Carmen Hijosa, Women in Innovation, Innovate UK, 2017

LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 22: Carmen Hijosa began her life in Spain, but her career has taken her across the globe, including the UK, Ireland, Germany and the Philippines. Having specialised in the design and manufacture of leather goods, Carmen discovered that she could make a non-woven textile - a fabric bonded together without knitting or weaving - from the long fibres in pineapple leaves. Her work resulted in the creation of PiÒatex, a unique, natural and sustainable textile made from pineapple leaf fibres. With the help of Innovate UK PiÒatex is now entering into a new R&D phase to upgrade the product in order to be ready to enter into more stringent markets such as furnishing and automotive. Photographed on March 22, 2017 at the Royal College of Art, London, England. (Photo by Amelia Troubridge/Contour by Getty Images)