AI technology firm Polaron has won the inaugural £1m Manchester Prize for its work on its quick development of new advanced materials, including EV batteries.
The firm used generative AI that leverages microstructural image data – showing the features of a material only visible under a microscope – to bridge the gap between the way materials are made and their performance.
The technology empowers engineers to characterise materials, quantify microstructural variation, and optimise microstructural designs faster than ever before.
Polaron has published scientific papers that demonstrate a more than 10% improvement in energy density of batteries is possible, roughly equivalent to adding 20 extra miles of range to a typical electric vehicle. Its AI models can explore thousands of material designs in under a day – a task that would take current physics-based simulations around 50 years.
Polaron was founded by Dr Isaac Squires, Dr Steve Kench and Dr Sam Cooper, spinning out their research at Imperial College London in November 2023.
The growing start-up unites AI, engineering, and materials science, paving the way for material innovations in batteries and beyond.
The Manchester Prize is funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and is delivered by Challenge Works – part of the Nesta group. The prize is rewarding innovations that will help to transform the lives of the people across the UK and aims to secure the UK’s place as a global leader in cutting edge innovation.
Dr Isaac Squires, CEO of Polaron, winner of the first Manchester Prize, said:
“In the last year, we have turned the research we pursued at Imperial College London into a commercial product, using our AI to reduce years of materials development into a matter of days. We are now working with our first customers in the battery manufacturing sector to apply Polaron to improve the performance of EVs by extending range and reducing charge times.
“While this has been our core market to date, Polaron is material agnostic, and we are already bringing our rapid design capabilities to industrial manufacturing more widely, including alloys, composites and catalysts.”
Feryal Clark, Minister for AI said:
“Polaron’s work in developing advanced materials will have a range of uses, including in driving forward new efficiencies for the batteries powering electric vehicles – giving drivers more miles on the road – and in delivering homegrown energy like wind turbines – supporting lower cost, clean, secure power for the British people.”
Nick Jennings, chair of the judging panel for the Manchester Prize and Vice-Chancellor of Loughborough University, said:
“Choosing a winner of the inaugural Manchester Prize was an incredibly tough decision. Polaron stood out because of its highly innovative approach to revolutionising a process that will unlock a multitude of possibilities for industry.
“Advanced materials play an extraordinarily important role across our lives; Polaron’s capacity to transform the pace of materials research and development is truly exciting and is a great example of AI being used for social good.”
Image (l-r) Steve Kench, Isaac Squires, Sam Cooper from Polaron
