With International Women’s Day around the corner, we are celebrating the women in innovation who inspire us.

We are fortunate to connect with an abundance of forward-thinking women entrepreneurs, both in our workspaces and beyond. From sustainable startups fronted by women founders, to businesses with teams rich with talented women.

 

Hard as it was to narrow this list down to just four, these are the women who have had a profound impact on us this past year…

 

 

1.     Lucy Hughes, founder and inventor of MarinaTex 

Lucy founded MarinaTex as part of her product design undergraduate degree. Her game changing material is a home compostable alternative to plastic made from waste from the fishing industry. It has been designed to replace every day single use flexible plastic such as sandwich bags and clear film on packaging. Lucy’s innovative material is ingenious as it utilises one abundant waste stream and endeavours to tackle the destructive waste crisis created by single use plastic.

In 2019, Lucy won the International James Dyson Award and sat on a panel at the UN fisheries symposium in Rome. She was also the winner of the Plus X Disruptors competition, where she won her a year of free desk space and business and product development mentorship with Plus X Brighton.

Lucy Hughes is definitely an inventor to watch in 2020 and we’re incredibly honoured to be supporting her in these grassroots stages of the development of MarinaTex.

 

2. Solveiga Pakštaitė, founder and inventor of Mimica Touch

60% of the food that we waste in the UK is still totally edible. Currently, expiry dates reflect the worst-case scenario where food would spoil when kept in the worst-case temperature conditions. This is a good idea for keeping us safe, however, most of us store our food in much better conditions than that.

 

Solveiga is the multi award winning inventor of Mimica Touch, an innovation that could completely revolutionise the problematic food waste issue. Her invention is a temperature sensitive indicator cap or label for food freshness. It helps you store your food at the right temperature and reduces food waste by showing you when your food actually spoils, rather than relying on the wasteful worst-case scenario expiry date.

 

Solveiga recently won the MIT Technology Review’s Inventor of the Year. Her background as an industrial design entrepreneur means that she obsesses over the little things that make the largest impact.

 

 

3. Lauren Bell, founder of Cosi Care

 

Lauren Bell is the founder of Cosi Care, the first business to create a technology that treats eczema. Lauren never saw herself as an entrepreneur, but from her own experiences designed a product with a desire to help families struggling with young children with eczema.

 

For those who have never had to suffer eczema, it’s an incurable skin disease affecting 1 in 5 children and is agonisingly itchy. In many cases, children will be left with life-long scars and are faced with the chances of life-threatening infection from itching.

 

Lauren developed the hand-held, non-invasive device during her time at the Central Research Laboratory accelerator programme. Since graduating, she has won multiple awards, including The Mayor of London Entrepreneur award.

 

“I don’t know if it’s a women thing, but women always apologize for being there. Speak with conviction and confidence. Never say “I think” always say “I know” and you are “going to”.” – Lauren Bell

 

 

4.     Marija Butkovic, founder and CEO of Women of Wearables

Marija is the founder and CEO of Women of Wearables, who we are delighted to be partnered with, connecting us to a diverse and talented pool of women entrepreneurs and innovators.

 

The launch of Women of Wearables has seen Marija supporting, connecting and mentoring women and diverse groups in technology.

 

She has featured in major tech and business publications such as Forbes and Huffington Post among others and regularly appears as a public speaker and panellist at conferences. In 2017, 2018 and 2019 Marija was selected as one of the Most Influential Women in UK Tech by Computer Weekly.

 

 

Thanks so much for tuning in to hear about some of the incredible women who inspire us. Make sure to go and research their endeavours and support them on their journeys.

This week we have also been posting on Instagram about the women in our team and who they have been inspired by – check it out at @plusxspace. 

Interested in our programmes to support innovation and your business growth? Contact us at [email protected] for more info.