A purple plaque has been unveiled at the University of Leeds for the first time after a researcher won a prestigious UK Women in Innovation award.
Amanda MacCannell was also awarded £75,000 for her fledgling business Pathways Open by Innovate UK as part of a programme that recognises female entrepreneurs making an impact in the world.
Award winners can choose a location to a school they are connected to for the personalised purple plaque which celebrates women innovators.
The business connects bio-tech start-ups with academic experts to accelerate innovation and streamline research through an online platform. The organisations seek out expert scientists to expedite and commercialise their findings.
Amanda, who studied for a PhD and is now a researcher at the University of Leeds, was one of only 50 women across the UK to receive the Women in Innovation Awards.
She chose to have her plaque installed at the University of Leeds' Helix building, where she carried out much of her research and continues to collaborate with the Spark enterprise team.
"Getting a plaque was a surreal moment, but uplifting as hopefully it will show other women that they too can pursue innovation," she said.
"The recognition that the plaque has given me is a reminder that with the right people around you, a bit of courage and a lot of persistence, you can step into spaces you never imagined yourself in."
Stella Peace, Executive Director, Healthy Living & Agriculture, Innovate UK, said: "The Women in Innovation programme is a powerful catalyst for change, not just for the brilliant women entrepreneurs it supports, but for the entire UK innovation landscape.
"This programme is about more than funding. It's about creating role models, building networks, and inspiring the next generation of women innovators to dream big and transform our world."
Amanda said that when she first joined the University of Leeds, entrepreneurship was not on her radar.
I realised that innovation isn't just about launching a start-up. It's about believing you can create something meaningful, even when you don't have a roadmap.
"I didn't know any women entrepreneurs, and I didn't see anyone who looked like me doing it. It felt like something that belonged to other people, not someone like me.
"But during my PhD, I learned to solve problems creatively, manage people and budgets, and write grants that turned ideas into action. Somewhere along the way, I realised that innovation isn't just about launching a start-up. It's about believing you can create something meaningful, even when you don't have a roadmap."
She co-founded the business with her friend Sandeep Sharda who has expertise in building a variety of commercial software technologies.
Amanda said: "Organisations are often seeking expert scientists to help commercialise their research, but academic expertise isn't always easy to find. I thought we could create a tool that enables companies to find academics who have the exact expertise they need, in any research field, anywhere in the world, helping companies bring ideas to the market faster.
"So far, the academics love it as they can get their research out there and contribute to something bigger."
The international database is now being tested in Asia and North America. "A lot of organisations want to collaborate with partners in Asia but find it hard to navigate their local systems.
"We recently helped a major pharmaceutical company find a collaborator in the same city as their head office in Japan, even though they thought they already knew all the researchers there." she said.
She explained that the £75,000 grant helped Pathways Open to prototype the AI tool which allows a cost-effective and non-biased method for finding academic collaborators.
Help from the University
Amanda is originally from Canada and came to Leeds in 2018. She came over to the UK for an interview with the British Heart Foundation who funded her PhD. "I had never been to Europe before but immediately felt at home in Leeds," she said.
Amanda approached Spark a year ago. "They were massively supportive, helping me to understand the finances involved in running a business. It was good to meet other entrepreneurs and not feel alone on the journey. They helped to fund an intern for the company last summer."
However, she needed more funding and applied to the Women in Innovation Awards 2025 earlier this year. Around 1400 women put in applications.
As part of the award, each winner receives personalised business coaching, role modelling and training and network opportunities.
The plaque was unveiled by Chantelle Reeves, Senior Innovation and Growth Specialist for RTC North, Margaret Korosec, Dean of Online and Digital Education at the University of Leeds and Brian Baillie, Head of Business Start-Up Service.
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