Imperial College London

Silk is being deployed in everything from edible food-preserving wrappers to wearable health monitoring sensors. There's plenty of scope to enhance its characteristics too, and a simple new approach has allowed it to get about as tough as Kevlar.

Bumblebee Power is changing the space race with wireless charging technology suitable for missions to Mars. It’s one giant step for the impact of space-tech entrepreneurs, and even more surprising for a company advertising tech for charging phones.