While completing a master’s, Jenny Griffiths realised that visual search tools are rapidly changing the way we discover new things and interact with the world around us. As a result, Jenny established Snap Tech, a company offering novel visual search-based solutions for the fashion industry.

Snap Tech is changing the way people shop by fusing visual search with fashion. The technology can turn phones (or other devices) into smart cameras, allowing users to point at an item of clothing in a magazine or shop, and instantly learn more or discover alternatives.

The company aims to take image search further by personalising the shopping experience. Its tools use a blend of mathematical heuristics (problem-solving techniques) and deep learning algorithms to understand users’ preferences, such as those relating to colour, shape, budget and availability, making it easier for consumers to find what they want.

Retailers and publishers are using Snap Tech solutions to increase conversion rates, significantly improve engagement, and generate additional revenue.

The company aims to build strategic partnerships as it expands globally. As CEO, Jenny views her growth as a leader, supported by the SME Leaders Programme, as playing a key role in continuing to develop solutions for fashion, while exploring the potential impact of the technology in other industries.

The construction industry sends millions of tonnes of waste to landfill each year, at significant cost to the industry and the environment. And new legislation requires that by 2025  at least 70% of all waste must be recycled.

These two factors are driving the construction industry to find alternative building methods and materials that reduce waste.

With help from the Innovation Fund of Zero-Waste Scotland, Sam founded the clean tech spin-out company Kenoteq to address this need.

Kenoteq has developed a patent-pending process using traditional earth-construction methods to make unfired bricks that do not use cement which have 90% of their content recycled from building and construction waste. Its unique production process and materials are classified as recyclable by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

As the new brick does not use gas firing, large manufacturers can eliminate the cost of gas-fired production and avoid additional carbon taxes under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). The bricks offer a high thermal mass and are ‘breathable bricks’, reducing the need for air conditioning and air quality controls inside buildings by providing relative humidity buffering.

Imagine if you could replace all the interfaces that clutter your life with something that reads the gestures you already know. Now add the ability to detect the almost infinite subtlety of touch our hands can generate. By contrast, the many switches, joysticks, buttons and wheels that enable humans to interact with electronic products are unwieldy, difficult to use and expensive to make, requiring thousands of complex sensors within each one.

Ming Kong has invented a new sensing method using a soft, hyper-sensitive material that can sense a greater range of touch motions than traditional electronic devices. It can also be moulded out of one material into a 3D shape rather than assembled in parts. 

His company TG0's technology aims to make controls more intuitive. Touchscreens and buttons require you to move a virtual object in 3D space with 2D controls, TG0 enables users to physically perform the desired on-screen movement on a flexible, soft 3D object. 

The material can detect an incredibly diverse range of different hand movements, removing the need for multiple products to control different electronic functions, and improving control.

TG0 could ultimately replace conventional controls such as the trackpad, the car dashboard and even gaming handhelds with a sculptural, all-in-one 3D sensing material.

Wearable technologies are making a massive impact on society, beginning to blur the boundary between human and machine. It is also an exploding commercial market set to be worth $12.6 billion by 2018.

The next generation of lightweight, high performance machines will rely on technologies that are capable of bringing the user as close to a device as possible. 

Peiman has created the first reported nano-display device that uses both optical and electronic property modulation in Phase Change Materials. Peiman’s company, Bodle Technologies, spun out of Oxford University in November 2015, to further advance this technology.

An entirely new class of ultra-thin, ultra-high resolution displays with nanosecond access speed and no power consumption in static mode is now under development by his team. 

This revolutionary display will initially target the rapidly growing microdisplay market compact, projection based displays used in emerging near-eye applications like Google Glass. The first prototypes are currently under development, with a small working device set to be ready within the next 12 months.

Over one million children born prematurely die each year, of which an estimated 75% could be saved with incubation treatment. 

The high cost of traditional incubators and difficulty with maintaining and transporting them means that many of the world’s poorest, more isolated or rural communities do not have access to the technology.

