Winners of the North East Innovation Awards revealed…

Global energy components manufacturer Power Roll, cancer research pioneers HistoCyte Labs, ink manufacturer Mexar, and recruitment insights company Geek Talent, were among the winners of the first regional Innovation Awards announced yesterday (November 14) as part of VentureFest North East.

The North East Innovation Awards were delivered by the Innovation SuperNetwork in partnership with RTC North. They celebrated stand-out examples of innovation and, in their inaugural year, also crowned Newcastle University’s Prof. Roy Sandbach (pictured) as Innovation Champion.

The awards celebrate the region’s most important sectors – manufacturing, energy, healthcare and digital. Innovation of the Year was awarded to TL Multimedia and was chosen from this year’s Innovation Showcase exhibitors by delegate vote.

The winners were:

• Manufacturing Innovation Award – Mexar (Newcastle)
• Energy Innovation Award – Power Roll (Washington)
• Healthcare Innovation Award – HistoCyte Labs (Newcastle)
• Digital Innovation Award – Geek Talent (Sunderland)
• Innovation Champion – Prof. Roy Sandbach
• Innovation of the Year – TL Multimedia (Newcastle)

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.”

Martin McGurk, innovation director at RTC North added: “The North East Innovation Awards showcase the outstanding examples of good practice and innovation achievements in the region. I have no doubt that a recognition like this will give a huge boost and encouragement to the winners and their teams to continue to develop their innovation management capabilities. It enhances their projects, raises morale and has the potential to help secure backing and finance.

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.