Polytecks began, like many deeptech companies, with a technology first mindset. SPARK 1.0, however, forced a mindset change that meant rethinking everything from the ground up. In this week’s blog, read how Polytecks founder, Ruben Ruiz-Mateos Serrano found the four week process and how his learnings from SPARK 1.0 prompted a shift has shaped every decision since.

In the world of innovation today, it is difficult to confront considerations of AI. So how should emerging entrepreneurs be thinking about AI as a tool for performance without increasing the cacophony of noise and inputs that amount to everyday life? In this week’s blog, Elle Whitelegg argues that resilience for entrepreneurs in the age of AI is about the ability to stay anchored to a longer-term goal while operating in a faster-moving environment.

Starting SPARK 1.0, Petra Scalamandré thought she had a clear answer to why the problem she was working on mattered. She didn’t. That was uncomfortable. It was also the point. As we build up to the announcement of the newest cohort of the SPARK Incubator programme, in this week’s blog, Petra details how the process of ‘undoing’ defined her experience of the programme as she learnt about what entrepreneurship really is and why an attachment to questions rather than ideas is essential.

A new wave of innovation is redefining women’s health - and with it, one of medicine’s most overlooked opportunities. In this week’s blog read this second part of Rewriting the Future of Women’s Health from MPhil student Anastasiya Rozenbaum, Founding Scientist at OvartiX Kyra Ungerleider and Co-Founder of Clair Jenny Duan as they outline how breakthrough advances, from Cambridge’s biotechnology ecosystem to Silicon Valley’s health-tech frontier, are transforming the field.

In 2025, the King’s E-Lab launched its SPARK Incubator programme to fast-track early-stage ventures to investment readiness and support founders in the heart of the University of Cambridge. In this week’s blog, Bernard Cho reflects on his journey from clinical neuroscience to Med Arcade and the identity shift he experienced with the adoption of an entrepreneurial mindset. Discover why the Cambridge ecosystem and SPARK 1.0 was the catalyst he needed to move from over-planning to execution.

Optimisation matters in F1 as much as it does across the world of business. Whether for pitstops or power grids, the task of finding optimal solutions to various problems as quickly as possible is complex and intricate, and as yet, difficult to solve. But innovation across industries suggests quantum may be a possible aid. In this week’s blog, read Chris Tagnon’s outline of the promise of quantum annealing: a powerful method of solving some of the world’s hardest optimisation problems. For F1 and beyond.

On the 4th of March 2026, Mphil student Laurianne Lingbondo moderated the second session of the African Founders Webinar Series (AFWS) for the year which featured Olapeju Nwanganga, founder of Ploutos Page, a fintech company helping market traders grow with smart, simple, and human‑centered financial tools. In this week’s blog, read Laurianne’s reflection on the insights provided by Nwanganga on value, visibility and the power of combining purpose and profit.

On the 26th of February 2026, the E-Lab hosted a screening of Josh Appignanesi's latest documentary Colossal Wreck, an unflinching journey inside COP28 in Dubai, followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker himself. In this week’s blog, read the thoughts of attendee Sue Trory as she reflects on what it means to watch a film about climate crisis narrated by an AI voice clone, and asks why the most urgent long-term threat to human civilisation has quietly disappeared from our news agenda and collective conscience.

On the 18 of February 2026, Mphil student Enita Okonkwo joined the first session of the African Founders Webinar Series (AFWS) for the year which featured Nnamdi Uba, founder of Sytemap, a satellite technology and blockchain-backed verification systems to digitise proof of allocation in a property market. In this week’s blog, read Enita’s reflection on why the discussion on PropTech provided an inspiring example of how we can redesign trust in one of Africa’s most foundational assets for future generations.

In today's interconnected world, impact transcends outcomes as it is about value perspectives, systems, and social responsibility. At the King’s E-Lab Social Venture Residential, MPhil student Enita Okonkwo was challenged to rethink how value is created, who benefits, and how leadership across sectors can reshape complex systems. In this week’s blog, read how this immersive experience reframed Enita’s understanding of social entrepreneurship and strengthened her commitment to designing ventures that reshape systems for long-term sustainable impact.

Healthcare start-ups often encounter an implicit message: to work with the NHS, you must implement full medical-grade compliance from the outset. This complexity creates friction, reduces the diversity of innovation, and disengages aspiring innovators. While the NHS must be cautious, the current system results not in safer innovation, but stalled innovation. In this week’s blog, read our very own James Beattie’s arguments for why institutional clarity in public healthcare is essential to widen participation, support innovators, and ultimately strengthen the NHS.

In many parts of Africa, buying land is not just a transaction - it is a leap of faith. Paper documents change hands. Verbal assurances replace verified records. Ownership histories can be unclear. And too often, people lose money not because they lacked ambition, but because the system itself is broken. It was against this backdrop that we hosted Nnamdi Uba at the African Founders Webinar Series, a founder who chose not to work around the system, but to rebuild it. In this week’s blog, read about the role of innovation and integrity in the world of African PropTech.

In 2025, the E-Lab ran the third edition of our Entrepreneurship Essay Competition. The purpose of the competition is to encourage UK-based school students to pursue entrepreneurial aspirations and understand better how to launch an enterprise. The students choose between three essay questions which reflects the importance of entrepreneurism and the challenges that businesses face. This week, we share the essay of our winner, Georgio Alambritis from Tuxford Academy, which explores how it is the simplest rules for entrepreneurship - of relevance, scalability and alignment - that are often forgotten.

The month of March, marked by International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, offers an opportunity to not only celebrate women’s achievements but also to reflect on innovation in women’s health, an area emerging as one of the most important frontiers in modern healthcare. Here we find both significant challenges to address and exciting momentum to champion. In this week’s blog, read this first part of a two part series about why and how we must reshape the future of women’s health from Mphil student Anastasiya Rozenbaum and Founding Scientist at OvartiX Kyra Ungerleider.