Cambridge Tech Week has named five startups as finalists in its 2026 pitching competition after judges selected them from a shortlist of 20 companies.

The finalists are HotHouse Therapeutics, HutanBio, Lambda Energy, Myonerv and Xplore Intelligence. They span biotechnology, sustainable energy, agritech, medtech and artificial intelligence, reflecting the breadth of the wider shortlist.

HotHouse Therapeutics emerged from Professor Anne Osbourn’s laboratory at the John Innes Centre. The company is developing a drug discovery approach based on transient plant expression, using living plants to produce new medicines through an artificial intelligence-led platform.

HutanBio is focused on algae-based fuel production. It has identified a new class of algae, called Sphaerica, that produces oil at much higher rates than existing leading strains and can be cultivated in seawater on non-agricultural coastal land using sunlight and CO2.

Lambda Energy operates in agritech with a greenhouse additive called GloGro. The product is designed to increase crop yields by about 20%, and the company has secured pilot manufacturing and grower trials for high-value crops in the UK.

Myonerv has developed a wearable neurostimulator designed to monitor and treat stroke-induced paralysis remotely. Its system uses reusable electrode arrays and has already demonstrated remote control of hand movement between Cambridge and Greece.

Edinburgh-based Xplore Intelligence is building software to train and evaluate AI agents. Its Forge platform is designed to simulate operational environments so businesses can test full AI agent systems before deployment. The company has also won its first contract, worth more than GBP £1 million.

Judging panels

An independent panel drawn from finance, venture capital and industry reviewed the initial shortlist. It included Paul Hughes, Managing Director – Life Sciences & Technology, BDO; Jamie Bignal, Director, HSBC Innovation Banking; Mayank Shah, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Grow Beyond Borders; Anne Dobree, Investment Director, Parkwalk Advisors; Isabelle O’Keeffe, Venture Partner, Twin Path Ventures; and the Chief Technology Officer for His Majesty’s Government Communications Centre, whose identity was withheld for security reasons.

A separate panel will choose the overall winner in the live final. It includes Zickie Lim, Partner and Head of VC & Investments, Mills & Reeve; Marilena Ioannidou, Director, Metaxi Catalyst Ventures; Richard Lewis, Managing Director, Foresight Group; and Emmi Nicholl, Chief Executive Officer, Cambridge Angels.

The competition forms part of Startup to Scaleup Day, one of the business-focused strands of Cambridge Tech Week. Organisers have positioned it as a showcase for younger technology businesses seeking investor, customer and market attention as they move beyond the early stage.

The finalists also highlight where UK startup activity remains concentrated. Drug development, climate and energy technologies, digital health, food production and AI infrastructure continue to attract commercial and investor interest, particularly when linked to research institutions or clear industrial use cases.

Cambridge has long been one of the UK’s leading centres for venture-backed science and technology businesses, with strong links between academia, investors and corporate partners. The inclusion of companies from outside the city, including Xplore Intelligence, suggests the competition is intended to reflect a broader national technology base rather than the local cluster alone.

The pitching competition is sponsored by Mills & Reeve, PwC and Julius & Clark. Professional services and law firms have become regular backers of startup competitions as they seek closer ties with high-growth businesses and their investors.

Lead judge Zickie Lim commented on the selection process.

“The standard of this year’s competition has been exceptionally high from the start, which will make the final selection process incredibly challenging. As sponsors of the Pitching Competition, Mills & Reeve is delighted to support a platform that shines a spotlight on the next generation of innovative businesses, and we are looking forward very much to seeing the finalists pitch live at Cambridge Tech Week,” Lim said.

PwC also highlighted the strength of the field.

“This year’s finalists demonstrate the extraordinary depth of innovation emerging from the UK’s technology ecosystem, and are among the strongest we’ve seen. They all represent the kind of ambitious, globally relevant businesses that have the potential to create real impact. PwC is proud to support entrepreneurs at this critical stage of their growth journey,” de Young said.

Chris Weston, speaking on the BBC’s Big Boss Interview podcast, stated that some of the firm’s targets were beyond what they could achieve.

He said: “We have to hit a certain level of leakage, but it is so far in excess of what we are capable of doing, I think anyone would be capable of doing, however much money you invested, that it is not going to be achievable.”

Thames Water, the largest water company in the UK, has been under fire recently for its handling of sewage discharges and leaks.

Last year, it was fined a record £122.7 million by regulator Ofwat, largely for breaching sewage spill rules.

The company, serving 16 million customers in London and parts of southern England, treats 4.3 billion litres of waste daily.

Mr Weston mentioned that “99.5% of the time” the waste is treated successfully, although “sometimes something goes wrong”.

