We’re excited to introduce the finalists for the SCI Sustainability & Innovation Awards, celebrating excellence across three key categories: Sustainability, Innovation Enabled by Partnership, and Leadership in Diversity.
The finalists are from a wide range of organisations and the awards highlight impactful work that is shaping a better, more sustainable future through science and innovation.
This year’s SCI Sustainability & Innovation Awards finalists include, in alphabetical order:
Leadership in Diversity category shortlist
- ACCSN
- Cwenga Tech
- JM
- UCB
Innovation Enabled by Partnership category shortlist
- Cresset partnered with The Univerity of Edinburgh and OpenBioSim Community Interest Company
- Dow partnered with Lanzatech
- Givaudan partnered with Proteus by Seqens:
- GSK partnered with University of Strathclyde
- Medchemica partnered with: DNDi, PostEra Inc, UoOxford, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Enamine Ltd, Stanford University, Weizmann Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Collaborative Drug Discovert, Thames pharma partners LCC, Concept life sciences Integrated Discovery and Development services Ltd.
- Syngenta partnered with Imperial College London
- UCB UK & Ireland (various departments) partnered with Schrödinger
Sustainability category shortlist
- Aerosan (Nepal)
- Cargill Beauty
- Croda
- MSD
- Reckitt
- Synthomer
Some of the finalists have shared insights such as why they pursued their innovations and the benefits it brings to their sector. Below you can read some of their stories and the ideas driving their innovations. The award winners will be announced at the SCI Innovation and Sustainability Awards Dinner, taking place on 21 May.
Good luck to all the finalists!
MedChemica – shortlisted in the Innovation Enabled by Partnership category
SCI: What motivated you to develop this innovation, and how does it align with your company’s long-term goals?
MedChemica: MedChemica had contributed to the COVID Moonshot during the pandemic leading to nomination of our first pre-clinical candidate DNDi6510. When offered the opportunity to expand the consortium and head the lead optimisation team in the ASAP Pandemic Preparedness centre we saw it as an opportunity to have drugs ready for the next pandemic before it arrives.
How have you measured the real-world impact of your project on sustainability, business performance, or industry transformation?
The ASAP team has a remarkable international team of leading scientists all bringing their key skills and technologies to bear. We have been able to nominate a pan-lethal coronavirus inhibitor and bring through important lead molecules for flaviviruses such as Zika and Dengue and laid vital groundwork in the treatment of Enteroviral infections that cause polio-like damage in children.
UCB - shortlisted in the Innovation Enabled by Partnership category
SCI: What motivated you to develop this innovation, and how does it align with your company’s long-term goals?
UCB: In order to work, bioactive chemicals need to get through membranes. Measuring how well this is happening for agrochemicals is currently slow and highly complex and cannot be used for high throughput screening of compounds. The new DIBs platform changes this by allowing us to generate membrane permeability data on a larger scale than ever before. This will be critical in driving innovation and designing the next generation of active and safe membrane permeable agrochemicals.
SCI: What unique advantage does your innovation bring to your sector, and how does it differentiate from existing solutions?
UCB: Our partnership has developed a label-free, automated, high throughput measurement platform for the interrogation of passive permeability across large arrays of DIBs which can generate ADME relevant data on a much larger scale than previously possible.
We have successfully demonstrated that a total of 192 individual droplets (96 DIBs pairs) can be spectroscopically probed in series, where each droplet can represent an individual biological compartment that can vary in molecular contents, pH and lipid composition. This achievement provides an unprecedented step change in high throughput permeability quantification on a microfluidic scale.
Whilst high-throughput permeability measurements have historically been used in pharma, the membranes in these systems are on the µm scale and the relevancy of this data to real systems has been called into doubt. DIBs can more accurately mimic lipid bilayers on the nm biological scale and as such provide much more relevant data for understanding compound distribution in a real system.
JM – Shortlisted in the Leadership in Diversity category
SCI: Can you describe the specific initiative you led that has significantly enhanced diversity, equity, and inclusion within your organisation? What measurable impacts has this initiative had on creating a more inclusive workforce?
JM: In 2023, we launched the Elevating Women in Leadership (EWIL) programme to support and retain female talent and build a pipeline of women for leadership roles.
