News | February 2026
Updates and opportunities from our spinouts and pipeline
Queen Mary Innovation » News » February 2026
Britain’s university and investor ecosystem is thriving, yet our potential for economic growth remains unfulfilled. This was the core argument of a report I prepared for UKRI published this month on deepening university-investor links.
We must strengthen the base of the pipeline and scale and retain companies in the UK. Simply reallocating money around the system is not enough: we need to attract more capital into innovative high growth areas.
Queen Mary Innovation, where I am a director, are doing just this. The spinouts, pre-spinouts and startups you’ll discover here are active across multiple high-growth sectors, from AI to health to sustainability. They demonstrate how, with the right backing, we can turn research discoveries into tangible impact and contribute to the government’s growth agenda by aligning with the new industrial strategy.
Tony Hickson, Chief Business Officer, Cancer Research UK and Cancer Research Horizons
New board members
Parkwalk founder Alastair Kilgour joins QMI’s board. Parkwalk has invested in more than 200 university spinouts, with over 70 exits and over £200m returned to investors, making them Britain’s most active backer of university spinouts. As Parkwalk’s founder, Alastair knows what makes spinouts special, the challenges spinouts face, and how commercial tools can turn research into impact. He brings immense experience to QMI’s board.
Humanities and Social Sciences acting Vice Principal Prof Dan Todman joins QMI’s board. QMI is actively exploring opportunities for SHAPE innovation (Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts for People and the Economy), an emerging field which focuses on how research in humanities and social sciences can tackle some of the biggest challenges facing society today.
Latest from our spinouts
Dragonfly AI has secured a £5m investment and launched two new distinctive metrics: Emotion and Memory. Co-founded by Dr Hamit Soyel, Dragonfly AI is powered by a biologically inspired algorithm trusted by global brands including Nestlé, Coca-Cola, and L’Oréal, helping predict how audiences will see, feel, and remember creative assets before they go live. Creative assets that score highly across Attention, Emotion, and Memory can deliver up to 30% higher click-through rates. The investment, led by 24Haymarket and supported by Guinness Ventures, Foresight, and others, will fund continued expansion and ongoing research and innovation to keep Dragonfly AI at the forefront of the industry.
Ultima Forma solve the refuelling problem for hydrogen-powered flight. No airport has ever managed to store and distribute liquid hydrogen fuel at scale. Ultima Forma, founded by Prof Andy Bushby, has partnered with Bristol Airport to produce a technical report showing how liquid hydrogen storage and refuelling facilities could be built and operated. Hannah Pollard, Head of Sustainability at Bristol Airport, called it a huge step towards hosting the storage and refuelling facilities that airports will need to develop zero emissions, hydrogen-powered flight.
Highlights from our pipeline
CE-Track granted US patent for capsule endoscope tracker. The wearable antenna-based system uses advanced sensing, machine learning and AI to locate and track any type of capsule endoscope as it passes through the body, for fast accurate diagnosis. The team includes Dr Mohamed Thaha, a medical researcher and cancer clinician; Prof Akram Alomainy, an engineer specialising in antennas and applied electromagnetics; and Dr Muhammad Qamar Satti, an expert in implantable and wearable technologies.
Predicting dementia nine years before symptoms. We’re looking for a commercial partner to help develop a new test invented by Prof Charles Marshall, which provides a more accurate way to predict dementia than memory tests or measuring brain shrinkage. Prof Marshall was recently among leading dementia researchers calling for a new approach by government to preventing dementia.
Learn more about this dementia test
A new way to treat lung cancer. We’re looking for a commercial partner to help develop a new treatment method invented by Prof Kairbaan Hodivala-Dilke. Her invention improves the efficacy of immunotherapy and chemotherapy, which currently work for less than a third of lung cancer patients and add barely a year of life expectancy. Early tests show this new method can reduce the tumour burden, extend survival, and allow for lower doses of immunotherapy and chemotherapy – thereby reducing side effects.
Learn more about this cancer treatment method
Startup stories from our students and alumni
Orbion take centre stage at London HealthTech Careers and Innovation Summit. Founder Tristan Derry, a Queen Mary medical student, shared how Orbion Connect is building the next HealthTech ecosystem. Now in Beta, Orbion will connect innovators with the clinical, commercial, and regulatory professionals they need. With the right expertise found in minutes not months, Orbion will help innovators refine their value proposition to build smarter, safer, and more successful products from day one.