2025 MacRobert Award finalists reinforce UK tech leadership status

The MacRobert Award is the longest running and most prestigious prize for UK engineering innovation. Run by the Royal Academy of Engineering, it recognises transformative UK engineering that can also demonstrate commerciality and societal benefit. For over 55 years the MacRobert Award has been building a hall of innovation fame that illustrates the strength, creativity and global impact of British engineering. 

This year’s finalists, chosen through a rigorous and highly competitive selection process, are:

Microsoft Azure Fibre: enabling the next generation of global internet connectivity

Optical fibres transmit 500 billion gigabytes of data every day, supporting global communication, navigation and manufacturing. But the performance of traditional optical fibres, optimised over more than 50 years, has reached the fundamental physical limits of the solid glass making up their core. Microsoft Azure Fibre (formerly Lumenisity) revolutionises the way data is transmitted by replacing the glass core with air. Their hollow core optical fibre technology comprises a central light-guiding cavity surrounded by microscopic, nested glass tubes running the length of the fibre, enabling virtually instantaneous data transfer. 

This stable, low-latency innovation dramatically improves the speed of transmission and enhances energy efficiency, needing fewer power-hungry electronic components over longer distances. It will drive a major leap forward in how the internet evolves, enabling more flexible data centre placement and meeting the growing demand for high-volume data transfer driven by growth in the use of AI. The improved characteristics will enable the development of 6G and Edge-computing and other ‘tactile’ applications where response time is key, such as remote medicine where timing is critical for life-saving measures. 

The technology represents the most significant advancement in fibre technology since standard solid core fibre, completely transforming perceptions of hollow core optical fibre from a mere curiosity to a game-changer for global communications. 

Dr David Parker FREng, former Chair and CEO of Lumenisity and now a Partner and General Manager at Microsoft, reflected on reaching the final. He said: “We are delighted to be recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering and the MacRobert Award as finalists for this prestigious prize and thank them for the honour. Transforming hollow core optical fibre technology from an academic concept at the University of Southampton, achieving world record performance, fully commercialising it as a cable solution with Lumenisity, and now utilising it to enhance the performance and operation within Microsoft Azure’s Cloud Infrastructure, has been an incredible journey for our entire team. I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who has contributed to this achievement. Becoming a world leader in this field is a testament to the depth of expertise in engineering innovation here in the UK. We have accomplished so much, and yet we are only at the beginning of the profound impact this technology will have as we define the next generation of the fabric of the internet.”

OrganOx: World’s first transportable normothermic organ perfusion technology

OrganOx has developed two devices that maintain livers and kidneys in a functioning state outside the body for at least twice as long as conventional cold preservation techniques, dramatically increasing the number of transplants for patients, eradicating night-time operations for clinicians, and reducing overall healthcare costs for providers. A third, patient-connected device can also be used to provide ‘liver dialysis’ using either a human or porcine organ outside the body, to help patients in liver failure to recover without the need for a transplant. 

Operating at body temperature (37C), the devices replicate the physiological conditions of an organ within the body by perfusing it with a red-cell suspension reconstituted from donor blood of the same blood type. This allows fully automated, operator-independent preservation of an organ in a functioning state outside the body for periods of up to 24 hours clinically and several days pre-clinically. 

The technology, which was initially designed to preserve livers, has enabled over 6,000 transplants across four continents and twelve countries. Medical facilities adopting the technology have reported up to a 30% net increase in transplants, with waiting times and waiting list mortality cut by more than half.

The technology for preserving livers, and its more recent counterpart for kidneys, represent two of the most complex medical devices ever designed and built in the UK. With hydraulic, pneumatic, and haemodynamic sub-systems and remote-access capabilities, the devices can be used safely in operating theatres, during transport by road or in flight, or when directly connected to a patient when providing extracorporeal liver support.

Professor Constantin Coussios OBE FREng FMedSci, who co-founded OrganOx with liver transplant surgeon Professor Peter Friend FMedSci FRCS, commented: “Biology teaches engineers a lesson in humility. The liver and kidney represent two of the most non-linear and multivariate systems to attempt to control and emulate but the reward for eventually doing so successfully after two decades of effort is immense. Each quality-assured organ that has functioned effectively in our devices outside the body saves the life of a patient, over 6,000 to date, and gives that patient and their loved ones the gift of time and a quality of life previously thought irreclaimable. 

