Winners Named at South Coast Tech Awards
The winners of the 2023 South Coast Tech Awards were revealed at a gala dinner hosted by The Business Magazine on 12 October.
Southampton Science Park, a long-term supporter of these awards, sponsored two of this year’s categories, Tech Startup and High Growth Tech Company, which together reflect the wide range of companies that the Science Park caters for.
Renovos was presented with the award for Tech Start-Up of the Year in recognition of its revolutionary platform technology, Renovite®, which uses synthetic nanoclay gels to deliver therapeutic agents safely and precisely in regenerative medicine. Judges remarked that Renovos “has shown great resilience and tenacity in turning its innovative biomaterials technology into an investable proposition that could deliver huge benefits in the field of regenerative medicine.”
High Growth Tech Company of the Year was awarded to Tekever, which is leading the market in unmanned systems technology and services. Judges were impressed by the company “having the highest single-year growth figure of all the entrants, for its deployment of smart marine drone technology to both help keep our nation and others secure, and its contribution to the conservation and understanding of marine mammals.”
Reflecting on this years’ awards, Robin Chave, CEO of the Science Park, said, “The South Coast Tech Awards have gone from strength to strength and it has been a pleasure to be involved as a sponsor once again this year. Thank you to The Business Magazine for organising this important celebration of our region’s impressive technology companies. Across the board, the quality of innovation and extent of commercial success that we’ve recognised tonight has been exceptional. On behalf of Southampton Science Park, I congratulate all finalists and winners and wish them tremendous success as they continue their business journey.”
Southampton Science Park companies dominated the award shortlist this year with eleven out of the thirteen awards categories recognising a current or former Science Park resident, culminating in six winners.
Lifelight won Health Tech Company of the Year, Fresh Relevance was named Tech SME of the Year, Filament AI was crowned Emerging Tech Company of the Year and Kelda Showers scooped Sustainable Tech Company of the Year.
Richard Thompson, Managing Director at The Business Magazine, said, “A few years ago, tech was never a sector that you could say was synonymous with Southampton and the South Coast. But that has changed.”
He pointed out that Southampton has established itself as a growing UK tech hub. In a recent national survey, Southampton came 5th in a list of 23 technology hotspots in the country, ahead even of Cambridge.