The programme was designed to align with key outcomes of research on the behaviours and beliefs displayed by successful women, and consisted of pre-work, discovery sessions, and workshops where facilitators discussed key topics like career activism, confidence, resilience, and personal impact, supplemented by individualised strength scope assessments.
Graduates continue to express positive feedback of EWIL, highlighting the impact it’s had on their confidence and career journeys. Women have particularly appreciated the community that it’s built of like-minded women, which carries on far beyond EWIL as a powerful network to lean on for support, advocacy, and guidance.
The global reach of this programme has resulted in making diverse, talented women from across the organisation more visible as future leaders, getting access to senior leaders through mentoring and networking opportunities. The approach to publicising the programme has reinforced the importance of ensuring equitable access to development opportunities.
Some testimonials from graduates capture the impact EWIL has had:
“The programme was excellent and exceeded my expectations in terms of content, engagement and personal fulfilment. The leaders were inspiring and knowledgeable, and cultivated a safe space for genuine conversation, connection and growth for the participants. Overall, the experiences, as well as the colleagues met along the way, were enlightening and empowering!” Katy Waynforth, Projects Coordinator
“JM has transformed my professional journey, inspiring me to seize opportunities I once hesitated to pursue. Their unwavering commitment to equal opportunities has been transformative. The EWIL programme was a personally pivotal experience. Surrounded by women from diverse career stages, we supported each other’s growth and collectively learnt to challenge gender barriers, some I didn’t realise existed. It was an unforgettable, career-altering experience that taught me valuable lessons in self-discovery and growth,” Shireen Basra, Snr Development Chemist
“The workshop series and the facilitators helped me find new ways to define my confidence with a mixture of coaching and a strengths assessment. I feel like I know myself better and how I can best contribute to a culture of success. Plus, I got to make a few new friends in the process,” – Becky Egolf, Process Chemist
SCI: How does your initiative serve as a model for other organisations in the science-led industry? What strategies have you employed to promote the adoption of similar diversity and inclusion practices across the sector?
JM: We are proud to shout about the Elevating Women in Leadership programme as much as possible – both internally and externally. By publicising details of our programme on social media channels, our website, and annual reports, other organisations may recognise the need and feel inspired to implement something similar within their organisation.
Aerosan – shortlisted in the Sustainability category
SCI: What unique advantage does your innovation bring to your sector, and how does it differentiate from existing solutions?
Aerosan: We are the only organisation in Nepal that treats human waste in situ in our waste to value system. Also unique is our public private partnership with local government for increased sustainability.
SCI: How have you measured the real-world impact of your project on sustainability, business performance, or industry transformation?
Aerosan: Our impact is to reduce CO2e emissions by 30 Mt per annum and each of our public toilet facilities is economically self-sufficient due a low pay for use system whilst, at the same time training and employing 30 lowest caste Dalit women as managers.
Dow - shortlisted in the Sustainability category
SCI: What motivated you to develop this innovation, and how does it align with your company’s long-term goals?
Dow: Dow has prioritised R&D to provide value to customers and businesses through innovative products, sustainability, customer-centric services, and a global network. After MEKO was registered as an EU 1B presumed carcinogen, Dow voluntarily decided to withdraw products containing MEKO globally, despite meeting EU regulations. This innovation aligns with Dow's long-term goals by enhancing crucial capabilities and expertise to maintain competitiveness in the industry under the vision of Safer Chemistry. The team aims to drive growth and sustainable solutions that benefit both the company and society.
SCI: Beyond your organisation, how do you see this innovation inspiring broader change in the industry or society?
Dow: Beyond our organisation, we believe this innovation has the potential to inspire broader change in the industry and society. By setting a new benchmark for excellence, our innovation encourages other companies to adopt similar practices and strive for continuous improvement. Additionally, the positive impact on sustainability and business performance serves as a model for industry transformation, promoting a more responsible and forward-thinking approach. Ultimately, our innovation aims to contribute to a better future by driving progress and fostering a culture of innovation and excellence with sustainability and safer chemistry.
Further reading:
- Innovation Enabled by Partnership Award
- Leadership in Diversity in Science-Led Industry Award
- Sustainability Award
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