James is a product design and technology graduate from Loughborough University who has invented a revolutionary inflatable incubator called MOM to provide a solution to this terrible situation.

MOM is a tiny incubator  that could cost as little as 1/30th of the price of traditional incubators, making it much more affordable for use in the developing world. It can be quickly flat-packed down for easy storage in air ambulances and mobile clinics, and powered for 24 hours from a car battery.  Small, mobile and affordable means that more incubators can be there when needed to save far more babies.

Current joint replacement systems use a standardised one-size-fits-all approach, despite the fact that bone shape and size can vary enormously.

Susannah had the idea to create fully-customised parts for surgery. She is a co-founder of Imperial College London spin-out Embody Orthopaedic that now make unique instruments designed specifically for a one person’s surgical intervention. 

Embody are pioneering low-cost instrumentation for orthopaedic surgery with a new type of 3D printed technology to revolutionise joint replacements. This approach decreases risk by creating instrumentation such as knee replacements that are unique to each patient. The minimally invasive devices are printed in nylon, a low-cost, robust material that can be readily sterilised.

Susannah’s instruments are now used in both everyday surgery and more specialised cases, such as soldiers with lower limb gunshot wounds. Using 3D printing technology enables a very complex operation to be planned and undertaken in a much reduced timeframe, allowing an entirely personalised surgical approach at an affordable cost.

Embody is expanding on 3D printing customisable implants. Furthering plans to deliver a fully tailored joint replacement process, from surgical planning to recovery, the company is also launching a web-based surgical planning system. This allows surgeons to upload patient scans and trial different surgical scenarios pre-operatively. Within the next ten years, Susannah plans to apply the technology in other fields such as maxillofacial, cardiovascular and dental surgery.

Advances in passive (battery-free) radio-frequency identification (RFID) are creating opportunities for highly accurate tracking in a range of industries. Patented technologies developed by University of Cambridge spin-out PervasID harness the potential of passive RFID to allow real-time monitoring over wide areas, using a fixed infrastructure.

CEO and Co-Founder Sithamparanathan Sabesan has led PervasID in developing a complete RFID Inventory, Portal and Checkout, end-to-end solution that uses networks of antennas to detect and track items with passive RFID tags across wide areas. This can be achieved to a high level of precision (99%+), enabling cost-effective, continuous monitoring for companies in sectors such as retail, healthcare and security. 

For example, in retail, PervasID’s systems support inventory management and improve customer experiences through real-time tracking of goods from the warehouse to store checkout and exit. Similarly, PervasID systems support efficient management of resources in healthcare. In security they help to keep high-value assets safe, deterring theft with systems for accurate, long-range tracking.

Sabesan has been a Hub Member since 2011, when he joined as an Enterprise Fellow. He aims to use support from the SME Leaders Programme to build skills in leading and growing a team dedicated to developing and marketing PervasID’s solutions. Training and mentoring will also provide guidance on establishing the right partnerships to broaden the technology’s use in industry.

Oxford Space Systems' innovative structures, such as its novel large deployable antennas (LDAs), use both conventional and new materials. The LDAs offer significant savings in the build and launch costs of satellites and are lighter, less complex and can be stowed more efficiently than those currently in commercial demand. The development of a flight-worthy LDA is currently viewed as "strategically important" by the European Space Agency.

Although still in its early design stages, Oxford Space Systems is generating significant interest from satellite builders and operators globally and has gained investment from venture capital firms and various private investors.

Oxford Space Systems has the ambitious vision of establishing its position as the centre of excellence, making the UK the go-to supplier for large deployable antenna technology.

• Space Girl YouTube channel
  
• Shefali on Twitter
  
• Interview in Womanthology
  

Shefali is one of the ten winners of our 2016 SME Leaders Programme.

For Alexander, what started off as a way to make a fun robot for his nieces quickly turned into something with far greater potential impact.

