Innovation Community News – December 2025

A summary of recent news and announcements from Milton Park-based companies

• OKA reports record 17% sales growth over Black Friday period
• Physiomics announces new modelling and simulation contracts
• Tokamak Energy announces breakthrough in power plant magnet technology

OKA reports record 17% sales growth over Black Friday period

Home interiors brand OKA has reported a 17% increase in sales over the Black Friday period, with many product lines selling out in the first five days of its 13-day sale event.

OKA, which recently relocated back to Milton Park, has announced plans to open more concession stores following the successful launch of its first two locations at Redbrick Mill in West Yorkshire and Fenwick in Newcastle. The expansion is part of the company’s strategy to make the brand more accessible in affluent areas outside London and the South East.

Mark Saunders, CEO of OKA, commented: “We traded better than expected over the period, helped by going early with reductions and keeping the offer fresh, introducing new reasons to shop throughout the week. It’s a key event for OKA as it introduces new customers to the brand who often go on shop the range full price.

“Looking ahead, we’re continuing to scale our UK presence through an expanding showroom and concession network as well as online, where a growing number of our customers are transacting and continuing to extend our brand into adjacent categories.”

Physiomics announces new modelling and simulation contracts

Physiomics, a leading mathematical modelling, data science and biostatistics company, has announced two new client contracts. 

The team has secured a contract with a UK-based biotech specialising in AI-powered drug development. The new agreement will use Physiomics’ unique Virtual Tumour Platform to guide dosing decisions. The second contract will support in the development of renal disease (kidney disease) therapies, which use the team’s modelling and simulation capabilities to advance the client’s drug development efforts.

Dr Peter Sargent, CEO of Physiomics, said: “We are thrilled to have secured these two contracts. Extending our agreement with an existing client demonstrates the value we deliver and our strong rate of repeat business. Additionally, winning a contract with a new client highlights both our commitment to continue diversifying our client base as well as expand into therapeutic areas beyond oncology”.

Tokamak Energy announces power plant magnet technology breakthrough

Tokamak Energy has revealed it has replicated fusion power plant fields for the first time in the nuclear fusion pioneer’s world-leading magnet system.

Tokamak Energy’s Demo4 project has provided the team with unique engineering insight and data which could inform power plant designs of the future.  

Demo4 has seen a complete set of high temperature superconducting magnets (HTS) built in a tokamak configuration. The team produced the milestone achieving field strengths of 11.8 Tesla at -243 degrees Celsius in recent tests. 

Warrick Matthews, Tokamak Energy CEO, said: “These results are a major victory for the race to deliver fusion and HTS as a disruptive new commercial technology. Demo4 represents over a decade of HTS innovation at Tokamak Energy. Born from our fusion mission, it validates one of the technical solutions for getting clean, limitless, safe and secure fusion energy on the grid.

“Demo4 is also best in class at showcasing and demonstrating the transformative potential for superconductors, including power distribution for high-demand environments like data centres and applications across science, power systems, propulsion and beyond.”