Thames Valley: Inaugural Tech Awards honour top Thames Valley businesses

The first Thames Valley Tech Awards took place last night at the Royal Berkshire Conference Centre at Reading’s Madejski Stadium.

Nearly 400 winners, finalists and guests attended the event, which raised over £1,700 for Byte Night, the tech industry’s national ‘sleep-out’ event. Byte Night is Action for Children’s main annual fundraiser.Headline sponsors were two of the Thames Valley’s tech sector powerhouses, Westcoast and Sage. The other event sponsors and supporters were Austin Fraser, Barclays, Blake Morgan, Boyes Turner, Centerprise, ConnectTVT, Grant Thornton, Howbery Business Park, Lambert Smith Hampton, LDC, Moore Stephens, Penningtons Manches and techUK.The awards were organised by The Business Magazine to recognise the outstanding achievements of The Thames Valley’s tech companies.

David Murray, publisher of The Business Magazine, noted: “The region is home to a cluster of technology companies from global market leaders to start-ups. The area has the largest cluster of digital businesses outside London – contributing tens of billions to the UK’s digital economy.”The awards were presented by writer and broadcaster Angela Lamont. Guest speaker Peter Cochrane, a futurist, entrepreneur and engineering adviser to international industries and government, discussed change and the future effects of change on corporations.He talked about his involvement in various tech success stories, including online travel agency ebookers and music recognition app Shazam. Explaining that he can predict technology for the next 15 years, Cochrane said attention is focusing on a sustainable future that will rely on biotechnology, nanotechnology, robotics and AI.Overall winner

Ultima Business Solutions won both the Innovative Tech Company award and was named Thames Valley Tech Company of the year.Scott Dodds, CEO at Ultima, said: “It feels amazing to have won, we are absolutely delighted. It’s tremendous recognition for the company and an absolute privilege to be one of the first winners of the awards. Being among some incredible companies in our peer group makes it even more exciting.”

He added that Ultima’s success is based on four key factors. “We have great people and innovative robotic process technologies that really enhance our own business and which we take to our customers. We also work closely with many vendor and technology company partners, particularly in the Thames Valley. And we work in the community with local schools and colleges to recruit people through our apprenticeship programmes.”WINNERS AND FINALISTS

Tech Start-Up

Winner is: SerelaySecond: Donate The ChangeThird: OsokeyHighly Commended: EcoSync and Limbick Labs

Emerging Tech Company

Winner: Open CosmosSecond: CloudFactoryThird: CaptureHighly Commended: Adaptix, Fiscaltec Group and Epoq IT

High Growth Tech Business

Winner: Southern CommunicationsSecond: ImagineraThird: InveniasHighly Commended: ESP Global Services, In Cloud Solutions and Redstor

Innovative Tech Company

Winner: Ultima Business SolutionsSecond: AdaptixThird: Oxford nanoSystemsHighly Commended: FliteTrak, ScopeMaster and Siyona Tech

Science & Technology Award

Winner: Lein Applied DiagnosticsSecond: AdaptixThird: P1vital ProductsHighly Commended: FliteTrak

International Tech Company

Winner: MCS Rental SoftwareSecond: G-SMATT Europe MediaThird: Cloud FactoryHighly Commended: HR Wallingford

Telecoms Company of the Year

Winner: GammaSecond: STL CommunicationsThird: Southern Communications

Tech Employer of the Year

Winner: VolumeSecond: Ultima Business SolutionsThird: STL CommunicationsHighly Commended: InfoSum and Squared Up

Tech Deal of the Year

Winner: Roc Technologies – investment by BGF and acquisition of CCMOther finalists:

• Contego Fraud Solutions investment by NVM and Maven
• Hunter Macdonald sale to Netcompany
• Redwood Technologies investment by Scottish Equity Partners
• SecurEnvoy sale to Shearwater Group
• Sophos acquisition of Invincea 

Thames Valley Tech Company

Winner: Ultima Business SolutionsOther finalists:

• ByBox
• Southern Communications
• Squared Up
• Volume