King’s Award honours Leeds spin-out company behind extreme-environment sensors
A University of Leeds spin-out company has received a King’s Award after developing sensing technology designed for the harshest conditions.
Ionix Advanced Technologies, founded in 2011 by academics from the University of Leeds, has been recognised with the King’s Award for Enterprise: Innovation 2026 – the UK’s highest official business accolade – for its HotSense platform and HPZ piezoelectric materials.
The Leeds-based company has developed sensing and monitoring systems that can operate continuously in environments where conventional technologies fail, including extreme temperatures, high pressures, radioactive settings, and explosive atmospheres.
The company was co-founded almost 15 years ago by Professor Andrew Bell, Dr Tim Comyn, and Dr Tim Stevenson, building on advanced research into piezoelectric materials carried out at Leeds. Since then, Ionix has grown into a global supplier of sensing technologies for the energy, petrochemical, and industrial process sectors.
HotSense allows operators to monitor their infrastructure in real time while it remains in service, reducing the need for shutdowns, temporary instrumentation, and manual inspections. The technology supports applications including corrosion monitoring, crack detection, level sensing, and gas flow measurement.
Receiving the King’s Award for Enterprise is a defining moment for everyone at Ionix. This recognition reflects years of advanced materials research, relentless engineering, and a clear commercial conviction to improve the resilience and operational efficiency of the world’s critical infrastructure with functional materials sensing technology.
Ionix’s proprietary HPZ piezoelectric ceramic sits at the centre of the platform. Piezoelectric materials convert electrical energy into mechanical movement, and vice versa, and are widely used in technologies ranging from medical ultrasound to SONAR systems. Ionix’s material was developed specifically to maintain performance in environments ranging from 600°C to -200°C.
Professor Bell said: “The King’s Award is appropriate recognition for an enterprise that has its roots in a Leeds undergraduate project almost 25 years ago. Over the next ten years, it developed into a significant research theme for my group, initially curiosity-driven, and then more focused on applications when industrial interest first emerged.
“Enormous credit goes to Tim Stevenson and Tim Comyn, now CEO and CTO respectively, for taking that uncertain leap from the University labs nearly 15 years ago, to establish a growing and thriving company that is still innovating!”
A partner of Leeds was also recognised. Warrington-based technology company Quantum Science received an award for its INFIQ infrared quantum dot technology, which enables scalable short-wave infrared (SWIR) imaging. This patented system simplifies integration with existing CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) processes, helping lower the cost of SWIR sensing.
Cleanroom users with the Woollam M2000XI Broadband Spectroscopic Ellipsometer in the Leeds Nanotechnology Cleanroom.
Over the past three years, the Quantum Science team has worked alongside the experimental specialists within the Bragg Centre’s state-of-the-art Leeds Nanotechnology Cleanroom to turn their quantum dot technology into prototype devices, transforming a complex materials platform into a manufacturable technology.
INFIQ infrared quantum dot technology has potential applications in consumer electronics, automotive systems, industrial automation, and medical diagnostics.
The King’s Award for Enterprise was established in 1965. Organisations honoured in the innovation category must demonstrate commercial success linked to outstanding technological development.
