Hollow core fibres are 2025 MacRobert Award finalist

2025 MacRobert Award finalists reinforce UK tech leadership status

Innovative hollow core optical fibre technology enabling near-instant data transfer, a life-saving device that enables many more organs to be transplanted, and a human-centric AI platform that generates audio and video from text are the three finalists vying for the 2025 MacRobert Award for UK engineering innovation. The winner will be announced on 8 July.

The 2025 finalists are all successful engineering innovations connected with UK universities, two of which are spinout companies. The hollow core optical fibre technology was developed by Lumenisity, a University of Southampton spinout later acquired by Microsoft. OrganOx’s transportable normothermic organ perfusion device is a world first originating from research at the University of Oxford, and one of the founders of Synthesia’s text-to-video generation business is a professor at University College London.

The MacRobert Award is the longest running and most prestigious prize for UK engineering innovation. Run by the Royal Academy of Engineering, it recognises transformative UK engineering that can also demonstrate commerciality and societal benefit. For over 55 years the MacRobert Award has been building a hall of innovation fame that illustrates the strength, creativity and global impact of British engineering.

Microsoft Azure Fibre: Enabling the next generation of global internet connectivity

Optical fibres transmit 500 billion gigabytes of data every day, supporting global communication, navigation and manufacturing. But the performance of traditional optical fibres, optimised over more than 50 years, has reached the fundamental physical limits of the solid glass making up their core. Microsoft Azure Fibre (formerly Lumenisity) revolutionises the way data is transmitted by replacing the glass core with air. Their hollow core optical fibre technology comprises a central light-guiding cavity surrounded by microscopic, nested glass tubes running the length of the fibre, enabling virtually instantaneous data transfer.

This stable, low-latency innovation dramatically improves the speed of transmission and enhances energy efficiency, needing fewer power-hungry electronic components over longer distances. It will drive a major leap forward in how the internet evolves, enabling more flexible datacentre placement and meeting the growing demand for high-volume data transfer driven by growth in the use of AI. The improved characteristics will enable the development of 6G and edge-computing and other ‘tactile’ applications where response time is key, such as remote medicine where timing is critical for life-saving measures.

The technology represents the most significant advancement in fibre technology since standard solid core fibre, completely transforming perceptions of hollow core optical fibre from a mere curiosity to a game-changer for global communications.

Dr David Parker FREng, former Chair and CEO of Lumenisity and now a Partner and General Manager at Microsoft, reflected on reaching the final. He said “We are delighted to be recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering and the MacRobert Award as finalists for this prestigious prize and thank them for the honour. Transforming hollow core optical fibre technology from an academic concept at the University of Southampton, achieving world record performance, fully commercialising it as a cable solution with Lumenisity, and now utilising it to enhance the performance and operation within Microsoft Azure’s Cloud Infrastructure, has been an incredible journey for our entire team. I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who has contributed to this achievement. Becoming a world leader in this field is a testament to the depth of expertise in engineering innovation here in the UK. We have accomplished so much, and yet we are only at the beginning of the profound impact this technology will have as we define the next generation of the fabric of the internet.”

Professor Franceso Poletti of the University of Southampton will present an invited talk about hollow core optical fibres at the SGT Annual Meeting in Cambridge: Hollow core fibres: when nothing is better than glass!