Innovation is a key pillar of Queen Mary’s research culture. A notable component of this is Queen Mary Innovation (QMI), which uses commercial tools to maximise the impact of Queen Mary research through protecting and licensing Intellectual Property and building sustainable enterprises to take Queen Mary’s research to the world.
Our goal is to make a positive social and economic impact in all that we do. Over 20 spin out companies have developed from Queen Mary research, and more than 400 intellectual property agreements entered into.
To get involved or find out more, you can contact Queen Mary Innovation.
Founded by Queen Mary’s Professor Andy Bushby, Ultima Forma are extending the limits of product performance with advanced forming technology. The company uses a unique electrodeposition process to produce light weight, high performance, multifunctional and complex metal components.
The process uses earth-abundant elements, is low energy, and produces almost zero waste as metal is deposited atom by atom. The high strength to weight ratio gives Ultima Forma components many high-performance applications in aerospace, motorsport, and medical.
Development programmes are focussing on hydrogen storage and transport including tanks and pipes. Ultima Forma won the Aerospace Technology Institute’s Shaping the Future award in 2023 for their contribution to hydrogen as an aircraft fuel.
Extending the limits of product performance
Dragonfly AI is an AI/machine learning (ML) technology which uses a biologically inspired algorithm developed by scientists at Queen Mary University to predict human attention. Having started out as an app, it is now a comprehensive platform used by industry leaders around the world.
The platform empowers business teams to test and optimise creative content for any channel, market and audience before it reaches the consumer. It offers reliable visual predictive analytics grounded in biological foundations, continuously enhanced through innovative research.
Dragonfly AI, which recently raised $6m in Series-A funding, has made significant contributions to global consumer brands such as Mars, Nestle, Danone, and Coca-Cola. By enabling these brands to predict, analyse, and influence people’s attention, Dragonfly AI helps them stand out in a competitive market. Queen Mary continues to partner with the company to keep their technology cutting edge.
AI powering up visual marketing
Suppressing appetite is a known way to reduce overeating to tackle obesity. However, doing so in a safe, healthy way can be difficult. That’s where Enterika comes in.
Founded by Dr Madusha Peiris, Enterika is the only company or institution pursuing a nutrient-based approach to appetite suppression in a bid to tackle the growing obesity crisis.
The company is based on a decade of research at Queen Mary which showed that targeting certain combinations of nutrients to act on specific receptors in the lower gut releases appetite reducing hormones into the blood stream. These hormones then act on the areas of the brain that control food intake and create the feeling of fullness, meaning people feel full and eat less.
Enterika differs to current weight-loss products in that it promotes release of the body’s own naturally occurring appetite reducing hormones rather than drugs which are often synthetic hormones. This makes Enterika’s approach safer and substantially cheaper than rival products, making it more easily available to those who need it.
An appetite suppressing product to tackle obesity