In collaboration with King's E-Lab, University of Cambridge
From raw ideas to incubator-ready ventures in 48 hours.
A practical, high-energy venture-building format hosted at Cambridge Judge Business School, in collaboration with King's E-Lab. Challenge your thinking, form a team, and leave with a validated direction.
Delivered in Collaboration With
48h
Intensive Format
Idea to venture direction
4
Ideas Incubated
From inaugural cohort
Spark
Cambridge Incubator
Placement pipeline
Food & Agri
October Theme
Planetary Health Focus
100%
Form Real Teams
Across disciplines
48h
Intensive Format
Idea to venture direction
4
Ideas Incubated
From inaugural cohort
Spark
Cambridge Incubator
Placement pipeline
Food & Agri
October Theme
Planetary Health Focus
100%
Form Real Teams
Across disciplines
48h
Intensive Format
Idea to venture direction
4
Ideas Incubated
From inaugural cohort
Spark
Cambridge Incubator
Placement pipeline
Food & Agri
October Theme
Planetary Health Focus
100%
Form Real Teams
Across disciplines
Most incubators and accelerators are designed for teams that already have a defined idea, a formed team, early validation and founder confidence.
Zero-to-One fills the stage before that.
Participants find the hidden 'how' inside an early idea, challenge it through teamwork and mentoring, and begin turning uncertainty into validated 'yeses'.
Researchers, business students, alumni, early-stage founders and curious builders across disciplines.
A validated venture direction, a team, and a pathway to formal incubation or accelerator support.
Fast-paced problem-framing bursts, team formation, AI prototyping, mentor clinics and validation.
Not to start with the best idea, but to develop founder-thinking: how to find the 'how' inside any 'what'.
We are in the midst of a climate emergency, and our agrifood systems urgently need impactful innovations to mitigate and adapt to growing challenges. This venture-creation theme brings together health, climate, biology, food systems, sustainability, agriculture, AI, supply chains, behaviour change and commercial innovation to develop practical solutions with the potential for meaningful real-world impact.
AI for nutrition, personalised food and new consumer experiences.
Waste reduction, circular supply chains and smarter use of resources.
Farm productivity, resilience, data and climate adaptation.
Regenerative agriculture, biodiversity and soil health.
Alternative proteins, sustainable ingredients and new food formats.
Consumer health, behaviour change and healthier food choices.
AI, sensing, automation and data-enabled farming.
Sustainable packaging, logistics and distribution innovation.
Why This Theme
Global food systems are under pressure from climate change, population growth, and shifting consumer expectations — creating the largest venture opportunity of the decade.
Food systems face climate, health, and resource constraints and need to balance conservation of biodiversity.
Research and entrepreneurial talent can generate scientific, commercial and social impact.
Industry challenges can help teams focus on relevant, deployable and impactful opportunities.
Zero-to-One is designed to bring together diverse disciplines, experiences and perspectives. Participants may arrive with an early interest, a research insight, lived experience of a challenge, or simply a desire to contribute to an emerging venture. The programme creates a collaborative space to explore, challenge and develop ambitious ideas with the potential to become game-changing solutions for the future of our agrifood system.
Explore how research insight or an important problem might translate into real-world impact.
Contribute fresh thinking, sector knowledge, research or business skills.
Challenge an early direction before investing heavily in it.
Bring real-world context, customer understanding and sector experience.
Prototype quickly and test what technology can make possible.
Shape users, value propositions, business models and compelling pitches.
The strongest teams can leave Zero-to-One with a clearer route into mentoring, incubation, partnerships, pilots and further venture development.
The winning team will receive mentoring sessions from Accelerate Cambridge mentors to help develop a post-Venture Creation Action Plan.
A further award offers the chance to win a place on the King's E-Lab Spark Incubator, creating another pathway for a promising venture to continue after the weekend.
venture ideas emerged
offered places on the Spark Incubator
teams supported toward partnerships and pilots
Build something credible enough to know what the next experiment, mentor conversation or application should be.
Day 1
Evening
Check-in at Cambridge Judge Business School. Opening reception with mentors and peers.
Night
Meet your cohort, mentors and Cambridge ecosystem leaders.
The 48 hours pushed me to think about a problem I knew scientifically from a completely different angle, as a market structure failure, not just a research gap. That reframe was th...
Sydney Conner
PhD in Biomedical...
What I liked most about GEL Zero-to-One was the ability to work with mentors as they really helped transform and learn new skills and ways of thinking. It helped me refine my idea by making me thin...
Tendai Nzonzo
Winning Team, Sana AI
Join Zero-to-One this June at Cambridge and build a venture from the ground up in 48 hours.