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UCL Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering (CNIE) is proud to announce that its team, Leaf-tech, has won the top prize of £5,000 in this year's pitch competition hosted by the . The Leaf-Tech team, led by Yuanxi Yang, PhD student from CNIE and Dr Yang Lan's group, collaborated with LBS MBA 2023 students to deliver a groundbreaking nature-inspired membrane technology to the industry.

The Leaf-Tech team's winning entry focused on their innovative 'Nature-inspired membrane technology', a product of research conducted at the UCL Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering. Yuanxi Yang's work, under the guidance of Dr. Yang Lang, has the potential to enhance the performance of existing gas membranes for CO₂ separation by a factor of 10 or more, inspired by the structure of plant leaves.

The competition's judges, comprised of active venture capitalists, praised Leaf-Tech for being investment-ready and applauded the team's progress in exploring business models, patenting, and partnerships to commercialize the technology. Following this prestigious win, Leaf-Tech will soon be officially registered as a spin-off company. The company's primary goal is to contribute to carbon neutrality by developing technologies that lower the cost of CO₂ capture and transfer it to valuable chemicals.

Leaf-Tech is actively seeking partners involved in CO₂ capture with CO₂ separation membranes and engineering companies in the field of pre/post-combustion and direct air capture.

The Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering congratulates the Leaf-Tech team on their remarkable accomplishment in this year's I2M pitch competition and looks forward to the team's continued success in the development and commercialisation of their innovative technology.