Sustainable innovation recognised as potential star of the future

An entrepreneurial team based at the University of Leeds won a pitch competition that recognised the huge commercial potential of their idea.

Switchdye co-founder Dr Harrison Oates, centre, with Pilar Rubio from Investor Ladder
and Victoria Garcia from Quick Labs

Switchdye has created a scalable way to tackle sustainability challenges in textile dyeing which can use existing machinery and processes and so offers a highly-scalable solution to an industry challenge that is being accelerated by European legislation.

Six innovative companies competed in a pitch battle at the end of Quick Labs’ accelerator programme, which was supported by the Innovation@Leeds scheme.

Victoria Garcia, chief executive of Quick Labs, said: “The pitch battle was a great way to end the accelerator programme and to showcase how far our entrepreneurs had come.

“They all have exciting potential that will attract the interest of investors, and we can’t wait to follow their progress and growth in the months ahead.”

Dr Harrison Oates, co-founder of Switchdye

Switchdye co-founder Dr Harrison Oates won a £1,000 cash prize, which he will use to support his spin-out ambitions, and a VIP ticket to investment conference Climb25.

He said:  “Our first immediate milestone is to move out of the university, spin out, and form our own business.

“Demonstration is key – so we can demonstrate it on our pilot scale equipment, and it’s worked great, but you need to demonstrate it on someone else’s equipment for real traction to begin. That would be the first step, and then hopefully a limited partnership with a brand, for early revenues.”

The pre-revenue and early-stage entrepreneurs set out their ideas and growth plans to an invited audience, showcasing their ideas in the sustainability and healthtech sectors. The other finalists were:

Belle Richardson – SealStop is a water-saving device for filling buckets, containers and troughs that automatically stops the flow of water when the container is full.

Kevin Chirayil – Amatra develops AI-powered systems for athlete recovery, helping sports teams maximise squad availability, reduce athlete downtime and recoup millions in injury costs.

Francis Essuman – QCertificate aims to achieve 99% digital adoption of Good Manufacturing Practice certificates for medicines delivered to hospital patients, which could enhance patient safety, eliminate manufacturing delays, and reduce costs.

Rifat Hussain – Firasa Technology is looking to produce a reliable source of sustainable electricity through the use of an IP-protected mathematical formula derived from Lightning Physics

Richard James MacCowan – Biomimicry Innovation Lab develops nature-inspired solutions for agrifood, manufacturing, and the built environment.

Dr Oates added: “The Quick Labs accelerator has been absolutely fantastic. As a scientist, you don’t get exposed to all that much business training, and this one has linked me up with the perfect people – other successful spin out companies, business people who’ve done what I’ve done – and then also linking us up with IP lawyers, which is very complicated, and something we really need to understand if we are going to be successful.”