Victoria’s AY Sensors Named to 100 Top Science Start-ups to Watch 2026
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VICTORIA, British Columbia — AY Sensors has been named one of the Falling Walls Venture 100 Science Start-ups to Watch 2026, an international recognition celebrating the world’s most promising science-based companies addressing major global challenges.
The recognition places Victoria-based AY Sensors among an elite group of ventures translating breakthrough research into technologies with the potential for global impact. AY Sensors is looking to revolutionize medical imaging. Its technology captures and uses the full information contained within individual medical X-ray photons, enabling improved tissue differentiation and more accurate diagnosis at lower exposure levels.
The company’s approach is based on the groundbreaking and widely cited research of Professor Makhsud Saidaminov at the University of Victoria. AY Sensors is now advancing this work from the laboratory into commercial products, contributing to Canada’s leadership in advanced semiconductor technologies and building high-value innovation in British Columbia.
The Falling Walls Foundation identifies outstanding science-based ventures from around the world developing breakthrough technologies to address significant global challenges. Selection as a Venture 100 company reflects both scientific excellence and commercial potential.
“The Falling Walls recognition highlights both the strength of the underlying science and the importance of the problem we are addressing,” said John Walmsley, CEO of AY Sensors. “X-ray imaging has become progressively safer over time. Our focus is to continue that trend while significantly enhancing the diagnostic information available to clinicians.”
AY Sensors is advancing prototype detector modules toward commercial evaluation, working to bring its technology into next-generation medical imaging systems.
Makhsud Saidaminov, Company Founder and Professor of Chemistry at the University of Victoria, added: “We are grateful to the Falling Walls reviewers for this recognition and congratulate the other Venture 100 companies. We also acknowledge the support of UVic Innovation and the National Research Council of Canada’s Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP), which has helped us progress from foundational research toward real-world impact.”
With growing international recognition and continued technical progress, AY Sensors is positioning itself at the forefront of next-generation medical imaging.
About AY Sensors
AY Sensors is a Victoria, British Columbia-based technology company developing advanced semiconductor X-ray and gamma-ray detectors. Built on pioneering research from the University of Victoria, the company is commercializing direct-detection technology that captures the full information available from individual photons, enabling new capabilities in medical imaging and other high-performance sensing applications.
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