Ideas to Reality 2025

Jim is Chief Executive of Cambridge Enterprise. He has over 25 years of experience across industry and university environments in both Silicon Valley and the Cambridge, Massachusetts innovation ecosystem.

Prior to joining Cambridge Enterprise in 2024, Jim was Co-founder and President of two biotech companies, Atalanta Therapeutics and Clade Therapeutics. He also served as Executive Vice Chancellor – Innovation and Business Development at UMASS Medical School. Prior to these roles, Jim was a venture capitalist for ~20 years, as General Partner and Life-Science Co-Lead at Palo Alto based firm Technology Partners Venture Capital.

Professor Deborah Prentice, 347th Vice-Chancellor at Cambridge and eminent psychologist, carried out her academic and administrative career at Princeton. She rose through the academic ranks and took on administrative responsibilities of increasing scope, chairing the Department of Psychology, serving as Dean of Faculty and then Provost, with primary responsibility for academic, budgetary and long-term planning issues.

Her academic expertise is in the study of social norms that govern human behaviour and the impact and development of unwritten rules and conventions and how people respond to breaches of those rules. She has edited 3 academic volumes and published more than 50 articles and chapters. She has specialised in the study of domestic violence, alcohol abuse and gender stereotypes.

Nigel is Professor of Natural Language Processing at the University of Cambridge, where he co-leads the Language Technology Lab. With over 30 years’ experience in AI and NLP, he has worked internationally on machine learning, information extraction, and reasoning. His recent research focuses on evaluating Large Language Models, including adversarial robustness, uncertainty, and alignment, alongside long-standing interests in biomedical applications.

In 2025, he co-founded Trismik, a Cambridge spinout applying computerised adaptive testing to AI evaluation. Trismik reflects his vision to bring efficient, fair, and human-inspired methods of assessment to the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence.

James Fergusson is an Associate Professor in the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology where he is Executive Director of the Data Intensive Science Group which includes: the Centre for Doctoral Training in Data Intensive Science, the MPhil in Data Intensive Science, and the Data Intensive Industry Training programme. He is also the Director of the Infosys-Cambridge AI Centre.

Umaima is CEO and co-founder of 52North, a multi-award-winning med-tech spin-out from the University of Cambridge and a NATO DIANA company. 52North’s first product, Neutrocheck®, has UK Government breakthrough status, and the company has raised $12m+ including from top UK/US hospital funds (Meridian Health Ventures, Cedars-Sinai Tech Ventures) and leading cancer charities (Macmillan, Cancer Research Horizons).

Named to Management Today’s 35 Under 35, Umaima is a former investment banking lawyer, business development professional, and health-tech NED. She has led multi-million-dollar M&A and licensing deals across global pharma.

She holds degrees from King’s College London, the University of Strasbourg, BPP Law School, and an MPhil in Bioscience Enterprise from Cambridge. Umaima is passionate about innovation, commercialising science, championing women in STEM, and lifelong learning.

As Head of Ventures, Christine oversees Cambridge Enterprise’s investment activities, with the team investing over £5 million each year in young companies.

With expertise in Life Science investment, Christine has a focus on drug discovery with a broad portfolio of technologies, including University of Cambridge spin-outs Carrick, STORM, Z-factor, PhoreMost, Qkine, and PolyProX. Christine was featured in BioBeat’s 50 Movers and Shakers in BioBusiness 2018.

Tuomas Knowles is the 1920 Professor of Physical Chemistry at Cambridge. His research explores protein behaviour and self-assembly. He is a Scientific Advisor and co-founder of Xampla, a Cambridge-based company pioneering sustainable materials. Tuomas has also co-founded several other Cambridge spin-outs, including Transition Bio, Ride Therapeutics, Wren Therapeutics (now Wavebreak therapeutics) and Fluidic Analytics (now Fluidic Sciences). His contributions to biophysics have earned him prestigious awards such as the Corday–Morgan Prize and the Sackler International Prize. He continues to bridge academic excellence with commercial innovation, shaping the future of science-led entrepreneurship.