Demeter Awards 2025

DEMETER AWARDS AND INNOVATION SHOWCASE 2025

Monday 17th November 2025

11am to 7pm

Royal Society of Chemistry, London

Join us for a day filled with celebration and inspiration.

• Apply to become the winner of one our amazing Demeter Awards: Product Innovation Award, Start-up-of-the-year Award, Collaboration Award, and Bioeconomy Champion Award.
• Witness the most innovative minds in the bio-based sector as they showcase their ground-breaking bio-based, biodegradable and compostable materials and products.
• Meet investors and financiers, corporate customers, government departments, industrialists, and academics in the heart of London.
• Network with like-minded individuals and gain valuable insights into the future of technology and innovation.
• Exhibit your organization to gain coverage of your bio-based products

Get your ticket HERE.

What are the Demeter Awards?

Demeter is the Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over crops, grains, food, and the fertility of the earth.

The Demeter Awards are the only set of awards designed specifically to celebrate, support and promote excellence in the bio-based* sector in the UK.

The Demeter Innovation Showcase is a leading event for bio-based innovators to meet investors and financiers, corporate customers, government departments, industrialists, and academics in the heart of London.

Applicants who are short-listed for awards will pitch their products to the judging panel at the Demeter Innovation Showcase Event, with winners being announced on the day.

*bio-based, certified biodegradable and certified compostable products and materials.

Agenda

10.00 Registration and refreshments

10.30 Keynote: ‘The BioRevolution is here’ George Freeman MP

10.45 Start-up of the Year Award shortlisted applicants’ pitches

11:30 Panel Discussion: How to Create the UK’s first Trillion-Dollar Biotechnology Company?

The UK aims to be a top-three global tech hub by 2035, with its first trillion-dollar tech company as a key milestone. Engineering Biology—crucial to the £30 trillion global bioeconomy—is central to this vision. This panel explores what it will take to build and scale a biotech giant in the UK, and the actions needed now to make it happen.

Chair: Dr Paul Mines, Chair, BBIA

Speakers: Dr Izzy Webb, Deputy Director for Technology Strategy and Security, DSIT; Sam Olof, Co-Founder of Revena & Science Creates Ventures; Toby Reid, Executive Director, Pioneer Group, Charles Dimmler, CEO, Holiferm.

12:15 Product Innovation Award shortlisted applicants’ pitches

13:00 Lunch, Exhibition and Networking

14:00 Panel Discussion: Bio-Based Ingredients in Consumer Goods, Driving Brand Value

This session explores how consumer-facing companies are integrating bio-based ingredients into products and packaging — not just as a sustainability measure, but as a way to build brand equity, consumer trust, and market differentiation. It also tackles the trade-offs between performance, cost, and environmental value.

Chair: Dr Jen Vanderhoven, COO, BBIA

Speakers: Sarah Hosking, Biosourcing Platform Leader, Unilever; Kristal Goodman, Head of Product Innovation, THG Labs; Russ Tucker, CEO, Twig; Professor Joanna Gavins, University of Sheffield; Clare Walker, Head of Global Regulations and Product Safety, Holiferm.

14:45 Collaboration Award shortlisted applicants’ pitches

15:30 Break and Exhibition

16:00 Panel Discussion: Circular by Nature: Rethinking the Lifecycle of Bio-Based Products

As the demand for sustainable alternatives to fossil-based products grows, the conversation is shifting beyond bio-based origins to focus on their full lifecycle — including what happens after use. This panel explores how companies, researchers, and policymakers are working to ensure that bio-based products are not only renewable, but also designed for circularity from the ground up.

