieve by working with Imperial? 

At present, the world’s supply of chemicals is produced by a handful of so-called world-scale chemical plants. But by diversifying manufacturing processes and exploring alternative feedstocks, the chemical industry can reduce its dependency on fossil fuels and enhance its resilience. Regional and distributed production at smaller scales could become a manufacturing concept for the future: It can reduce cost and emissions of shipping, and mitigate supply chain risks. For the UK, this could improve resilience and nucleate novel value chains. 

Why work with a university on these challenges? 

At BASF, about 10,000 employees are involved in R&D. The additional research we’re doing with Imperial is transformational, and longer-term than we usually do in our internal research. We’re starting out with academically exciting concepts and surprising discoveries, and evolving these into research programmes. We’re then building clusters to take forward and translate our innovations.  

What drew you to Imperial? 

BASF has academic research alliances on every continent. But we only have a few very important strategic partnerships, and Imperial is our largest single academic partner. One thing that is particular about Imperial is the importance of digital competences in education and research – every student is doing some modelling, lab automation, coding – and an interdisciplinary and pragmatic mindset for translating research into something that is useful.

This is an edited version. Click here to read the full and unedited Q&A with Dr Holtze, exclusive to newsletter subscribers.

Get involved 

Meet ten top women-led ventures

WE Innovate, our newly expanded flagship pre-accelerator programme for women-led ventures, is hosting its Grand Final. Join us to discover a new generation of talented innovators from Imperial and Queen’s University Belfast who could be set to transform your industry. 

5 June in South Kensington 

Register to attend the WE Innovate 2025 Grand Final 

Build collaborations for healthcare innovation 

Imperial Collider creates meaningful connections between academics, founders, funders and industry partners. Join us for this one-day healthcare innovation event that will spark innovation, facilitate serendipity and build powerful partnerships. Secure your place now. 

9 July in South Kensington 

Secure your place at Imperial Collider 2025

To explore how Imperial Enterprise could help your business benefit from Imperial’s world-leading expertise, technologies, resources and talented innovators, view our LinkedIn, website or drop us a line today.

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