Leading UK engineers receive The Princess Royal Silver Medal
Published: 22/07/2024
Four engineering innovators have been honoured with The Princess Royal Silver Medal, a prestigious individual award from the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng). They were presented with their medals by Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence KCVO CB, on behalf of HRH The Princess Royal, at an awards dinner in London on 9 July.
The Princess Royal Silver Medal recognises exceptional contributions to UK engineering by early to mid-career engineers that have led to market innovation. This year's recipients include two engineers utilising AI to advance brain surgery and drug discovery, and two who are enhancing manufacturing sustainability through biological textile dyeing and the development of sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels.
The 2024 recipients of The Princess Royal Silver Medals are:
- Dr Katerina Spranger, CEO and founder of Oxford Heartbeat Ltd. She has created PreSize® Neurovascular, a special AI software that helps surgeons choose the best brain implants accurately. Her achievements have won many awards and improved how patients avoid strokes and recover from heart disease.
- Dr Daniel Jamieson, CEO and founder of Biorelate Ltd, a tech-bio startup that use advanced data science, like natural language processing and AI through their Galactic AI™ platform. His pioneering work has been instrumental in developing key focus areas within the biopharmaceutical industry, including extracting insights from medical data, improving pharmaceutical research and making drug discovery more accurate.
- Dr Orr Yarkoni, CEO of Colorifix, a company he co-founded seven years ago to scale up sustainable textile dyeing. He has been recognised for his contribution to the development of biological textile dyeing as a replacement for toxic and wasteful chemical processes.
- Professor Jason Hallett, Professor of Sustainable Chemical Technology at Imperial College London. Jason has developed environmentally friendly and economical solvent-based chemical processes designed for large-scale industries including renewable chemicals, textiles and cosmetics.
The Academy’s Awards Committee Chair, Luke Logan BEng CEng FIMechE FRAeS FREng, said, “The winners of The Princess Royal Silver Medal for 2024 have each pioneered groundbreaking innovations, which they have commercialised into hugely successful businesses. They have made extensive contributions to engineering in the UK through the development of innovative technologies that address environmental and societal challenges. They have also supported economic growth by promoting technological innovation, entrepreneurship, and collaboration."
For further information on The Princess Royal Silver Medal, please visit the Royal Academy of Engineering website.