Chair: Andy Sweetman, Vice-Chair, BBIA

Speakers: Professor Anju Massey-Brooker, Programme Lead, RSC’s Sustainable Polymers in Liquid Formulations Programme, Royal Society Chemistry; Jonathan Edmunds, Sustainability Director, Woodly; Eilidh O’Connor, Head of Environmental, Vegware; Robbie Staniforth, Innovation Director, Ecosurety; David Greenfield, Founder and Managing Director, Social, Environmental & Economic Solutions (invited)

16:45 Awards Presentation – Presented by Lord Deben

Bioeconomy Champion, Product Innovation, Collaboration, Start-up-of-the-Year

17.15 Celebration Drinks and Networking

18.30 Close

What are the Award categories?

• Product Innovation Award*: Recognising companies or researchers who have developed and commercialised innovative bio-based products that offer significant advantages over traditional fossil-based incumbents.

Judges will be looking for demonstrable leadership and a commitment to the development of an innovative bio-based chemical, material or product. Applicants should include examples of how their chemical, material or product is more sustainable than its fossil incumbent.

• Start-Up of the Year Award*: Recognising promising start-up companies that are developing and commercialising innovative bio-based materials or products.

Judges will be looking for evidence of how the start-up was established and has grown both in terms of employees and investment, alongside the future economic and environmental potential of the bio-based chemical, material or product.

• Collaboration Award*: Celebrating successful collaborations between industry, academia, and government in the development or implementation of bio-based, materials or products.

Judges will be looking for evidence of how the collaboration between two or more organisations led to a significant advancement in the development and commercialisation of a bio-based chemical, material or product.

• Bioeconomy Champion**: Celebrating those who have demonstrated exceptional leadership, innovation, and impact in advancing the bioeconomy. This award honours those who drive sustainable solutions, promote circular bio-based industries, and contribute to a greener, more resilient future.

Judges will be looking for evidence of how nominees have made significant contributions not only support economic growth but also foster environmental sustainability and social well-being. This award celebrates pioneers whose work inspires change, accelerates the transition to a bio-based economy, and paves the way for a more sustainable world.

*For the Product Innovation, Start-up of the Year and Collaboration Award, up to 6 organisations will be shortlisted per award category, with one overarching winner per category, and two runners up, decided by the judging panel on the day after hearing the pitches.

**For the Bioeconomy Champion Award, there will be one overall winner, decided by the judging panel in advance of the event.

Reasons to apply for an award and prizes

The Demeter Awards will carry substantial kudos, specifically due to the totally independent, high-quality judging and breadth of support from the key leading participants in the sector. Put your product, service, technology or project in front of potential customers, investors, partners, and service providers. Celebrate an innovation breakthrough or an initiative by entering the awards and bringing your product to the sector.

Each of the three award category winners will receive:

• Support from Potter Clarkson, by choosing one of the following:

1. A bespoke IP training session on a topic of their choosing onsite
2. An IP audit identifying the IP they have and how to progress it in line with their business plan
3. A ‘voucher’ giving them £2000 off a bigger IP project (e.g. patent searching, FTO, drafting)

• Support from Kene:

Grant funding application support to include an initial one-to-one consultation to assess suitability for available grants plus application review support, worth £1,000.

Support from Oakdene Hollins:

LCA assessment and support, worth £1000

More exciting prizes to be announced soon!

Who are the award judges?

• Alice Mortiboy, Patent Attorney, Potter Clarkson
• Adrian Higson, MD, Alder BioInsights
• Professor Paul Freemont, Imperial College London
• Oliver Sexton, Investment Director, Future Planet Capital
• Dana Heldt, Synthetic Biology Manager, Innovate UK Business Connect
• TBC, CPI

How do I apply for an award?

To apply for one of the Demeter Awards, please first read the criteria and eligibility document, and then complete the online application form.

Deadline for applications to be submitted is 26th September 2025, 12 noon.

How do I register to attend the event?

Register HERE.

Tickets to attend are free for BBIA members.
Our sponsorship packages also include tickets to attend the event.

How can I exhibit and sponsor the event?

Various sponsorship packages are available as outlined below. To apply to sponsor the event, please complete the application form here.

Please note that BBIA members get 25% off sponsorship packages.

Sponsorship