London, UK – July 15, 2025 – Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), a global nonprofit that supports science- and technology-based startups, has today announced the launch of CDL-London – its newest international location – that will be co-hosting the global CDL Minerals program. 

Rio Tinto, a leading mining and materials company, is the founding partner of CDL-London, enabling an expansion of the CDL Minerals program that was first launched at CDL-Vancouver in 2023 at UBC’s Sauder School of Business. 

CDL-London will be hosted by the Imperial Institute for Deep Tech Entrepreneurship, an Imperial-wide initiative led by the Imperial Business School, working closely with the Imperial Enterprise Lab to deliver the program.

The global CDL Minerals program will support early-stage ventures from around the world that are developing technologies for mineral exploration, processing, and decarbonisation. By connecting scientists and aspiring entrepreneurs with mentors and domain experts, CDL-London will provide a structured programme designed to help teams develop their value propositions, prioritize milestones and build teams to become more capable of raising early-stage finance. 

Rio Tinto’s support for CDL-London is part of its $150 million, 10-year investment in the Rio Tinto Centre for Future Materials, announced in December 2024. The Centre brings together Imperial and four other world-leading universities (University of California, Berkeley, Wits University, The Australian National University, and The University of British Columbia) to drive transformational research in sustainable materials and technologies for a net-zero future. The University of British Columbia is also home to CDL’s original CDL Minerals hub in Vancouver. The link between the Rio Tinto Centre for Future Materials and CDL’s global network creates a powerful bridge between world-class academic research and high-impact ventures.

Sonia Sennik, Chief Executive Officer at Creative Destruction Lab, said: “CDL-London reflects our growing commitment to unlocking science-based innovation that addresses pressing global challenges. Our partnership with Imperial College London and Rio Tinto, in the heart of one of the world’s leading innovation ecosystems, strengthens the CDL network and expands the reach of our CDL Minerals program into new talent and research communities.” 

Dan Walker, Chief Innovation Officer, Rio Tinto, said: “Startups have a vital role to play in solving some of our industry’s biggest challenges and providing the materials the world needs. Our investment in the Rio Tinto Centre for Future Materials is focused on transformational research. But we know that research alone isn’t enough – academic theory must translate into real-world impact. That is why we’re backing CDL-London to help turn breakthrough discoveries into the next generation of game-changing companies.”

Professor Mary Ryan, Vice Provost (Research and Enterprise) at Imperial, said: “The global energy transition will rely on sustainable ways to discover, extract, use, and reuse and deploy critical minerals. We are proud to host CDL-London at Imperial alongside our Rio Tinto Centre for Future Materials. This collaboration will help accelerate the development of deep-tech cutting-edge materials and cleantech businesses.”

Professor Peter Todd, Dean of Imperial Business School, said: “CDL-London demonstrates Imperial Business School’s ability to serve as a bridge between breakthrough science and business. As Europe’s only leading business school within a STEMB university, we are uniquely positioned to help cutting-edge research become real-world benefit. This partnership with Creative Destruction Lab aligns perfectly with our mission to bring science to humanity – supporting ventures that will shape the future of sustainable innovation and global prosperity.”

Darrell Kopke, Site Lead at CDL-Vancouver, said: “Since its launch two years ago, the CDL Minerals program has surpassed expectations in terms of mentor engagement, venture activity, and industry partnerships. The expansion to include CDL-London marks an exciting step forward, enhancing our capacity to broaden the program’s scope and impact. We’re energized by the opportunities this growth presents for driving further innovation in the sector.” 

Applications for CDL-London are now open. Founders working at the frontier of minerals innovation – from critical raw materials and resource efficiency to low-emissions processing and automation – are encouraged to apply. The final deadline is July 25, 2025, at 11:59 PM ET. Learn more at creativedestructionlab.com/apply.

About Creative Destruction Lab
Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is a nonprofit organization that delivers an objectives-based program for massively scalable, seed-stage, science- and technology-based companies. Its nine-month program allows founders to learn from experienced entrepreneurs, increasing their likelihood of success. Founded by Professor Ajay Agrawal in 2012 at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, the program has expanded and now has 14 sites across eight countries: Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, Halifax, Paris, Madison, Seattle, Estonia, Berlin, Melbourne, College Station, Milan, and London. Learn more at creativedestructionlab.com.

About Imperial College London
We are Imperial – a world-leading university for science, technology, engineering, medicine and business (STEMB), where scientific imagination leads to world-changing impact.

As a global top ten university in London, we use science to try to understand more of the universe and improve the lives of more people in it. Across our nine campuses and throughout our Imperial Global network, our 22,000 students, 8,000 staff, and partners work together on scientific discovery, innovation and entrepreneurship. Their work navigates some of the world’s toughest challenges in global health, climate change, AI, business leadership and more.

Founded in 1907, Imperial’s future builds on a distinguished past, having pioneered penicillin, holography and fibre optics. Today, Imperial combines exceptional teaching, world-class facilities and a habit of interdisciplinary practice to unlock scientific imagination.

Imperial in numbers
2nd in the world (QS World University Rankings 2025)
1st in Europe and the UK (QS World University Rankings 2025)
University of the Year (Daily Mail University Guide 2024)
University of the Year for Graduate Employment (The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024)
Greater proportion of world-leading research than any other UK university (Research Excellence Framework)
Gold Award (Teaching Excellence Framework 2023)

About Rio Tinto
Rio Tinto is a leading global mining and materials company. Established over 150 years ago, it operates in 35 countries producing iron ore, copper, aluminium, critical minerals and other materials needed for the global energy transition and for people, communities, and nations to thrive.

Rio Tinto’s purpose is finding better ways™ to provide the materials the world needs – striving for innovation and continuous improvement to produce materials with low emissions and to the right environmental, social and governance standards.