Imperial College Advanced Hackspace

Got an idea but not sure where to start? 💡

Global Challenge Lab 2026 is your chance to work with students from different backgrounds, get support from experienced founders, and turn early-stage ideas into something real!!

Plus, there’s a £3,000 prize pool for the top teams 👀

Applications close on 10 July.

Go to the Imperial Enterprise Lab website - https://www.imperialenterpriselab.com to register and find out more 🔗

Startups

The H&F Business Awards are back!! 🥳

If you’ve been building something you’re proud of, this is your time to gain recognition ✨

With 19 categories, there’s a place for every kind of business to shine!
One is LIVAT Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Are you aged 16-24 and running your own business in Hammersmith & Fulham? This one is for YOU

Entries close on 1 July - don’t miss out!
Share with someone who needs to see this 👀

What if every biology lab could run experiments with the reliability of a major research facility? 🔬

Meet N-slug.

Built by a team at Imperial College London, N-slug is a compact, affordable lab automation platform made from 3D-printed parts and off-the-shelf components. It automates one of the most critical steps in biological research, and a built-in camera system means it learns and improves over time. 🙌
No more inconsistent results
No more manual error
Reliable, repeatable science

Developed through ’s Hackstarter programme, the team is preparing to deploy their technology in a live startup lab. The best part? In time, they’re planning to release both hardware and software as open source, so any lab in the world can build their own version.

Smarter science shouldn’t be a luxury. 💡

STEM ScienceInnovation FutureOfScience

One in three adults over 60 experiences nocturnal leg cramps 😔

Stretching, hydration, supplements, heat packs... sufferers can try everything without understanding what actually works.

That’s exactly what Lana Wang, Alice Han and Una Ding set out to fix 🙌

SABLE is a smart compression sleeve that monitors muscle activity overnight and helps users understand which interventions are genuinely reducing their cramps, and which aren’t.

The sleeve features...
✔️ Live sensor data
✔️ Working detection algorithm
✔️ Full user interface
..Built in 6 weeks through Advanced Hackspace’s Hackstarter programme!

Congratulations to team SABLE for winning the 2026 Popular Vote Award.

☝️ Read their full story via the link in bio.

Innovation

Good science shouldn’t be held back by the cost of equipment 🔬

Yet for many research labs, the tools needed to analyse movement and physical function are too large, too slow and too expensive to justify.

That’s the problem Leah Xu, Te Bu and Jianan Liu solved 🙌

Their AI-powered treadmill system automatically tracks movement and monitors physiological function - all in a compact, affordable device that sits on a lab bench and runs in the background while researchers get on with their work.

✔️Functioning prototype
✔️AI-powered tracking built-in
✔️ Concept validated in practice

All achieved through Advanced Hackspace’s Hackstarter programme. Congratulations to the team for winning the 2026 Lab Automation Award!! 🥳

☝️ Read the full story in the link in bio.

Innovation

“Hackstarter enabled progression from an idea into a real, working prototype. Advanced Hackspace has given KPlus its first steps, and we hope one day to be able to give back.” - Stephanie Muggler, KPlus
 
We’ve read a lot of thank yous. This one is different 🙌
 
Stephanie set out to solve something real. Millions of patients with chronic kidney disease, heart failure, or diabetes live with the constant risk of dangerously high potassium levels and until now, the only way to check was a machine bolted to the floor of a hospital. There was no portable option that actually worked. So she built one.
 
KPlus fits in the palm of your hand. It reads your blood potassium levels in real time, wherever you are. It means patients get answers instead of anxiety. It means chronic illness doesn’t have to mean living in the dark between appointments 🫡
 
From an idea to a validated prototype in six weeks. Clinical trials are next.
 
But it’s that last sentence that stays with you long after you’ve read it.
 
That’s Stephanie. That’s KPlus. That’s what this programme is for.🔬

Check the link in bio!!
 
WomenInSTEM Innovation HealthcareInnovation

A premature baby is struggling to breathe. Doctors have just 20-30 seconds to act ⌛

Yet in nearly half of all cases, the first attempt doesn’t succeed - not due to lack of skill, but because there’s no quick way to confirm the tube is in the right place.

That’s the problem NeoAir is solving 🙌

Created by Amy Lai, Anton Gerasimov, Harshad Malik and Hetarth Bhatt, NeoAir uses CO₂ detection to provide confirmation, so clinicians can act immediately and decisively.

✔️ Prototype tested
✔️ Concept validated
✔️ Built in 10 weeks through Advanced Hackspace’s ‘Hackstarter’ programme

Sometimes innovation is about reducing a key obstacle - uncertainty.

Congratulations to team for winning the 2026 Open Project Award.

☝️ To read this and other innovator success stories, see the link in bio.

AdvancedHackspace Innovation