Awards glory for two firms
Two Wearside businesses were among the big winners the big winners at the first regional Innovation Awards.
Washington-based Power Roll picked up the Energy Innovation Award, while the Digital Innovation Award went to Sunderland’s Geek Talent when the winners were announced as part of VentureFest North East.
Delivered by the Innovation SuperNetwork in partnership with RTC North, the awards celebrate stand-out examples of innovation and, in their inaugural year, also crowned Sunderland-born Newcastle University Professor Roy Sandbach as Innovation Champion.
Simon Green, CEO at the Innovation SuperNetwork, said: “The response to our launching these awards in the summer was phenomenal and it was no small task for the judges to select today’s winners. They are truly deserved and represent just a small proportion of the innovative practice taking place right across the North East. I’d like to congratulate all of our winners, as well as those shortlisted businesses who all demonstrated an outstanding level of original thinking.”
Speakers included inventor, author and innovation speaker, Julie Holmes who delivered the afternoon keynote before announcing the award winners: “People wait for the radical idea, that thing that will make them stand out from the crowd,” she said.
“On the flip side, we have incremental innovation. Everyday innovation, that innovation that will lets us move things forward se we are forever making progress.
“If radical innovation is our big bang, then incremental innovation is our little big bang.”
VentureFest North East attracted its biggest crowd to date with more than 800 attendees. The event is all about bringing together people from different business sectors to learn from each other and use innovation to improve their competitiveness and profitability.
The event was part of the wider Innovation SuperNetwork programme, supported by the North East LEP, Northumbrian Water Group, ENGIE, Reece Innovation, North East BIC and Innovate UK, with European Regional Development Fund support.