Deep.Meta, a technology startup founded by materials scientist Dr Osas Omoigiade, has been named one of the ten finalists in the second Manchester Prize competition. The focus of this year´s government-backed contest is to spotlight advances in Artificial Intelligence that accelerate the UK’s progress toward a clean energy system. Deep.Meta’s digital twin technology, Deep.Optimiser-PhyX, exemplifies Artificial Intelligence for the public good by targeting carbon emission reductions in the steel industry, a major emitter in the industrial sector.
The company´s system provides real-time predictions of steel slab furnace temperatures, enabling more accurate process scheduling and increased energy efficiency, which in turn drives significant emission reductions. Notably, Deep.Meta eschews so-called ´black box´ approaches in favor of physics-based models that deliver transparent, explainable outputs—an aspect highlighted by both the Manchester Prize judges and the startup´s leadership as critical for industry trust and adoption. Dr Omoigiade, who studied at Imperial College London and the University of Cambridge before founding Deep.Meta in 2020, aims for at least a 20% reduction in steel industry emissions through this innovation.
Each of the shortlisted teams receives £100,000 in seed funding and £60,000 in computational resources to advance their projects, with the grand prize of £1 million to be awarded in the spring. Deep.Meta has been supported by Imperial’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, including its Venture Catalyst Challenge and the Greenhouse accelerator for climate-related ventures, as well as significant angel, venture capital, and Innovate UK grant funding. Strategic collaborations with organizations such as the Materials Processing Institute and Spartan UK underpinned the system’s development. Dr Omoigiade underscores the urgency of adoption, especially as the steel sector transitions towards electric arc furnaces, to help maintain grid stability while advancing sustainability goals. The judging panel, led by Baroness Julia King, reinforced that breakthrough Artificial Intelligence like Deep.Meta´s is essential for the UK´s net zero ambitions and the broader global decarbonisation effort.
