Award Categories
For each of these categories you can either nominate yourself or others for up to two of the categories. All finalists have the opportunity to exhibit at the Cranfield Venture Day on 14 May 2009 including the production of a small banner stand and case studies will be published around the winners. Individuals and companies from last year will not be exempted from this year’s competition.
To view the details of last years winners and finalists, please click here
- Young Technology Entrepreneur of the year 2009
- CUBIC - Cranfield University Business Incubation Centre/St Modwen
- Younger person under 35 who is working in a technology led business.
- For this award we will be looking for a younger person who either runs their own business or is setting up their own business.
- Technology Entrepreneur of the year 2009
- The Open University
- An individual who is running a technology led business, showing true entrepreneurial flair and fully exploiting the commercial opportunities available.
- Technology Led Business of the Year 2009
- Bedford I-Lab
- This category is open to all businesses with an annual turnover of £5 million or less. Open to technology led companies that have created and exploited their competitive advantage based on their technological know-how.
- Use of Sustainable Technology in a Business 2009
- This is a new category for this year category is open to all businesses where a sustainable technology has been used which minimises environmental impact. Judges will not only be looking at the technology itself but also how it has been applied to the business
- Business Innovation Support Person of the Year 2009
- This award is for a person offering business support to technology led businesses, either public funded or private sector based. It is for someone who has assisted in some way in the development of a technology led business, either as a mentor or coach, or in a professional capacity. In particular, the judges are looking for individuals who have gone ‘beyond just doing their job’ to help a business.
- Best Interaction between an HEI and Business 2009
- Activity for this category includes spin-outs, licensing, consultancy projects, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs), STEP, student placements or any example of how working together has really made a difference and has advanced research and development or the commercial opportunities of a company.
- The Best Use of Technology by a Business 2009
- The winner of this award may be any type of business, not just those within the technologies sector, which has demonstrated the best application of technology. This may be the best application of a software package or process, or a piece of hardware.
- Overall Bright Sparc Award 2009
- Sponsored by Invest Milton Keynes
- The overall winner who in the opinion of the judges best exemplifies true technology led innovation. These will be chosen from the entries received for the other categories
- The Pitch Battle
- Up to three technology led businesses at the awards event will be asked to make a two minute pitch against the clock and each other, the winner of which will be voted for by the attending guests. The pitch can be for investment, business partnerships, client or business support. The audience will voting on very different businesses so will be asked to assess the effectiveness of communication - how well do they understand your business and what they are after and consider style, content, language used, and structure.