Norwich Research Park Innovation Hothouse winners announced

Quadlytics, a company founded by Hannah Morelli, who works at the Quadram Institute, has won Norwich Research Park’s 3^rd annual Innovation HotHouse competition.

Quadlytics is developing technology that identifies combinations of bacteriophages, commonly called phages, which are helpful viruses that can be used as alternatives to antibiotics to kill bacteria in humans, animals and in the environment as well as contributing to the effort in eradicating antimicrobial resistant bacteria.

Eight fledgling businesses delivered a five-minute pitch to a panel of expert judges to try and persuade them that their idea was the most attractive proposition for investors. Each of the finalists was either a spin-out or start-up company founded by researchers, scientists, entrepreneurs or students based on the Park campus.

As well as a trophy, Hannah received a one-year virtual tenancy at Norwich Research Park and £500 cash prize.

Hannah said, “Entering the HotHouse competition has been great for the learning opportunities and 1:1 pitching support it has provided. And, of course, the opportunity to pitch in front of a diverse audience, including investors is really valuable. You never know who might be in the audience and what conversations might come from it.

“Winning the competition is fantastic for us as it will help build our profile and make it easier to get introductions to potential investors and partners. It’s been a great experience and one that I would recommend for anyone considering entering next year.”

In second place was RhosynBio, founded by Dannielle Cox-Pridmore from a collaboration between the UEA, the Quadram Institute and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH). It is pioneering a novel antimicrobial surface modification designed to prevent biofilm formation. Bacterial biofilms are resilient communities that adhere to surfaces and create serious problems including infection, contamination, corrosion and equipment fouling across sectors such as healthcare, water systems and the food industry. Danielle was awarded a trophy, a one-year virtual tenancy at Norwich Research Park and a £250 cash prize.

The third prize winner was Zyvex® Antimicrobial co-founded by Yan Fen Lee, which has developed an antimicrobial formulation that is a breakthrough in food safety. Created entirely from Food Standards Agency (FSA)-approved materials, it is 100% organic, completely food-safe and edible, yet it significantly reduces the presence of all FSA-listed food-borne bacteria including Listeria. It also received a one-year virtual tenancy at Norwich Research Park, a trophy and a £150 cash prize.

This year there was a new award, the Rising Star Award, to recognise a finalist the very early stages of development who demonstrates exciting innovation in their venture and is likely to succeed! This was awarded to Agseer, founded by Joshua Williams of the John Innes Centre, who is developing an app for farmers that will use image datasets and AI computer vision models that can be used by autonomous robots to understand mixed-species agricultural environments. It populates digitally simulated fields with 3D models of real plants to develop training datasets that have diversity far exceeding that of real fields. Josh revived a trophy and a £150 cash prize plus a dedicated 1:1 mentoring session with James Thomas, an experienced angel investor.

All finalists will also be nominated for the #21toWatch list with the three winners automatically shortlisted. The finalists will also receive a ticket for Cambridge Tech Week 2026.

Roz Bird, CEO of Anglia Innovation Partnership, the campus management company for Norwich Research Park, said, “Our Innovation HotHouse events, held every November, are a fantastic platform for showcasing new spin-out potential at Norwich Research Park. We are already nurturing over 40 start-ups on our campus-wide enterprise programme and Anglia Innovation Partnership is helping them to develop their businesses and achieve seed funding.

“The eight companies that participated in this event are the latest to take that first step into commercialising their research. With a unique breadth and depth of scientific activity on one campus, from agri-food to health-nutrition and the environment, Norwich Research Park offers huge potential for new spin-outs with ideas that can change the world. I am really looking forward to hearing from the 2025 Hothouse cohort.”

The other finalists were:

• Crit, founded by Frank Walker from the University of East Anglia (UEA), who has designed a functional assistive AI tool to remove language barriers for individuals with dyslexia.
• BeanTastic Hummus, founded by Rudy Maor which offers clean label, tasty and nutritious hummus dip formulated with ingredients to support women’s health and potentially reduce menopause symptoms.
• WeAreHistoryHub, founded by Rosa Legeno-Bell, is an education platform that aims to transform how history is taught in schools offering inclusive support to teachers that align with national standards while actively decolonising the curriculum.
• Vertebral Fragility Fractures, founded by Kate Lucas, who works at NNUH, it provides a warning flag for osteoporosis by re-auditing the identification of vertebral fragility fractures to identify which patients require a review of their bone health evaluation and osteoporosis treatment.

To view the full gallery of images from the event, please visit our Event Gallery page.

Video agenda and timings:

Welcome and event introductions:

• 0.00.00 Welcome and latest news from Norwich Research Park hosted by Roz Bird and Samantha Graham Anglia Innovation Partnership (AIP)
• 0.08.57 Introduction to Norwich Research Park Innovation Hothouse Competition – Professor Amir Sharif (Chief Judge) – Head of Norwich Business School, Norwich Business School Hothouse
• 0.18.10 Competition Mentor – Professor Sheng Qi Professor of Pharmaceutical Material Science and Technology, School of Chemistry, Pharmacy and Pharmacology
• 0.21.00 Chair: Michael Grange – Innovation Hothouse Competition Mentor
• 0.23.25 Welcome to our Judges:
  • Professor Amir Sharif (Chief Judge) – Head of Norwich Business School, Norwich Business School
  • Jason Mellad – Co-founder and CEO of OtoImmune
  • James Thomas – Member, Cambridge Angels
  • Faye Holland – Founder and Director, Cofinitive
  • Zickie Lim – Partner, Head of VC & Investments, Mills & Reeve
  • Dr Jerry Wu – Managing Director, LongRiver Investments
  • Roz Bird – CEO, AIP

The pitches:

• 0.26.22 Yan Fen Lee – Zyvex® Antimicrobial
• 0.35.35 Kate Lucas – Vertebral Fragility Fractures – A Warning Flag for Osteoporosis
• 0.44.36 Hannah Morelli – Quadlytics
• 0.53.05 Rudy Maor – BeanTastic Hummus (brand trade name of Sunrise Bio Ltd)
• 1.03.25 Rosa Legeno Bell – WeAreHistoryHub
• 1.12.51 Dannielle Cox-Pridmore – RhosynBio — safer surface technology
• 1.20.41 Joshua Williams – Agseer
• 1.28.41 Frank Walker – Frthst

Presentations from Norwich Research Park Leading and Award-Winning Scientists

• 1.31.42 Nick Goodwin, AIP COO introduces 3 of Norwich Research Park Leading and Award-Winning Scientists
• 1.42.38 Professor Sophien Kamoun – Group Leader, The Sainsbury Laboratory
• 1.50.55 Professor Nitya Rao – Director, Norwich Institute for Sustainable Development
• 2.00.50 Professor Andy Jordan – Director, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research

Competition Winner Announcement 

• 2.13.05 Professor Amir Sharif (Chief Judge) and Michael Grange
• 2.16.12 Rising star award: Joshua Williams – Agseer
• 2.16.53 3rd Place: Yan Fen Lee – Zyvex® Antimicrobial
• 2.17.16 2nd Place: Dannielle Cox-Pridmore – RhosynBio
• 2.17.44 1st Place: Hannah Morelli – Quadlytics

Event round up

• 218.21 Thank you and event close

Watch the full event video on the Norwich Research Park Vimeo channel.