Honouring achievement and innovation at the 2025 Bionow Awards

Award

Bionow Event

Bionow News

06 Mar 2026

The 2025 Bionow Awards dinner was a memorable evening of recognition and celebration, bringing together leaders, innovators and collaborators from across the life sciences sector. Held on 5^th March 2026 at the Concorde Conference Centre, the event showcased the exceptional talent, ambition and impact of organisations driving the sector forward.

This year saw 149 applications from 86 organisations, a record level of engagement that reflected the strength and diversity of innovation across the UK and Europe. The judging panel faced a tough task in selecting winners who exemplified excellence across innovation, technical achievement, commercial success and social impact.

The award winners

Here are the outstanding winners in each category:

Developing a platform to diagnose endometriosis quickly and accurately, the Bionow Start-Up Award recipient, Revela Health, uses deep data and image analysis, without the need for invasive surgery.

The Bionow Project of the Year Award, recognising those that have taken a major step forward in research, went to Nevrargenics with Ellorarxine™, a first-in-class, CNS-permeable selective modulator for Motor Neurone Disease and Frontotemporal Dementia; a paradigm shift in treating terminal neurodegeneration.

Identifying innovative products which have impacted significantly upon a problem within the life science or healthcare sectors, the Bionow Product of the Year Award winner was KOKU Health, an NHS-approved digital health platform providing evidence-based, personalised and gamified strength and balance exercises to older adults, which have been clinically proven to reduce functional decline and falls risk.

The Bionow Technical Service Award recipient, Spotlight Pathology, has produced an AI diagnostic support device for lymphoma that streamlines the cancer diagnostic workflow, the implementation of which saves more than 30% of time for specialist pathologists.

Recognising the provision of innovative business support products and services, the Bionow Business Support Award went to Tiro Training and their ICR Scientific Officer Talent Development Apprenticeship Programme, a sustainable, diverse talent pipeline that enhances research productivity and strengthens scientific capability at one of the world’s most influential cancer research organisations.

Celebrating an exceptional individual within the first five years of their life science career and having demonstrated significant contribution to their current role, the Bionow Rising Star Award recipient, Stuart Hannah, CEO and Co-Founder of Microplate DX, is a Royal Society of Edinburgh Enterprise Fellow and has successfully translated academic research into a venture-backed, award-winning health-tech business with growing international impact.

A brand-new standalone category, the Bionow One to Watch Award was created to celebrate those at the very beginning of their careers. The winner, AstraZeneca’s Holly Rimmer, is a Genomics Apprentice, delivering oncology clinical trial projects at scale, driving AI adoption, global inclusion and sustainability. As AZInspire Lead, she coordinates supporting 2,000+ early career colleagues as well as reverse-mentoring leaders, leading My Green Labs, hosting Earth Day events and winning “Future Leader” 2025!

The Bionow Social Impact Award recognises activities aimed at creating significant, positive societal changes. The winner, the University of Sheffield’s UK-SEA Vax Hub focuses on regionally resilient, scalable vaccine and biologics manufacturing, spanning end-to-end development and GMP translation, to address infectious disease burdens in Southeast Asia, advance health equity through local supply chains and workforce capability, and strengthen pandemic preparedness via rapid platforms, surge manufacturing, and regional self-reliance.

The recipient of the Bionow Partnership & Collaboration Award, Kidney Research UK, has led the NURTuRE programme alongside other charities - a national partnership uniting life sciences industry, NHS, academia and international collaborators to accelerate kidney disease research.

Another brand-new category, the BionowSustainability Award, for initiatives which have demonstrated exceptional commitment to environmental sustainability and social responsibility, went to Bristol Myers Squibb Moreton for combining award-winning green architecture, low-carbon supply chains and pioneering laboratory design and operation, powered by strong local partnerships and science-based climate goals.

The Bionow Business Growth Award winner, Inventus Group, has grown from 35 to 73 employees in the past two years, deploying 750,000+ purpose-built devices, keeping over 100 clinical trials on track across a multitude of therapeutic areas in 80 countries.

Demonstrating a significant capital raise, the Bionow Investment Deal of the Year Award recipient, InvenireX, secured a £2M seed funding round led by award applicant DSW Ventures alongside XTX Investments and a new investor, TusPark Holdings. The round supports commercial pilot programmes, team expansion and manufacturing readiness, and is complemented by over £1.1m of UK grant funding.

The Bionow Outstanding Contribution Award honours an exceptional individual who has made a remarkable impact on the sector over the course of their career. This year’s recipient was Lorna Green, CEO of LYVA Labs, a highly influential leader and ecosystem builder whose career has made a sustained and transformative contribution to the UK health and life sciences sector, particularly across the Liverpool City Region and the wider North West.

Since its inception, LYVA Labs has supported companies to secure substantial public and private funding, including millions of pounds in grant funding for SMEs and leveraged private co-investment into early-stage ventures. More recently, LYVA Labs secured £4.24 million in funding for a five-year Integrated Growth and Acceleration Programme (IGAP), further strengthening the region’s innovation infrastructure and providing sustained support to scaling businesses.

Alongside her professional leadership roles, Lorna is a passionate advocate for inclusive innovation. She serves as Chair of the Liverpool City Region’s Female Founder Regional High Growth Board, where she leads strategic efforts to increase the number of women-led high-growth enterprises and improve access to capital for female founders.

The Bionow Company of the Year Award represents a leading, globally formidable company which has demonstrated significant progress year on year whilst also demonstrating notable progress during the past 12 months. This honour went to Roslin CT, which has significantly expanded its commercial footprint in 2025, including a major extension of its manufacturing partnership with Ayrmid Ltd (Gamida Cell) to produce Omisirge® for multiple FDA-approved indications. Operating across facilities in Edinburgh and Boston, the company now runs 22 purpose-built cGMP suites and employs more than 450 colleagues globally. RoslinCT supports late-stage and commercial cell therapy products alongside a growing early and mid-stage pipeline, demonstrating its ability to scale complex manufacturing while maintaining rigorous quality and regulatory standards.

Rounding off the evening were two surprise accolades, the Bionow Lifetime Achievement Award, which was deservedly won by Boyds founder and CEO, Alan Boyd, and the Bionow Enduring Contribution to UK Life Sciences Award, which was given to AstraZeneca Macclesfield.

Commenting on an evening of celebration, Geoff Davison, CEO of Bionow, said: “It was a real privilege to be back at the Concorde Conference Centre for the 2025 Bionow Awards, recognising the remarkable achievements across our sector. This year, the Bionow One to Watch Award highlighted emerging talent, while the new Bionow Sustainability Award showcased organisations driving positive environmental and social impact. Every nominee impressed with their creativity and impact - congratulations to all the winners and shortlisted companies for demonstrating the ambition and innovation defining life sciences today.”

The 2025 Bionow Awards is supported by Appleyard Lees and Bruntwood SciTech.

The full list of winners are:

Bionow Start-Up Award sponsored by RSM UK