The winners of the 2019 Women in Innovation awards were announced earlier this month, on International Women’s Day.

The awards are part of Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation campaign, which aims to encourage female-led innovation and
help women achieve their business ambitions.

The nine winners will receive £50,000 of business funding and a package of bespoke support to help them grow their businesses.

The winners included: Agnes Czako (AirEx — with a smart-tech airbrick that improves a home’s energy efficiency by using AI to monitor and respond to the environment, weather and occupant behaviour); Alex Haslehurst (pictured) (Vitrue Health — with a tool to help clinicians assess patient health, particularly motor function, more efficiently); Cintia Kimura (KG Protech — with a remote practical training system for car mechanics); and Daniela Paredes Fuentes (Gravity Sketch — with virtual-reality software that allows designers to sketch in a 3-D space).

Innovate UK launched Women in Innovation in 2016, after research revealed that just one in seven applications for Innovate UK support came from women. It said: “Boosting the number of female entrepreneurs could deliver £180 billion
to the economy”.

Ian Campbell, interim chief executive of Innovate UK (www.innovateuk.ukri.org), said: “Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation Awards address a key barrier for diversity in innovation — the lack of female role models.

"By recognising their achievement, we are making sure that our nine newly crowned winners inspire the next generation of female innovators.

“Whether it is inspiring young students showing a passion for STEM, someone with the spark of an idea or an innovative business ready to be taken to the next level, the Women in Innovation 2019 campaign aims to drive long-term and far-reaching change.”