Welsh Enterprise Awards - Global Leaders in Biofabication Innovation 2026

Copner Biotech, a pioneering life sciences company based in Wales, has officially been named 'Global Leaders in Biofabrication Innovation 2026' in SME News's Welsh Enterprise Awards 2026. The prestigious accolade recognises the company's ground breaking advancements in the 3D cell culture and tissue engineering industries, driven by its extensive portfolio of granted patents.

At the heart of the company's success is its crowning technological achievement: GRAPE® (Graphical Rectangular Actual Positioning Encoding). This proprietary architecture completely re-invents traditional 3D modelling and printing by replacing outdated STL files and G-code approximations. By eliminating the data anomalies and precision losses typically introduced by third-party slicing software, GRAPE® allows scientists to design and print highly complex, mathematically perfect microarchitectures with unprecedented batch-to-batch consistency.

Copner Biotech’s innovation is fully realised across its three core, commercially available products:
PETG Cell Culture Scaffold: Advanced 3D scaffolds designed with optimized nutrient and oxygen gradients to significantly improve cell culture consistency and morphology.

GRAPE® S1 4D Bioprinter: A next-generation bioprinting platform that couples microfluidic droplet deposition with a raster-style extrusion system. It processes native GRAPE® files directly, cutting out slicer software entirely and enabling multi-material or multi-BioINK fabrication per layer.

GRAPE® M1 Modelling Software: A bespoke, first-generation 3D CAD tool built specifically for biofabrication. It exports directly into print-ready .CBL formats, allowing users to effortlessly map out intricate vascular geometries, organic trajectories and merged hollow chambers.

With strong momentum from this latest global award and a rapidly scaling network of academic and industrial partners, Copner Biotech continues to solidify its footprint as Wales leading champion of biotech innovation.

Bridging the vascular gap in biofabrication just got easier. Meet the next generation of GRAPE®

Copner Biotech presents latest biofabrication technology at University of Essex.

Copner Biotech invited to present our flagship GRAPE S1 4D bioprinter at University of Essex. Essex having previously taken delivery of a GRAPE S1 3D bioprinter were keen to enhance their biofabrication activities further by exploring Copner Biotech's latest technological advances.

Copner Biotech partners with Brunel University of London.

Copner Biotech delivers GRAPE S1 3D bioprinter to Brunel University of London. Researchers at Brunel will be leveraging our GRAPE technology in their Innovative Biomedical Engineering projects.

Copner Biotech partners with University of Birmingham.

Copner Biotech delivers GRAPE S1 4D bioprinter to the University of Birmingham. Researchers at Birmingham will be leveraging our GRAPE technology to develop pectin based skin tissue models for in vitro analysis.

Johnson&Johnson Innovation.

Copner Biotech attends the Johnson&Johnson Life Sciences Innovation meeting held at their London Office. Whilst learning deeper insights into the current state of the art; our patented bioprinting and 3D scaffold technologies proved a hit with attendees.

Copner Biotech partners with University of Hull.

Copner Biotech delivered a biofabrication seminar together with our GRAPE S1 3D bioprinter to the University of Hull. Researchers at Hull will be leveraging our GRAPE technology to develop novel pancreatic models.

Copner Biotech partners with Newcastle and Northumbria Universities.

Copner Biotech delivered a biofabrication seminar together with our GRAPE S1 4D bioprinter to Newcastle University

Copner Biotech partners with University of Greater Manchester.

We are delighted to announce delivery of our GRAPE S1 3D bioprinter to the engineering department at the University of Greater Manchester

Copner Biotech partners with Newcastle and Northumbria Universities.

We are excited to announce our collaboration with researchers at Newcastle and Northumbria Universities to develop novel in vitro models of cartilage, thanks to funding from National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs)!

Copner Biotech visits Lancaster University.

Copner Biotech had the pleasure to hold a biofabrication technology seminar together with a demonstration of our state of the art bioprinter GRAPE S1 4D at Lancaster University