'This award will further fuel our ambition': Two Northern Ireland entrepreneurs scoop £75,000 Innovate UK Women in Innovation Award

Two Northern Ireland female entrepreneurs have been recognised among the UK’s leading innovators after securing prestigious Innovate UK Women in Innovation Awards.

Londonderry-based technology entrepreneur Mary Blake, founder and CEO of SeeMe Ltd, and Pragya Sharma, founder of Gran Lab, are among just 61 winners selected from a record 1,590 applications from across the UK.

The pair are the only successful applicants from Northern Ireland this year and will each receive a £75,000 award alongside 12 months of business support, training, networking and role-modelling opportunities.

Now in its 10th year, the Innovate UK Women in Innovation Awards programme supports ambitious female founders developing technologies and businesses with the potential to drive economic growth and address major challenges.

Since launching in 2016, the programme has invested more than £15 million in 260 women entrepreneurs.

SeeMe is an AI-enabled personal archive platform that allows users to transform collections of photographs into rich, multi-layered narratives, creating valuable intergenerational archives. The company’s proprietary technology enables people to preserve the precious stories, memories, and emotions behind their photographs, rather than just relying on large, context-less Image dumps on their phones or in the cloud. It also means people can securely share their images and associated memories on a secure, privacy-first platform.

The Innovate UK funding will now see SeeMe Ltd move into a 12-month SeeMe Ltd Narrated Archives Platform (SNAP) project, focusing on the next stage of development and taking SeeMe's existing technology through its next phase of co-design and validation.

Before founding SeeMe Ltd, Mary Blake, who is originally from Enniskillen and now living in Londonderry, held senior roles across the cultural, international marketing and public sectors, including work with National Museums.

Mary said: “Many of us have thousands of photos on our phones and in the cloud, but often they are effectively just large image dumps that don’t capture the stories and memories that matter; they don’t share what was happening at that time, or why that moment mattered in someone’s life.

“SeeMe’s privacy-first, AI-enabled technology, allows people to securely preserve what are our most authentic human moments and memories for ourselves and the people who matter most, and to store and share them securely now and into the future.

"Being one of only 61 successful applicants out of almost 1600 innovative companies across the UK is huge validation of the work we have done to date. I am incredibly proud to be an Innovate UK Women in Innovation Award Winner as it provides the type of very real, tangible support that is so essential to companies like SeeMe Ltd, which are set to grow globally but which are being built in a local region like Derry City outside of our main traditional economic hubs.

“This award will further fuel our ambition and all of the opportunities ahead as we develop SeeMe’s potential across families, elder care and wider care settings, and with global diaspora communities and cultural institutions.”

Pragya Sharma, founder of Gran Lab, was the second Northern Ireland recipient recognised in this year’s awards. Her company is focused on developing innovative solutions within the biotechnology and healthcare space.

Inspired by her grandmother who suffered from psoriasis, Pragya recognised a gap in the market for potent steroid-free treatments which would revolutionise the lives of those suffering from skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis.

The Belfast skin care clinic specialises in making steroid-free, colour-inclusive formulations to treat the symptoms of psoriasis and eczema.

The recognition highlights the growing contribution of female entrepreneurs from Northern Ireland’s technology and innovation sectors, with both founders joining a national network of women developing high-growth businesses.

Tom Adeyoola, executive chair of Innovate UK, said this year’s winners represented some of the UK’s most exciting entrepreneurial talent.

“This year's Women in Innovation cohort represents some of the UK’s most exciting entrepreneurial talent,” he added. “These founders are developing the ideas, technologies and businesses that will drive economic growth, attract investment, and tackle some of the world's biggest challenges. Many of today's most successful companies started with a bold idea and the right support at the right time. Through Women in Innovation, we are backing founders with the ambition, talent, and determination to develop the UK’s most promising companies. Many congratulations to every member of this exceptional cohort."

The awards are designed to help female founders overcome barriers to growth and provide the resources, networks and expertise needed to scale innovative businesses.