Celebrating research and discoveries in biological sciences… The Innovator of the year competition
has now been making the awards for a decade.
The climax of the 2018 event, at the Mermaid on the banks of the Thames in the heart of
London.
Before the winners are announced there’s an opportunity to meet them and find out more
about their work. Sir Mark Walport, the Chief Executive of UK Research and Innovation, the
organisation formed in April, that includes all the research council’s including BBSRC,
is joined by the Executive Chair of BBSRC, Professor Melanie Welham and Professor Malcolm
Skingle, a BBSRC Council member and Director of Academic Liaison at the British Pharmaceutical
company, Glaxo Smithkilne.
The judges evaluate the submissions from the candidates and interview the finalists on
the day before making their much anticipated decisions. Twelve finalists in four categories
are competing for the prestigious title, Innovator of Year 2018.
The categories include; commercial impact, social impact, international impact and early
career impact. The winner of each category receiving £10,000 and the overall winner
an additional £10,000.
Sir Mark Walport was enthusiastic about the event.
There’s a fantastic array of innovators assembled here at the mermaid and I’ve had
a lot of fun talking to them actually. They have great energy, there’s a complete range
of ideas from soil science to firefighting to bee ecology, an amazing array of innovations
with a group of people who have a real interest in applying it as well. It’s very good.
Sir Mark addressed the finalists as they eagerly awaited the results. And then it was time
to announce the winners for each category.
The commercial impact winner, Dr Neil Gibbs from The University of Manchester.
The social impact winner, Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton and Professor Rob Honey from Cardiff University.
The international impact winner, Professor Martin Broadley and Dr Louise Ander from the
University of Nottingham and the British Geological Survey and also members of the Sustainable
Agricultural Research and Innovation Club.
We are absolutely delighted, of course and completely didn’t expect it. Really surprised
but thrilled, so thank you.
Exactly the same, I almost fell off my seat, it was really unexpected. We are working in
an area that is quite challenging to sometimes explain in a few short moments and so we are
delighted that the panel has selected us.
Early career winner, Ben Dolman and Dr James Winterburn from The University of Manchester.
It’s a really great feeling and it’s been an amazing opportunity to meet all of the
other teams and see some really interesting ideas, there’s been some great networking
with the other people that attended and it’s been really great to have won.
For me, at least, it was a genuine surprise and it’s been really nice talking to everyone
and the networking opportunities we've had here, both with all the other finalists and
seeing how people view what we do as well and getting that perspective.
And the overall winner Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton and Professor Rob Honey from Cardiff University.
I’m flabbergasted I have to say. Given the competition I thought it was extraordinary.
For us from day one this has been a real labour of love and we’ve really focussed on what
we can do to practically change the situation to make the working environment for firefighters
better to people I’m proud to call my colleagues and sometimes privileged enough to call my
friends. When we came here tonight and saw the shear diversity of the work that’s been
done and the impact that it’s had, even to be categorised within that group was a
privilege but to be winners, honestly, I am lost for words.
We are both very, very happy.
After the awards, BBSRC’s Melanie Welham was enthusiastic about the evening.
I think it has been a fantastic event. All the finalists were absolutely brilliant and
when I had the chance to talk to each of them, just such fascinating stories, and the inspiration
I took away from that, it was amazing. I was delighted with the winners but really delighted
with the overall winner who I think has just epitomised what it meant to take real bioscience
understanding and actually drive that forward to impact. Things that we probably wouldn’t
have imagined when we first funded the research that underpinned that work, so, really delighted.
The diversity both of areas but also of people makes it just brilliant, brilliant.
The 2017 winner was Dr Shelby Temple, for him winning the award led to a busy year.
It’s been an amazing journey. I think last year’s event, for me, was like a pat on
the back for what we have achieved so far. But, since then, we have just kept going and
it’s been a really remarkable journey. We’ve gone from the stage, at that point we hadn’t
even done our clinical trials, so we have now done those trials, we’ve got products
in the hands of our users and we are working with them now and looking forward to our first
set of sales. So, it has been a fantastic year.
Already thoughts are turning to the future and there’s advice for those that might
be thinking of entering next time round.
My advice is, think about what the applications are and think about who the customers for
your innovation might be and work out how you are going to get your product to them
and what you are going to need to do to get it there. You have to be realistic, find the
right advice, the right mentors, the right people who can support you.
I’d say, seize the opportunity, go for it! Because you never know what’s going to happen
but when you are thinking about your impact and how you are going to take your innovation
forward just think outside the box. Don’t just think it’s this one pathway, it could
be many different pathways, so really go for it.
It’s about the journey and the process. You can’t predict what is going to happen.
You win a prize like this and it’s fantastic, it’s amazing but you still have to make
it do something, you still have to go out there and work hard at it and not be defeated
by the small challenges. Keep looking forward to the long distance future patterns, where
you want go and what the outcome might be. Believe in yourself and just carry on.
I think it’s a great thing that BBSRC is doing and UK Research and Innovation is about,
it is about research and innovation. It’s about people discovering things and then applying
them for benefit.
So here’s a reminder of the winners from the BBSRC Innovator of the year awards for
2018.
Commercial impact winner: Dr Neil Gibbs; Social impact winner: Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton and
Professor Rob Honey; International impact winner: Professor Martin Broadley and Dr Louise
Ander; Early career impact winner: Ben Dolman and Dr James Winterburn; Overall winner: Dr
Sabrina Cohen-Hatton and Professor Rob Honey.