Cambridge region yields nine Queen's Awards for Enterprise 2018
Endomag, Darktrace and Telensa among those winning
An impressive five per cent of firms awarded a Queen’s Award for Enterprise this year are based in the region.
The recipients were announced as Her Majesty celebrated her 92nd birthday on April 21. They are the most prestigious business award in the country, with winners able to use the esteemed Queen’s Awards emblem for the next five years.
This year’s mark of respect for products and services was given to 230 organisations in four categories – international trade, innovation, sustainable development and promoting opportunity.
The nine Cambridge-region firms who are in receipt of ten awards this year – Telensa won two – are:
■ CambridgeIC: Specialist sensor and chip developer CambridgeIC has won a second Queen’s Award for International Trade.
Heidi Allen, South Cambridgeshire MP, said: “I offer them my warmest congratulations and have no doubt we will be hearing more success stories from them.”
■ Darktrace: “We are honoured to receive the Queen’s Award for Enterprise, especially for International Trade,” said Poppy Gustafsson, CEO EMEA, of Darktrace, the Cambridge firm which uses machine learning for cyber defence.
■ Featurespace: The leading multinational machine learning company for fraud prevention and risk management received its award in the innovation category.
Martina King, CEO of the Cambridge firm, said: “Our mission to protect customers the world over drives innovation at Featurespace. We are immensely proud of this recognition of the impact that our real-time fraud prevention technology is making to real people.
“This award recognises the passion of our employees and clients to defend customers. We are truly honoured to continue the inspirational legacy of our co-founder, Professor Bill Fitzgerald.”
■ Activinsights – a world leader in delivering lifestyle insights and behavioural data analysis for healthcare professionals – is enjoying success after winning Britain’s top business accolade, the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the International Trade category. The UK SME, based in Cambridgeshire, has extensive expertise in the analysis of human activities and behaviours using professional wearables.
Managing director Richard Thomas said: “Activinsights is the global, trusted source of behavioural and lifestyle data insight for professionals who are developing innovative services to improve quality of life. We are proud to have received recognition of this achievement from the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, building on our success at the 2017 Wearable Tech Show Awards, where we won the Digital Health Technology Award. It sets the scene for an exciting future, tackling global healthcare challenges with products and services made in Britain.”
■ Boyds Consultants: Founded 13 years ago, the consultancy helps translate research ideas into medicines based from Sawston and Cheshire sites.
Founder and CEO Professor Alan Boyd said of the award for Outstanding Short Term Growth in overseas sales for the last three years: “It is a tremendous honour for Boyds to be recognised with the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise. The development of medicines for patient benefit is a global business, and Boyds works internationally to support the development of drugs and medical devices.”
■ Endomag: The St John’s Innovation Park-based firm has developed a minimally-invasive surgical guidance system to provide a better standard of cancer care – hence the innovation honour.
Eric Mayes, CEO at Endomag, said: “We’re so pleased to receive Royal recognition for what our team has been able to achieve. It’s a particularly proud moment for me to know that UK businesses, like Endomag, are developing products that have real impact on people’s lives.
“It’s vitally important that we can demonstrate that the UK is able to lead on innovation and develop products and services that improve lives in all corners of the world.”
■ Global Inkjet Systems (International Trade): It provides RIP (Raster Image Processor) software, electronics, software drivers and ink system components for industrial inkjet printheads.
Nick Geddes, CEO of GIS, said: “We are very honoured to have won a second Queen’s Award – it’s a great tribute to the work done by our skilled and dedicated staff. GIS continues to grow and flourish – and we are very proud of our track record in exporting our technology across the world.”
■ Telensa: The wireless streetlight management system and smart city sensor network firm won two awards: one for innovation, for time-of-use energy metering for wirelessly controlled streetlights, and again for international trade for its streetlight management system and smart city sensor network.
■ Zettlex (International Trade): The Foxton-based firm designs and manufactures sensors for high-accuracy position and speed measurement in extreme environments.
Managing director Mark Howard said: “We’re delighted to win the prestigious Queen’s Award for a second time. Our technology is increasingly used as a critical component in some amazing machines such as surgical robots, submarines, satellite communications and space rockets.”
Business secretary Greg Clark said: “The UK has some of the most entrepreneurial and innovative minds in the world delivering jobs, growth and greater choice for consumers and I am proud to see a wealth of these businesses being recognised today.
“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy.”
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