Discover new technologies by our partners

Head injuries are a significant cause of injury and death, with approximately 50,000 cases of severe traumatic brain injury per year in the UK, the majority leading to death or severe disability. Cerebral damage sustained at the time of impact is referred to as primary injury and is irreversible and best treated by prevention (seatbelts, cycle helmets etc). Secondary brain injury occurs after the initial injury and is defined as damage arising from the body’s physiologic response to the primary injury. As the skull is a closed cavity containing water and other largely incompressible material, even minor swelling can cause significant increases in ICP (intracranial pressure). Various strategies exist to arrest or reverse the pressure in the brain due to head trauma, so monitoring the ICP is a vital tool in the management of severe head injuries. A new non-invasive system for continuous monitoring of ICP via a forehead-mounted probe has been developed. Although the cranium is a closed rigid structure, interrogation using infrared light provides a potential ‘window’ for monitoring cerebral haemodynamics. The probe contains infrared light sources that can illuminate the deep brain tissue of the frontal lobe, while photodetectors in the probe detect the backscattered light, which is modulated by pulsation of the cerebral arteries. Changes in the pressure surrounding the cerebral arteries affect the morphology of the recorded optical pulse, so analysis of the acquired signal using an appropriate algorithm will enable calculation of non-invasive ICP (nICP) that can be displayed continuously to clinicians.

A Singapore company has developed a non-invasive breath analysis device and test to detect early stage lung cancer by collecting and analysing a patient's exhaled breath. According to The National Lung Screening Trial Research Team, 80% of lung cancer cases are diagnosed at late stage when the 5-year survival rate is only 5%. If detected at stage 1, the survival rate can be increased to 80%. Current diagnostic techniques such as Computer Tomography (CT) are not able to capture most of the early stage cases because the tumour at this stage is too small to be distinguished. This non-invasive breath-based solution analyses the Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) in a patient's exhaled breath to detect the changes in metabolic activities caused by lung cancer. In the pilot clinical trial, the breath analyser with machine learning algorithms was able to detect more early stage lung cancer cases than current diagnostic techniques.

Recovery of side-streams or food waste are often challenging. What’s even more challenging is to develop these side-streams into feasible, desirable and scalable products for purpose and value. This is often because most companies are busy with their daily business; even if they have the will to focus on recovery, it will take them too long to explore and develop feasible options.  This technology and knowledge provider is able to accelerate the time-to-market of new ingredients recovered from side-streams and develop feasible and scalable methods to extract ingredients, supplements, additives and esters from side-streams.  This makes its customers' business more feasible and sustainable.  Referencing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) "a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030" , this technology and knowledge provider is capable to positively impact three of them: SDG 2 (.4) Zero hunger, SDG 9 (.4) Industry, innovation and infrastructure and SDG12 (.5) Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. Apply this developed technology to food manufacturing or vegetable waste could result in: more productivity per unit of raw food less waste a CO2 emission reduction in the food manufacturing process

Specificity and memory are two major features of the immune system vaccination targets in general. However, the shrimp’s immunity has limited specificity and lacks long-term memory. This poses a challenge to disease prevention, increasing the complexity of health and disease management in shrimp farming. Persistent and emerging disease outbreaks have forced many farmers to employ chemicals and antibiotics to combat specific pathogens. However, this is not sustainable and it increases the risk of contamination to both the environment and humans. To improve shrimp resilience, immunostimulants have been gaining interest as an environmentally safe alternative. However, published correlations of in vitro and in vivo lab studies are unable to translate to practical applications. This technology is employed to cull weak and diseased fry before stocking into farm ponds, using proprietary epigenetic activated fermentation (EpAF) technology. The formulated mix consists of all-natural ingredients and is antibiotics-free & GMO-free. It can be applied to all phases of shrimp aquaculture, from broodstock, hatchery, to grow-out stages for higher survival rates and a more profitable harvest safe for human consumption. The technology provider is looking for joint venture partners or licensing the technology to interested parties from the aquaculture industry.

In industries such as construction, manufacturing & warehousing, workplace injuries and fatalities often occur as a result of Slips, Trips and Falls (STFs) or use of machinery by unqualified workers. This technology offer is a small form factor wearable sensor capable of continuously tracking the worker's motion and location within a given zone. STFs generate signature movements in contrast to other activities, e.g., jumping off a vehicle, thus, these can be differentiated. A safety alert is triggered in real time to monitor personnel in conditions where there is inactivity following a fall movement. Early warning signals are also triggered if employees occupy hazardous stations with a risk of falling from a significant height. Each sensor is associated with a given worker and his/her skill profile. This allows for digital attendance tracking and lets supervisors track if workers are operating in prohibited areas or working with equipment that they are untrained for. Gateways installed at the worksite allow for location tracking for individual workers via the sensors. This allows for multiple applications, e.g. worker numbers and time spent near/in accident hotspots can be captured and continuously monitored. In the case of COVID-19 mitigation, safe distancing measures can also be enforced. This technology offer can be integrated into Integrated Construction Management Systems.

Product quality compliance in supply chain is something that shippers are rightfully concerned about. For temperature-sensitive shipments, e.g., COVID-19 vaccines, clinical diagnostic samples, shippers wish to ensure that temperatures are kept to acceptable bounds in the cold chain. Shippers of high-value, fragile products would be concerned that the products do not get damaged due to  unacceptable levels of shock during storage, handling and transport in the supply chain. This technology offer is a matchbox-size sensor that can be tagged with each product, pallet or even truck for granular monitoring. The sensor is able to monitor temperature, shock and light exposure. This data can be sent in real time via installed gateways to the cloud or via apps on smartphone carried by supply chain staff. Staff are then able to monitor the telemetric data and associated analytics in real time via an online platform, such that corrective and preventive actions can be taken to reduce product damage. This technology offer can be easily integrated with client’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Transport Management System (TMS) systems.

This technology offers video analytics solutions for building management. There are a number of concerns when operating buildings, such as the safety and security of employees, as well as the security of the building. This task can be difficult, particularly when it comes to large buildings. The technology removes a lot of the stress on building managers by actively detecting fire hazards, such as individuals smoking in non-smoking areas, as well as detecting intrusion, loitering and abandoned objects. Particular areas of interest tend to be elevators, corridors and car parks.  This technology can count and track every vehicle that enters the building, analysing number plates to ensure that only licensed vehicles enter. It keeps track of available parking spaces in a car park, and alerts relevant personnel if it detects any suspicious activity or vehicle theft. 

Cadaveric bones are used to carry out medical training for surgeons and trainees. However, such bones are limited in supply, difficult to store, inconsistent in terms of quality and costly to use for repeated training. As such, it is necessary to create an alternative to cadaveric bones that is equally realistic while being more cost effective and easier to obtain. This technology can resolve the limitations of cadaveric bones by offering the formulation and processing method to produce a Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) system-agnostic bone-like 3D printing filaments for surgical models printing. Printed anatomical bone models developed from this technology will have the look and feel of the real bone. The technology presents an affordable and readily available alternative that minimises the demand for cadaveric bones while still providing realistic training to medical professionals. The technology owner is seeking for collaborations with companies interested to scale-up the manufacture of the filaments and/or licensing of the technology.  

Patients with certain conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease are required to take medication several times daily. Polypharmacy has been associated with greater health care costs and an increased risk of adverse drug events (ADEs), drug-interactions, and medication non-adherence amongst many other negative consequences. This technology platform reformulates commercial pharmaceuticals with poor oral bioavailability profiles to cut the frequency of administering medication and improve treatment outcomes in patients.