Informatics-founded startup wins UKRI Agentic AI Pioneers Prize

A startup founded on research from the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh has won the UKRI / Innovate UK “Agentic AI Pioneers Prize”, securing both the Life Sciences category award and the overall Grand Prize. The award recognises leading UK companies developing next‑generation applications of agentic AI — systems that can autonomously plan, reason and act — across key sectors including health and life sciences, advanced manufacturing, and the creative industries.

Danu Insights, founded in 2024 by Dr Chris Lucas and Dr Stefan Bostock, is developing AI technologies to transform how new biotechnologies are discovered and brought to market.

Chris Lucas is a Reader in Computational Cognitive Science at the School of Informatics, whose research focuses on machine learning, causal inference, and optimal experimental design — exploring how humans and machines learn and make decisions. This work underpins the company’s approach to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of scientific discovery.

Dr Bostock brings complementary experience in translating cutting‑edge research into real-world applications, with a background spanning biotechnology and AI-driven startups.

Professor Chris Lucas (left) and Dr Stefan Bostock (right), co‑founders of Danu Insights.
Dr Chris Lucas (left) and Dr Stefan Bostock (right), co‑founders of Danu Insights.

Together, the founders identified a shared challenge: that life sciences research is often slow, costly and failure‑prone, despite being critical to addressing global challenges such as disease and climate change. Danu Insights was established to reimagine this process, using AI to make each experiment more informative, adaptive and efficient.

The company builds on foundational research from Informatics, with its technical team including researchers and graduates from the University of Edinburgh.

Accelerating life sciences discovery

Danu Insights’ award-winning innovation is an AI‑driven “Digital Twin Builder” for life sciences research and development.

The platform combines machine learning, statistical modelling, and domain knowledge to design more effective experiments, helping researchers to:

  • identify the most informative next steps in complex experimental pipelines
  • reduce uncertainty in decision-making
  • optimise time, cost, and resource use
  • accelerate progress from early-stage discovery to real-world application

By improving how experiments are designed and interpreted, the technology aims to address long-standing bottlenecks in life sciences R&D.

The Agentic AI Pioneers Prize

The Agentic AI Pioneers Prize, delivered by Innovate UK and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), highlights the UK’s ambition to lead in the development of responsible, high-impact AI technologies.

The competition attracted around 300 applicants from across the UK, with three companies selected as category winners. Alongside Danu Insights in life sciences, winners included organisations working in advanced manufacturing and the creative industries — reflecting the wide-ranging impact of agentic AI.

Danu Insights was selected as both the Life Sciences winner and overall Grand Prize recipient, recognising the potential of its technology to deliver real-world impact in a critical sector.

As part of the award, the company receives funding and support to further develop and deploy its technology in practical, industry settings.

The Agentic AI Pioneers Prize

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