Powerful pitching is a critical skill for entrepreneurs and for all who hope to share their ideas with a wider audience. In this week’s blog, Simon Hall, who created and leads an award-winning course in presentation, storytelling and writing skills at the University of Cambridge, tells us about the three foundational features of communication for venture-builders.

Joodi Mourhli completed the King’s E-Lab Residential Programme as a part of the 2023-2024 cohort and received a runner up prize in the E-Lab competition the same year. Since then, Joodi has pursued her venture through participation in programmes, like EnterpriseWOMEN, and partnerships with key stakeholders in her industry, such as the Syrian Youth Empowerment (SYE) initiative. In this week’s blog, read about Joodi’s journey to embrace entrepreneurial thinking by asking bold questions, acting with empathy, and believing that small interventions can create outsized impact.

What happens when a shared passion for change meets a rigorous Climate Challenge? In this week’s blog, Sally Musonye and Jockim Kamalha share their journey in bridging energy poverty and educational inequality from rural Kenya to the Cambridge Zero Climate Challenge stage, recounting how their innovative approach transforms lives in underserved communities. At the finale in March 2024, Sally and Kamalha pitched MPowered, as a part of AshGold Africa Initiative, and achieved recognition as runners-up. Learn about their experience from the demanding yet profoundly rewarding training, from the moments of doubt and motivation, and from their belief in building through collaboration.

On the 13^th of March, Lucy-Anne Garnett, Sigrid Kirk and Katy Wickremesinghe joined Art History Student Jin Cheng in an exploration of the transformative connections between art and business and shed light on how these intersections create dynamic networks that bridge emerging and established careers. In this week’s blog, Jin reflects on the insights from the speakers: cultural capital is not static, art and business can align when care rather than commodity is focal, and proactive efforts to build inclusive spaces are possible.

The fifth Climate Challenge brought together Cambridge students, representing a range of disciplines, to highlight possibilities of a greener future. The Climate Challenge is a training programme encouraging postgraduates and postdocs to submit early-stage proposals for scalable ideas that facilitate decarbonising transitions and address climate challenges. In collaboration with Cambridge Zero, Carbon13, the Maxwell Centre and a whole host of partner organisations, the E-Lab hosted the finalist pitches of the challenge on the 21^st of March 2025. First runners-up, Maureen Abel and Hauwa Busari reflect on their venture and experience developing a solution for water insecurity in this week’s blog.

The partnership between the King’s E-Lab and EFG International is grounded by a common belief in the need to challenge the status quo and reimagine the world – both to improve lives through innovation and to foster a future driven by bold, transformative ideas. When the E-Lab hosted Manuel Rybach and Melanie Beyeler in February 2025 for our annual EFG panel, our community was treated to a thoughtful reflection on the acute need to address challenges for sustainable finance and the variety of opportunities we must seize to foster collaborative innovation and build a more resilient global economy. While they were with us, the EFG team sat down with E-Lab Co-Founder Kamiar Mohaddes to discuss the purpose of the E-Lab, its inclusive approach to fostering innovation, and how the greatest ideas are born.

Recent events have seen the government of the United States embroiled in more than a few attention-grabbing headlines, with political commentators and academics alike pondering the consequences for future international relations. There is much confusion and a high level of uncertainty. In this week’s blog post, tech entrepreneur Matthew Wunderli shows what the United States, startups, and teenagers have in common and in what ways this comparison might help us prepare for what might come next.

We’ve come to the close of the University’s two-week #ShapingAIforeveryone Campaign and, in this week’s blog post we’re spotlighting the key activities, research and students from the King’s E-Lab that contribute to the inclusive imagining, design and implementation of AI.

#ShapingAIForEveryone

To celebrate International Women’s Day 2025, the E-Lab and King’s College Student Union (KCSU) hosted a conversation between Gillian Tett and Noor Sweid on the evening of the 5^th of March. Noor Sweid is the Founder and Managing Partner of Global Ventures, a leading venture capital firm based in the UAE, investing across the Middle East and Africa. She is one of the World's Top 50 Women in Tech and has been recognised by Arabian Business as one of the "Top 100 Most Influential Arab Women". Cambridge alumna and tech expert Blossom Kafumbata reflects on the discussion in this week’s blog post.

On Friday the 29^th of November, the E-Lab brought together some of the industry's most insightful voices: Emily Chan (Senior Sustainability & Features Editor at Vogue), Isabella Rose Davey (COO at Copenhagen Fashion Week), and Olya Kuryshchuk (Founder and Editor-in-Chief of 1 GRANARY). Moderated by Art Historian Ane Cornelia Pade, the guests delved into the difficult dilemmas facing actors in the industry and balanced a discussion that invoked both hope and anger. In this blog post, read the perspective of one panellist and one attendee as they reflect on the ongoing challenges and future potentials of sustainability in fashion.

In 2024, Maha Waseem was among the winners of the Homerton Changemakers Catalyst Fund with her cofounder Tamsin Dodsworth for their project Sustainakids. In this blog post, Maha details a key misperception in the pursuit of social impact – a focus on having the right answers rather than asking the right questions – and suggests the mindset social entrepreneurs should have as they seek to create meaningful change.

On 18th of February, King’s E-Lab hosted the 10th Anniversary of InnoFrugal, a movement that has championed the idea of “doing more with less” since its modest beginnings in Jyväskylä, Finland, back in 2014. Over the years, InnoFrugal has evolved into a global platform highlighting sustainable, resource-efficient solutions—often referred to as frugal innovations—across sectors like digital, healthcare, consumer products, and increasingly, artificial intelligence. Cofounder and Visiting Fellow at JBS, Venkata Gandikota details the afternoon’s event in this weeks blog post.

Formula 1 is no longer just about racing – it’s becoming a hub for deep-tech innovation with billion-dollar potential. From Red Bull's e-bike breakthroughs to McLaren's 5G applications and Mercedes' healthcare advancements, F1 teams have leveraged their engineering expertise to disrupt industries beyond motorsport. Chris Tagnon, King’s E-Lab Resident and Motorsport scholar, explores how the sport’s cutting-edge technologies can drive deep tech ventures in sustainability, mobility, and beyond, and position F1 as a key player in the global innovation ecosystem. For investors and entrepreneurs alike, Formula 1’s entry in the venture space could offer transformative market opportunities.

How do you get people to really think about AI? Not just to watch videos about it, but to actively engage in working out what they believe? In this post, Martin Percy shares insights into participatory documentary making as just such a way to engage audiences and filmmakers alike on complex contemporary subjects. Through his latest ‘participatory documentary’ "AI Basics: Thrills or Chills?", Percy breaks down the wall between film and audience and works with audiences to figure out what AI means for them.