Lucy Hughes

Lucy Hughes is the Founder and COO of MarinaTex, a biomaterials company rooted in the belief that nature holds the solutions to many of our most pressing material challenges. A product and materials engineer by training, Lucy studied Product Design at the University of Sussex before receiving global recognition for her work, including the National and International James Dyson Award, the D&AD Award for Future Impact, and multiple exhibitions at the London Design Museum.

By designing with - rather than against - natural systems, Lucy has built MarinaTex around the principle that waste is a resource and that circular thinking can drive lasting societal change. Acknowledged for this work as an Ambassador and 2025 Enterprise Fellow for the Royal Academy of Engineering, she has led the team through multiple UK and European innovation projects, successfully managing partners and stakeholders from concept through to delivery.