“This achievement and the many more to come would not have been possible without the academic, technological, and translational excellence of the UK innovation ecosystem. Peter and I would like to express our deepest gratitude to the exceptional OrganOx multi-disciplinary team for its dedication in bringing the metra device for liver and kidney to life, and to the Royal Academy of Engineering for the recognition of the impact that OrganOx’ ground breaking organ technologies are having on patients, surgeons and the cost-effectiveness of healthcare systems globally.”

Synthesia: creating the future of AI video

Shortlisted for developing the world’s first and largest human-centric AI video platform, Synthesia allows users to create and distribute professional-quality videos directly from a web browser without cameras, lighting, studios, or specialist editing software. 

At the heart of the platform are a collection of hyper-realistic digital avatars that look, sound and behave like real people, avoiding the ‘uncanny valley’ effect that impacted traditional computer graphics. The team at Synthesia started by improving lip motion for better lip sync, face motion and dynamics to provide facial expressions, then added dynamics for the head, upper torso, arms, and hands to deliver non-verbal cues in speech. The result is a large, Generative AI audio and video model capable of interpreting text input, producing natural speech in over 140 languages, interpreting vocal intonations and delivering complex body language for non-verbal cues to express emotion. 

Synthesia took an early decision to develop and deploy its technology responsibly. It was the first Generative AI company to create a responsible framework for synthetic media, preventing the formation of non-consensual deepfakes and introducing content moderation at the point of creation. It is now a trusted brand for AI video creation and distribution in the enterprise space with more than one million users across 65,000 businesses. These include over 70% of Fortune 100 companies who are using Synthesia’s technology to generate videos for employee training and internal communication, customer support, sales enablement, or product marketing.

Youssef Alami Mejjati, Head of R&D at Synthesia, said: “Being nominated as a finalist for the prestigious MacRobert Award is a tremendous honour, reflecting Synthesia's longstanding commitment to pioneering AI-driven innovation. As the first company to bring AI avatars to market commercially, we've empowered businesses worldwide to communicate more effectively, sustainably, and inclusively through scalable video content. Our technology has not only reshaped industries but also unlocked remarkable societal benefits, enabling diverse voices to be heard, bridging language barriers, and significantly reducing the environmental impact associated with traditional video production. This recognition inspires our entire team to continue pushing the boundaries of AI video innovation with our EXPRESS family of audio and video models.”

In her first year as Chair of the MacRobert Award judging panel, Dr Alison Vincent CBE FREng said: “The UK is a global leader in engineering innovation and this year’s finalists demonstrate the importance of maintaining excellent university research alongside a vibrant UK tech scene. Each of our three finalists are disrupting their sector, developing new technologies and products that are solving major problems. 

“All three have been on a scaling journey with highs and lows. They have started from university research, developed their value propositions honed by customer and market feedback until attracting the private investment needed to scale up and achieve real, positive impact – and, unlike many similar businesses, each of them identified and have benefitted from the value of being based in the UK during their journey.”

This year’s three finalists are all successful engineering innovations connected with UK universities, two of which are spinout companies. The hollow core optical fibre technology was developed by Lumenisity, a University of Southampton spinout later acquired by Microsoft. OrganOx’s transportable normothermic organ perfusion device is a world first originating from research at the University of Oxford, and one of the founders of Synthesia’s text-to-video generation business is a professor at University College London.

They are competing for a gold medal and a £50,000 prize, as well as a luxury weekend at Douneside House in the heart of the MacRobert estate in Aberdeenshire. This year’s winner will be announced at the Royal Academy of Engineering’s annual Awards Dinner on 8^th July at The Londoner Hotel in Central London.

This year’s winner will join an esteemed group of past recipients of the Award who have delivered outstanding innovation, commercial success, and tangible social benefit. The first award in 1969 jointly honoured Rolls-Royce for the Pegasus engine that powered the Harrier jump jet and Freeman, Fox and Partners for the Severn Bridge. The MacRobert Award has recognised transformative contributions ever since, from the world’s first bionic hand, developed by Touch Bionics, to innovations from Jaguar Land Rover and Google DeepMind that continue to have a global impact.