There is a huge market for programmable robots as educational toys, but affordability has been a major barrier to success in the consumer market.

Founder of Robotical Ltd Alexander aims to change this  by producing a working robot that can be bought for less than £100 - but is far more than just a toy. 

Robotical's 3D printed robot Marty can walk, dance, or even be programmed to play football. The unique design halves the number of motors required for each of the robot’s legs, reducing production and retail costs dramatically.

Billed as an open-source educational toy for 'geeks of all ages', it can be wirelessly reprogrammed and modified with new 3D-printed parts, such as extra limbs. Users can control it from their smartphones, dive into programming through graphical language Scratch, or more traditional languages such as Python. It has already been used to teach children Python, who designed movements to make the robots walk.

There are plans for a novel 'robot app store' where consumers can download code for their robots to change how they move, alongside files for 3D printable parts to customise their appearance – effectively hardware apps for your robot!

Richard Brook is an experienced angel investor with technology expertise in the field of measurement, instrumentation and control systems. He has over forty years of experience in developing new instrumentation and applications for use in various sectors including manufacturing, space and defence.

He is Co-founder of the investment company E-synergy which has invested in over a hundred companies to date. Richard is also a Director of NPL Management Ltd (the UK’s National Physical Laboratory), and past Chairman of a number of Advisory Boards and Committees for policy development and funding activities in the UK’s Space and academic research sectors. 

Richard is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (1998), He was appointed OBE in 2004 for services to Higher Education and the UK Space Industry.

Professor Alison Noble is the Technikos Professor of Biomedical Engineering, in the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford, and Associate Head of MPLS Division. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society (2017), the Royal Academy of Engineering (2008) and the President of the Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Interventions (MICCAI) Society, the international society in biomedical image analysis.

Alison’s research interests are in computer analysis of clinical and biological images and the development and translation into clinical practice of novel methodologies that provide new diagnostic and therapeutic image based biomarkers and software tools for image-based quantification and decision-making. Her research group works in close collaboration with clinicians and industry players. She is also a Founder and the Chief Technology Officer of a university spin-out company that is commercialising research from her laboratory (Intelligent Ultrasound Ltd).

She returned to Oxford as a University Lecturer in 1995 to set up a biomedical image analysis group. Biomedical image analysis has since grown to be the largest biomedical engineering activity in Oxford.

Alison has played a leading role in setting up the biomedical engineering undergraduate and postgraduate biomedical engineering teaching and training (MSc and CDT) programmes at Oxford over the last decade. She is a member of both the Oxford University’s Research and Education Committees (from Oct 2013), and has served or currently serves on a number of  committees of the Royal Academy of Engineering and other national organisations as well as numerous research funding agency panels.

John recently stepped down as Chairman of Metaswitch Networks, a leading provider of communications software. He joined the company in 1987 as a software engineer and became Chief Executive Officer, and then Chairman as the company established its leadership in cloud communications software. John graduated from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar with an M.Sc in Computation and a D.Phil in History.

He serves on the board of several organisations including What3Words; KindLink; Techfortrade; Technology Trust and Starfish Greathearts Foundation.

John is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (2011) and BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.  He was awarded a CBE for services to engineering in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in June 2016.

Eric is Professor of Micro-Engineering at Imperial College London. He is the Co-founder and Non-executive Director of Microsaic Systems plc, which develops and markets miniature mass spectrometers. During Eric’s period as Chairman of Microsaic Systems, the company was listed on the London Stock Exchange.

He has overseen more than 20 research projects which have raised a combined £14million in research funds. Eric has also been a technical advisory board member to two venture capital funds.

Eric was awarded the Royal Academy of Engineering Silver Medal in 2011 for his research into micro-engineered devices and their commercial exploitation. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) in 2012.

Chris has a first class degree in Computer Science from Cambridge University where he is now an honorary fellow at Churchill college. He co-founded leading network technology provider Metaswitch Networks and spent many years as the company's Chief Technology Officer.

