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The , in association with Nobel Laureate Professor Sir Andre Geim, is awarded each year to help the implementation of commercially-viable business proposals from our students, post-doctoral researchers and recent graduates, based on developing the commercial prospects of graphene and other 2D materials.

Firstly the assembled finalists and guests heard from Physics alumnus and founder of global flash-memory giant, SanDisk, Dr. Eli Harari joined the awards event as a guest speaker, live from the USA. He described the aim of the competition, since it started in 2013, to encourage students, researchers and visionaries toward innovation and risk taking. He also highlighted 91直播鈥檚 development as the 鈥楪raphene City鈥� and how this was reminiscent of the early years and potential of Silicon Valley and concluded with  advice for the competition finalists.

Eli Harari Graphene Enterprise Award Winners

The award winners were announced and presentations made by chair of the judging panel Professor Luke Georghiou, Deputy-President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, The University of Manchester.

First prize of 拢50,000 was awarded to Dr. Aled D. Roberts, Research Fellow  (School of Natural Sciences) and his team (Aoife Taylor, Helen Park and Sunny Vowles) at . This venture is developing  a green, bioinspired alternative to ceramic tiles that not only avoids energy-intensive firing, but also consists of captured carbon dioxide in the form of  carbonate minerals.

Professor Luke Georghiou presenting first prize to Aled Roberts and Aoife Taylor.

Taking inspiration from natural materials such as pearl and seashells, then using natural chlorophyll resources to give colour, they have developed a bio-based composite (biocomposite) material that will incorporate graphene to meet strict performance requirements necessary for commercialisation - by improving flexural strength and hydrophobicity.

The Graphene Bio-tiles (GBT) stand out from the competition by having a far lower (and potentially negative) carbon footprint compared to conventional ceramic tiles.

Aled commented: 鈥淥ur team was immensely humbled and honoured to have won the 2022 Harari Graphene Enterprise Award. We honestly weren鈥檛 expecting to win, given the strength of the competition this year, and we were speechless when the announcement was made. Now that its sunk in, we鈥檙e really excited for what we鈥檒l be able to achieve with this transformational amount of funding. We plan to use the prize money to expand from my cellar and kitchen into some proper laboratory facilities 鈥� my wife isn鈥檛 too happy about the 50-tonne hydraulic press that currently occupies the living room, or when I accidentally made a poison gas in the microwave. We鈥檙e also looking forward to dedicating our full effort to developing our materials, rather than being limited to evenings and weekends. We鈥檙e also excited to obtain some high-quality characterisation of our materials at the (GEIC) in 91直播, as we have largely depended on favours from friends and free testing done at trade-shows to date.鈥�

In second place and claiming the 拢20,000 prize was Joseph Neilson with G-Sense, using atomically thin monolayers of graphene as the strain sensing element in transparent, precise, stretchable, and wide-area strain sensing applications from aerospace to fitness tracking. This technology opens new opportunities for making air and road travel safer, reducing glass waste, and delivering unprecedented transparent sensing functionality for an increasingly interconnected world. 

Joseph commented: 鈥�I am incredibly grateful towards all the organisers, and to Eli and Britt Harari for funding the award, which presents excellent opportunities for innovation breakthroughs using graphene. I am also grateful for the staff at the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre, for all their help and fruitful discussions over the past few months. I was elated, and a little bit shocked, to win the 拢20,000 prize, which will allow us to upgrade our deposition equipment, scaling up the maximum area of G-Sense films from 25 square centimetres to over 600 square centimetres. With the support of and , we are confident that we can secure additional investment to fund the future of G-Sense and grow the business鈥欌��.

This year also saw the inclusion of an additional prize that celebrates the University's position leading the world on sustainable development. The first winners of the 拢10,000 Eli Harari Sustainability award were Omar Haroun and Gergana Ivanova from . Nanograft aim to develop a neuroprosthetic device that allows amputees to feel the ground as they walk with their prosthetic leg. The device takes pressure input from an insole equipped with sensors and transmits this signal to the severed leg's nerves. By stimulating the nerves once again this technology could potentially help to alleviate phantom limb pain more effectively as well as improve the comfort and quality of life of the patient.

Omar commented: "The team at NanoGraft are wholeheartedly delighted to receive the first ever Sustainability Award for the 2022 Harari Graphene Enterprise Awards at AMBS. As undergraduate Material Science and Engineering students at The University of Manchester, this award exists as a celebration of the academic excellence of our institution. Looking back at all those who have won this prestigious award, and where they are now, this strengthens our resolve to follow in their footsteps and push the boundaries of neuroprosthetics."

Introducing the Eli Harari Graphene Enterprise Award 2022 Finalists

The three winning teams were selected by a panel of professional judges from a shortlist of five finalists all seeking to secure funding to drive their ideas forward. Watch the video to find out more.

The award is co-funded by the North American Foundation for The University of Manchester through the support of Dr. Eli Harari and his wife, Britt. It recognises the role that high-level, flexible, early-stage financial support can play in the successful development of a business targeting the full commercialisation of a product or technology related to research in graphene and 2D materials.