Alumnae, Sri Ellen Hollema and Katie Michaels, were both named winners, in recognition of their remarkable work developing innovative products.
The graduates were two of only 50 winners, who were selected from over 1,400 applicants. The award recognises them as leading female entrepreneurs in the UK and will provide them with a grant of £75k and bespoke business support to accelerate the growth of their businesses.
Sri is founder and Managing Director of Mat Zero, a heated sleeping mat powered by solar energy, to provide a safe and sustainable source of warmth for refugees and disaster relief. The innovative design uses a carbon fibre heating element, meaning it produces zero emissions.
Sri studied Product Design and Technology at Loughborough and created the concept for Mat Zero as part of her final-year degree show. The idea was born from her passion to support and help vulnerable communities.
After graduating in 2022, Sri set up Mat Zero Heat Ltd to take the product from concept to prototype. She received funding through the Loughborough Enterprise Network (LEN) start-up fund, for product testing and development, and is now preparing for field trials of the mat in Nepal and scaling up production during 2025.
Commenting on her win, Sri said:
“Winning the Women in Innovation Award is an incredible honour and a testament to the hard work and dedication that has gone into building Mat Zero so far. It’s empowering to be recognised alongside so many talented women who are pushing the boundaries of technology and innovation.”
Katie Michaels, Founder and CEO of Moti Me, was also recognised with the prestigious award.
Moti Me is an innovative physiotherapy-focused product to help children with learning and movement disabilities such as cerebral palsy.
Like Sri, Katie also developed the concept for Moti Me as part of her final-year design project.
After graduating with a degree in Industrial and Product Design in 2020, Katie founded Moti Me Ltd in Loughborough University’s business incubator LUinc, where she began developing her first product.
Katie was inspired to set up the business by her cousin, who has cerebral palsy. After seeing his challenges when it came to practicing physiotherapy exercises at home, she wanted to create a product to support his development. Katie’s experience volunteering at Ashmount School, a local special educational needs school, throughout her time at university, also motivated her to start Moti Me.
Moti Me encourages the development of core physical skills such as coordination, muscle strength and range of motion through fun, engaging activities. As well as supporting the child, Moti Me helps the caregiver (parent or healthcare professional) by engaging them in the child's physiotherapy and making the experience more fun. It also records the child's progress so that caregivers can monitor the child's development.
Moti Me has already supported 100+ children across 30+ healthcare organisations in the UK, including Alder Hey Hospital and Birmingham Children's Hospital. They have recently distributed 30 brand new, developed prototypes for extensive user testing.
Over the last few years, Katie has partnered with several organisations and charities to trial her first product range.
Speaking about the prestigious award win, Katie said:
“Finding out that I was selected as a Women in Innovation winner was a special moment that I will never forget. I feel truly honoured to represent female entrepreneurs and over the next 12 months particularly, I am eager to inspire and support women through their entrepreneurial journey.
“When I started Moti Me as a final year design project and started testing my idea within healthcare environments around the UK, I was overwhelmed by how many children were able to benefit from using my product. This recognition from Innovate UK means that Moti Me can continue accelerating as a business and supporting the many children living with developmental delay disabilities.”
The Women in Innovation Awards is an integral part of Innovate UK’s commitment to boosting the number of female entrepreneurs, innovators and business leaders in the UK.
Since its inception in 2016, the programme has enabled brilliant women across the UK to achieve their vision for their businesses and make a real difference to innovation. This includes another Loughborough Alumna, Kate Allan, who won the award in 2023 for her business, ExpHand Prosthetics.
Professor Dan Parsons, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation at Loughborough University, commented:
“Mat Zero and Moti Me are excellent examples of the incredible innovation that is being created by our students and graduates here at Loughborough and it's absolutely fantastic to see all their hard work and their achievements being recognised in this way.
“At Loughborough, we are committed to driving positive change and creating better futures. Graduate enterprises are incredibly important to us and are helping us to deliver on our commitments and strategy. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how both businesses flourish following this award.”
Both graduates received support to launch their businesses, from Loughborough Enterprise Network (LEN), a unique creative community, that supports individuals by providing valuable opportunities to develop their entrepreneurial mindset, skills and knowledge.
Professor Nick Jennings, Vice-Chancellor of Loughborough University, said:
"Through LEN, we’re helping to develop a new generation of businesses that are improving lives, and I hope Sri and Katie’s success stories will inspire other students to make their ideas a reality too.
“Both graduates have engaged with Loughborough’s enterprise ecosystem; accessing funding, coaching and training through the network, showing how vital it is that this kind of support is available.”
ENDS