The winners of the Cambridge Independent Science and Technology Awards 2026 have been revealed.
In a glittering ceremony at Hinxton Hall, on the world-famous Wellcome Genome Campus, the excellent skills and achievements of people, organisations and corporations have been celebrated in entrance of 300 main lights from the Cambridge area.
Following a networking reception, the viewers gathered in the Francis Crick Auditorium to be taught who had gained awards throughout 16 classes, overlaying all sectors of science and expertise.
Now of their ninth yr, the awards recognise people and companies in any respect phases, from start-ups to multinational giants – and you possibly can see all the winners beneath and watch a replay of the l
Hosted by Cambridge Independent editor Paul Brackley, who chaired the judging panel, the awards started with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award, sponsored by Weatherbys Business Bank and recognising a person’s lasting and vital influence.
It went to Sir Gregory Winter, the Nobel Prize-winning Cambridge scientist who pioneered the method to ‘humanise’ mouse monoclonal antibodies and later to totally humanise antibodies utilizing phage show for therapeutic makes use of.
In 1989 he was one of the founders of Cambridge Antibody Technology, which found what would in the end develop into generally known as HUMIRA – the world’s first absolutely human antibody, designed to deal with a spread of circumstances together with rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s illness. Sold by AbbVie, it was the world’s best-selling drug for greater than a decade and international gross sales totalled extra $230bn between 2003 and 2024.
Cambridge Antibody Technology, in the meantime, was acquired by AstraZeneca in 2006 for £702m. And as we speak humanised monoclonal antibodies type the majority of antibody-based medication on the market as we speak, together with a number of blockbusters.
Sir Gregory has additionally based corporations together with Domantis, Bicycle Therapeutics and lately Immutrin. He was grasp of Trinity College for seven years and held a number of senior posts at the LMB. He was knighted in 2004 and in 2018, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with George Smith and Frances Arnold.
Sir Gregory spoke to the viewers, earlier than the winners of the different awards have been revealed, starting with Start-up of the Year, which went to TRIMTECH Therapeutics – an organization that raised £25m in the largest biotech seed spherical in the UK final yr – and ending with Life Science Company of the Year, which was gained by CN Bio, reflecting a pivotal yr, throughout which it led the shift away from animal testing in drug discovery with its PhysioMimix Core organ‑on‑a‑chip platform.
There have been two extra awards for people. Researcher of the Year was gained by Dr Tom Fitzgerald, EMBL-EBI, who helped obtain a serious advance in the utility of AI to preventive drugs final yr.
Simon Thomas, of Paragraf, gained CEO of the Year, and the firm additionally celebrated being Highly Commended in The Award for Innovation, in recognition of its Graphene Field Effect Transistor – the first of its form to be mass-produced for real-world purposes.
It was a prize that went to AstraZeneca’s Centre for Genomics Research for a multi-disciplinary strategy, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, that demonstrated how a widely-used diabetes drug, metformin, may deal with a mutation in blood stem cells that develops in the direction of acute myeloid leukaemia.
There was innovation on present, nonetheless, all through the classes – from Plextek’s technique of integrating radar and communication techniques, which earned it Technology Company of the Year, to Jumptech’s work to speed up the set up of clear‑vitality applied sciences, together with EV chargers, which earned it Software Company of the Year.
You can see the full listing of winners beneath – and learn extra about all of them, and see extra footage from the night time, in our memento complement in the Cambridge Independent, out from 13 May.
Editor Paul Brackley mentioned: “Congratulations to all our winners. It was a privilege to tell the stories of all our incredible finalists and their amazing achievements in the last year.
“I would like to thank all of our sponsors, who make it possible for us to showcase this plethora of talent.”
Winners of the Cambridge Independent Science and Technology Awards 2026
Lifetime Achievement Award
Sponsored by Weatherbys Business Bank
Sir Gregory Winter
Start-up of the Year
Sponsored by St John’s Innovation Centre
Winner – TRIMTECH Therapeutics
Highly Commended – Cambridge Nucleomics
STEM Initiative of the Year
Sponsored by Cambridge Science Park
Winner – St Mary’s School, Cambridge
Highly Commended – Broadening Horizons, The Royal Society of Chemistry
The Tech for Good Award
Sponsored by the Wellcome Genome Campus
Winner – Cambridge NeuroWorks
Highly Commended – Studio 24
Cleantech Company of the Year
Sponsored by Woodfines Solicitors
Winner – Pulpex
Highly Commended – Finkele
Employer of the Year
Sponsored by Zero Workspace
Winner – Redgate Software
Highly Commended – Nu Quantum
AI Company of the Year
Sponsored by Appleyard Lees
Winner – Luminance
Highly Commended – Ignota Labs
Fintech Company of the Year
Supported by iQ enterprise journal
Winner – SyndicateRoom
Highly Commended – AlgoDynamix
Researcher of the Year
Sponsored by AstraZeneca
Winner – Dr Tom Fitzgerald, EMBL-EBI
Highly Commended – Prof Kiran Patil, University of Cambridge and Cambiotics
The Award for Innovation
Sponsored by Railpen
Winner – AstraZeneca’s Centre for Genomics Research
Highly Commended – Paragraf
Biotech Company of the Year
Sponsored by BDO
Winner – Healx
Highly Commended – LinkGevity
Medtech Company of the Year
Supported by the Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire
Winner – Panakeia Technologies
Highly Commended – Mursla Bio
CEO of the Year
Sponsored by Brookgate
Winner – Simon Thomas, Paragraf
Highly Commended – Dr Carina Kern, LinkGevity
Software Company of the Year
Sponsored by Mantle Space
Winner – Jumptech
Highly Commended – Intellegens
Technology Company of the Year
Sponsored by the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Anglia Ruskin University
Winner – Plextek
Highly Commended – 4colors Research
Life Science Company of the Year
Sponsored by Zyme Communications
Winner – CN Bio
Highly Commended – Metrion Biosciences
You can see the 2025 winners here.
The 2027 awards will likely be launched in the autumn. Sign up for our newsletter to remain posted.