Science staff nominated in the 2023 LeicestershireLive Innovation Awards

Loughborough University has 12 nominations across eight categories in the 2023 LeicestershireLive Innovation Awards.

The 10 finalists represent a wealth of impactful research collaborations and a wide spectrum of academic spinouts and graduate start-ups  – all launched from LUinc., the University’s incubator on LUSEP, its Science and Enterprise Park.

Amongst the nominations are chemistry researchers and computer scientists from the School of Science for delivering innovative new technologies and solutions to major challenges in the following categories:

Innovation in Sustainability

Plastic Energy is transforming the global landscape of plastic waste by converting previously difficult to recycle plastic into a recycled oil (called TACOIL™) that replaces fossil oils in the production of new plastics. The global company has partnered with Loughborough University’s chemistry researchers for 10 years to accelerate this innovative recycling process. LUSEP is home to Plastic Energy’s R&D hub which is at the heart of realising the goal where plastics are re-used repeatedly, for good.

Innovation in Food and Drink

High-tech food machinery manufacturers Millitec Food Systems has partnered with Loughborough University's computer scientists to create a unique sandwich-making robot featuring the latest embedded artificial intelligence technology. Since launching in October 2020 in one of the UK’s largest sandwich-making factories, which produces an astounding 750k sandwiches a day, Millitec now have a strategic advantage in the marketplace.

The winners of the LeicestershireLive Innovation Awards will be held on the evening of Thursday 16 February at the National Space Centre in Leicester. Indro Mukerjee, Chief Executive of Innovate UK will deliver the keynote speech and tickets are now on sale.

The Awards are part of the Leicestershire Innovation Festival, an initiative of the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership. Headline sponsors are Morningside Pharmaceuticals, De Montfort University, and the University of Leicester, with category sponsors Acute Business Advisory, Intelligent Energy, Loughborough University, and MIRA Technology Institute.