Sepsis sensor engineer gets RAEng JC Gammon award

The Royal Academy of Engineering has awarded this year’s JC Gammon award, presented to the winner of the Royal Academy’s Launchpad Competition, to George Winfield, founder and CEO of SPYRAS, for his paper-based sensor that detects sepsis through respiration. George’s company is developing prototype sensors that continuously monitor respiratory rate, inhalation and exhalation periods, and depth of breathing. Machine learning will be applied to the sensor data to detect the onset of sepsis. The accolade comes with £15,000 and a year of personalised training and mentoring from the RAEng’s Enterprise Hub to help George on his way to commercialising his product.
Mr Winfield said: “I’m so pleased to be this year’s Launchpad Competition winner, it is one thing having an initial idea about how to solve a specific challenge, and it is another entirely getting industry backing. The Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Hub will prove invaluable in helping me turn my innovation into a commercially successful, scalable business. It is a great financial boost but the training, mentorship and access to world-class engineers and business experts will also be invaluable. I cannot wait to get going.”
Head judge for the Launchpad competition, Elspeth Finch MBE, said: “This year’s line-up was one of the strongest and most varied that we’ve seen. It was a real pleasure to see such brilliant young minds share their innovative businesses and growth strategies. Congratulations to George, I wish him the very best of luck as he expands his business. It’s with the support of the Gammon family that we can provide entrepreneurs like George with the platform to help them accelerate their growth in this critical next stage of their business journey.”