He is now an active early stage investor, sits on the board of several UK technology start ups and is a Venture Partner at Entrepreneur First. Being blind himself, he is a patron or trustee of three different charities in the sight loss sector. He is also a trustee of The Raspberry Pi Foundation.

Chris was made a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 2014 by the Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace for his services to engineering. He was elected to the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2006.

Norman has researched a wide variety of microwave and optical devices during his career. He has published some 70 scientific papers and patents while at the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment (now Qinetiq Malvern).

He is currently the Chief Executive of Catalyst Inc. (formerly Northern Ireland Science Park). It is a peer-driven network providing support for entrepreneurs and innovators, and a project he guided from initial concept to realisation.

Norman chairs the Advisory Board of the Institute of Electronics, Communications and CatTechnology (ECIT) at The Queen’s University of Belfast and is also a visiting Professor at the University of Ulster. He is Deputy Chairman of Matrix, the Northern Ireland Science Industry strategy group, and chairs the steering board of the NI Composite Centre. He has been Vice President (Business and Innovation) of the Institute of Physics and Honorary President of the Association for Science Education in Northern Ireland.

In 2011, he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He is an Enterprise Committee member and steering group chair for the Enterprise Hub. He has mentored many engineers at the Hub on projects that helped store renewable energy; conserve the black rhino in South Africa, and to extend the life of our ageing national grid infrastructure. Norman leads the Academy’s ‘Engineering SMEs Leaders’ programme, which awards training support and short-term mentoring for engineering SMEs. In 2012, Norman was awarded an OBE for his contributions to science and economic development.

David Hawkes is currently the Director of the Centre for Medical Image Computing at UCL. He was previously Director of the EPSRC and MRC-funded Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration on Medical Images and Signals (MIAS-IRC) that was an £8million six year programme. David also served as Chairman of the Division of Imaging Sciences at KCL (2002-2004). 

He spent 10 years working as a clinical scientist within the NHS before returning to academia. He is co-Founder of IXICO Ltd. (www.ixico.com), a university spin-out that provides imaging solutions to the pharmaceutical industry. 

David's current research interests encompass image matching, data fusion, visualisation, shape representation, surface geometry and modelling tissue deformation. He continues to work promoting medical imaging as an accurate measurement tool and the use of image-guided interventions.

Professor Hawkes was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) in 2003.

Daniel McCaughan is a versatile industrial executive who has held senior management and Board level positions in the electronics, telecommunications and defence industries since the early 1970s. As well as managing McCaughan Associates, he is an Emeritus Partner and technical adviser to the leading Irish venture capital fund Kernel Capital Partners. He also sat on the main board of DHSSPS, the Northern Ireland Health Service, co-chaired with the Permanent Secretary the UK Home Office Science Advisory Committee, and chaired UK Foresight in IT, Comms and Media .

Daniel has a wide and invaluable range of experience in technology-based businesses thanks to his long career at high executive level in large and small companies, government departments and universities. This background provides him with unique skills as he has dealt with a wide variety of customers and led major technical projects from component to system level. This gives Daniel exemplary insight to the evaluation of technical product plans and projects, company business planning  and development, preparation of companies for investment, and Venture Capital.

Dr McCaughan has been awarded over 20 patents and has published over 100 book chapters and papers in both technical and managerial subjects. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1992.

Chairman of The Abbeyfield Research Foundation and  Hull Minster Development Trust.

Trustee at Livability, Royal Academy of Engineering, Methodist Independent Schools Trust,  Royal College of Surgeons.

Director of Eva Diagnostics.

Former Chairman/Chief Executive of Smith & Nephew plc.

Former Chair The Abbeyfield Society, Chairman Railtrack plc, George Wimpey plc, Low and Bonar plc, UK Coal plc, Voyage Ltd and a number of companies in the care sector.

Past President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers.

Past President of the Chartered Institute of Management.

Past  Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the University of Hull Governing Council

Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Engineers, Chair of The Engineers Trust.