He added that while the company wants to improve on pollution, the chance of getting to zero pollution was “very, very slim”.

Ofwat responded to Mr Weston’s comments by stating: “With around a fifth of water put into supply still lost through leakage, companies must deliver on the commitments they have been funded to achieve.

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(Image: PA)

“Water company targets are intended to be ambitious and drive better outcomes for customers and the environment.”

The Environment Agency spokesperson said the agency and the public expect Thames Water to comply with the law, adding that the agency would continue to hold companies to account where performance falls short.

James Wallace, chief executive of campaign group River Action, criticised Thames Water.

He said: “Thames Water’s tactics of opacity and deflection fool no-one.

“Telling the public to save water while this wasteful profit-obsessed corporation leaks 570 million litres of treated drinking water every day is offensive.

“There is nothing ‘realistic’ about accepting sewage pollution as inevitable.”

Thames Water has been grappling with billions of pounds in debt and faces the risk of temporary nationalisation, known as a special administration regime.

Mr Weston, however, warned of the potential burden on taxpayers if this were to happen.

Instead, he backed a rescue deal proposed by the firm’s lenders.

Meanwhile, Mr Weston defended the company’s pay levels, as his pay rose by 14% to £1.163 million in the year to March, while other directors received bonuses totalling £4.1 million.

Telent has urged the UK defence sector to place greater emphasis on integrating new technologies with existing systems, an argument set out by Strategy and Development Director Barry Zielinski.

Investment in artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and other emerging technologies will not deliver a meaningful operational advantage unless those tools can work together within a wider operational framework, Zielinski said.

He argued that the operating environment is shifting quickly as adversaries adapt faster, technology cycles shorten and the line between physical and digital battlefields becomes less distinct. In that context, military success depends less on the strength of any single platform or sensor and more on the speed at which armed forces can connect information, decisions and operational effects across domains.

The comments reflect a wider debate in defence procurement and military planning, as governments and suppliers pay more attention to artificial intelligence, cyber tools, advanced sensors and space-based assets. In Zielinski’s view, these systems should be judged not in isolation but by how well they connect with networks, data systems, command structures and personnel.

Integration focus

Communications networks, operational facilities and digital systems form the foundation of modern military capability because they allow information to move securely and reliably, according to Zielinski. He said resilience and security must be built in from the start through approaches such as secure-by-design and zero-trust principles.

That view places infrastructure at the centre of defence modernisation rather than treating it as a support function. It also shifts part of the discussion away from procuring new tools and towards ensuring that existing and new assets can share data and support decisions coherently.

Artificial intelligence has become a major topic in defence because of its potential to process information and support decision-making. Zielinski said that potential depends on more basic conditions, including data quality and the resilience of the infrastructure that carries it.

If communications, trusted data and secure networks are unavailable or compromised, the value of more advanced systems is reduced, he said. In practice, that means creating decision advantage is not only about software or platforms, but also about the systems and physical assets that underpin them.

Human role

Zielinski also addressed automation, which is drawing attention across defence organisations seeking greater efficiency and a faster operational tempo. He said its main value often lies in reducing repetitive work rather than replacing people.

He cited predictive maintenance, autonomous monitoring, automated network management and logistics optimisation as examples. Those uses can free skilled personnel to focus on tasks where judgement and experience remain essential, he said.

“The most effective technologies do not replace human capability – they amplify it,” Zielinski said.

The argument comes as defence planners increasingly talk about integrated operations across land, sea, air, cyber and space. In that model, infrastructure such as communications, transport, energy and digital systems becomes more strategically important because it links the movement of people, information and resources.

Zielinski pointed to the Falkland Islands as an example of how infrastructure supports long-term readiness, citing runway infrastructure as part of maintaining strategic capability. The example illustrated how closely linked infrastructure and operational output are becoming.

From pilots to deployment

Zielinski also argued that the UK already has access to much of the technology needed for future operations. The central question, he said, is whether those technologies can be integrated and adopted quickly enough to meet operational needs.

That places emphasis on collaboration between government, industry, academia, small and medium-sized enterprises and the Armed Forces. Combining those perspectives can improve the practical design of technology and help integrate it into future capability, he said.

He set out three priorities for defence organisations: connecting networks, data, platforms, people and infrastructure; improving collaboration across the sector; and moving beyond demonstrations, pilot schemes and concepts so new systems reach operators more quickly.

The broader message is that military advantage is likely to depend on how effectively defence organisations bring together people, infrastructure, data and digital systems, rather than on who has the best single piece of equipment. “The question is not whether the technology is available. The question is whether it can be integrated quickly enough to provide the Armed Forces with a genuine operational advantage,” Zielinski said.