Iceni Diagnostics has been announced as the winner of the Disruptor of the Year award, sponsored by Lovewell Blake, at the Norfolk Business Awards 2021.

Based at Norwich Research Park, Iceni Diagnostics is an innovative platform focusing on using glycoscience (carbohydrate chemistry and biology) in the areas of diagnostics and therapeutics.

Iceni Diagnostics is currently leading the development of glycan technology to produce a rapid, mutation-proof diagnostic test as an alternative to the antigen test for a number of viruses including influenza and Covid-19.

Not only can the company’s pioneering test diagnose – in minutes – whether a person is infected with flu or coronavirus, but tests have shown a greatly reduced occurrence of false positives.

Iceni Diagnostics understands the need for improved point-of-care diagnostics for infectious diseases that can perform with greater flexibility, accuracy and speed in a post-pandemic world.

Norwich Research Park has long been a beacon of innovation in scientific research, and Iceni Diagnostics’ ability to push boundaries that have an effect on all our lives was hugely impressive. The judges were thrilled to hear about the wide range of applications for this innovative technology.

“We’re very honoured to win this award,” said Dr Martin Stocks, CEO of Iceni Diagnostics. “We’re in very good company, and we’re very pleased to be winners. It’s always good to get publicity; it helps us get finance and motivates the team. Getting recognition from peers is always what we strive for.”


About the sponsor

Lovewell Blake is a firm of chartered accountants and financial planners with specialist teams working in a range of sectors across East Anglia. The company prides itself on providing individually-tailored services to clients thanks to its team of highly-qualified experts in all areas of accountancy, business advice and financial planning.

Whatever clients’ aspirations and priorities in business and life, the team at Lovewell Blake is always by their side with distinct and personalised advice.


The finalists

Developing Experts
Based in Norwich, Developing Experts works with STEM-related industries, universities and schools to offer long-term, strategic and user-friendly digital solutions for bridging the STEM curriculum and related careers.

Developing Experts has enjoyed a great past 12 months, in which the business has found a way of capturing the skills shortfall that the country finds itself in currently, through training, data and sponsorship.

Indigo Swan
Founded in 2009, Indigo Swan is an independent commercial energy consultancy with a client base across the UK. From finding the right supplier to checking and negotiating contracts, Indigo Swan endeavours to help businesses of any size be more energy efficient.

The judges commended Indigo Swan for championing openness and transparency and pushing for regulation where others fear to tread. The company’s ethical approach isn’t just skin deep, but runs through everything it does.

Liftshare Group
A 22-year-old social enterprise, Liftshare Group is one of the largest car-sharing platforms across the UK. To help businesses reduce the amount of CO2e produced by commuting, Liftshare Group recently launched the Mobilityways Platform, which aims to help employers meet their net-zero goals.

Liftshare isn’t just connecting users with each other to help reduce carbon emissions, it has also developed a commercial offering and provides advice for businesses looking to implement improvements to travel plans for their employees, which greatly impressed the judges.