#EDGEAwards2016
in association with
24 Feb 2016
Paintworks Event Space Programme Sponsor
Running Order 6.00pm Drinks Reception
7.00pm Awards Presentation
Best Marketing Campaign of the Year Creative Agency of the Year App of the Year sponsored by Downing Ventures Environmental Technology Award sponsored by Foot Anstey Emerging Technology Award sponsored by EIP Europe LLP Young Innovator of the Year sponsored by Renishaw Best Product of the Year sponsored by Renishaw Innovator of the Year sponsored by South West Business Outstanding New Business Idea sponsored by Deloitte Creative and Technology Ambassador Award sponsored by UWE
Approx. after 9.00pm Networking & DJ
11.00pm Carriages
Finalists est Marketing Campaign of the Year Digital Visitor B Dirty Design Rapport Digital Creative Agency of the Year
375 Better Reach Rapport Digital
App of the Year
getUbetter: Lower Back Pain Laudrapp Mubaloo - Dispatch for London’s Air Ambulance Wriggle
Environmental Tech Award
Bristol BlueGreen Go Green Bristol Neighbourly Food
Emerging Technology
Open Bionics Opposable Ultrahaptics
Young Innovator of the Year
Robert Hall (Wriggle) Samantha Payne (Open Bionics) Tom Carter (Ultrahaptics) Tom Dewhurst (Ordable)
Best Product of the Year
Simpalarm Squash Stix Waterless
Innovator of the Year
Ian Herbert (Vistair) Stephen Fitzpatrick (OVO) Tom Carter (Ultrahaptics)
Outstanding New Business Ideas
Snug Homes BibShot Helpfulpeeps Yellow Dog
Creative Technology Ambassador
Judges award
Finalists Best Marketing Campaign of the Year www.theedgeawards.co.uk
3radical - Marketing Week Live (Rapport Digital) 3radical wanted help promoting its new Gamification marketing platform at the Marketing Live exhibition. Rapport Digital created an interactive and engaging stand that provided 3radical with excellent return on investment.
Escape to Jersey - Visit Jersey (Digital Visitor) The campaign aimed to change perceptions of Jersey as a holiday destination, targeting city dwellers. The strategy was to create a central ‘hub’ for user generated content, promoted through comprehensive social media advertising, activity and PR campaigns with sector influencers.
Unite Students – property rentals 2016/17 (Dirty Design) The UK’s biggest student accommodation provider Unite Students hired Dirty Design to create its 2016/17 room sales marketing campaign focused on encouraging existing tenants to re-book. The campaign was multi-channel but with social media at its core around #StayAnotherYear. The result was record bookings.
Finalists Creative Agency of the Year www.theedgeawards.co.uk
375 A communications agency focused on sustainable business. 375 created the brand for Bristol 2015, the city’s year as European Green Capital, and invested £100,000 in the city’s newest events space, openspacebristol, designed to stimulate creativity and showcase new ideas. 375 created Scott 100 Letters, inviting people to ask celebrities, politicians, family and friends to do something to engage others in the natural world.
Better Reach Better Reach specialises in Google Street View business virtual tours, web design and hosting, video, photography, SEO and internet services. Established as a one-person IT business in 2003, Better Reach recognised the opportunities offered by Street View and became an authorised Google Trusted Agency in 2012. Since then, turnover has more than trebled, employee numbers have grown from four to 18, and the business relocated from Cheddar to Bristol.
Rapport Digital Founded in January 2011, Rapport Digital provides marketing services to organisations throughout the South West. Directors, Jayne Smith and Helen Harris have worked for over 20 years providing digital solutions for clients at the highest possible level and are considered to be industry experts.
Finalists App of the Year Sponsored by
getUbetter: Lower Back Pain Designed to empower self-management from new or recurrent back pain. getUbetter supports recovery from day one of an injury though to getting better and beyond. The mobile app lets the patient know what is normal, what to expect and how to get better.
Laundrapp The ‘Uber of laundry’, Laundrapp collects your dirty clothes, cleans them at professional facilities and then delivers them back to your door at the time and place you choose. Launched in January 2015 by Bristolian Edward Relf, the app is revolutionising the traditional laundry and dry cleaning industry.
Mubaloo - Dispatch for London’s Air Ambulance Dispatch app for London’s Air Ambulance was created to help the service increase its chance of saving lives. By helping to reduce the dispatch process time, saving an average of two minutes, the app means the emergency response team is able to deliver lifesaving care in cases where seconds can mean the difference between life and death.
Wriggle Wriggle is a mobile and web-based marketplace revolutionising the way that independent restaurants, cafes and bars are discovered and make sales. The mobile app is helping 430 local restaurants, cafes and bars across Bristol, London and Brighton turn last-minute spare capacity into revenue with late offers.
Finalists Environmental Tech Award Sponsored by
Bristol BlueGreen Bristol BlueGreen is changing the way we use energy by providing energy efficiency and demand reduction through voltage optimisation technology. Based at Bristol and Bath Science Park launched the BlueGreen in 2015 for homes, small businesses and shops. It has already had significant impact on a number of properties and will continue to save energy and money for businesses and homeowners across Bristol and beyond.
Go Green Bristol The Go Green business engagement programme works by businesses signing up through an online web platform and creating a free, bespoke sustainability action plan to help them go green across five themes. The pre-written actions include sign-posting to resources and initiatives found mostly in the region that can help the businesses work through their chosen actions. Suggested actions are filtered to make them relevant. Firms can also write bespoke actions that are specific to their organisation’s aims and objectives.
Neighbourly Food Launched in 2015 Neighbourly’s food scheme supports retailers and food manufacturers tackle the UK’s £5 billion food waste problem. It was created to solve the logistical problem of re-distributing surplus food, especially fresh food, by connecting donors with suitable recipients. Food banks, charities and others sign up, food companies list anything going to waste and it is collected by these groups through a booking system. It also helps businesses manage the back office admin and monitor success.
Finalists Emerging Technology Sponsored by
Open Bionics Open Bionics is committed to transforming young amputees into bionic superheroes. Their prosthetic hands are life changing. Firstly, they offer amputees a greater freedom of movement and independence, and secondly their designs challenge society’s view of what disability means. It has created Disney-licensed hero range of bionic hands featuring Marvel, Star Wars and Frozen themes.
Opposable Stokes Croft-based games developer Opposable is leading the way in the emerging virtual reality sector. It was the only firm in the South West to get its hands on a developer’s version of the HTC Vine headset – and it got two. The firm is creating not just games but enterprise applications for virtual reality too. It is putting Bristol at the forefront of the industry, hosting the World VR Congress, at At-Bristol later this year.
Ultrahaptics Ultrahaptics has created a way of feeling without touching, using ultrasound to project virtual buttons, switches, shapes and textures directly onto the users hands. It will no longer be necessary to physically touch your devices to control them, but this isn’t just gesture recognition, this is gesture recognition with feedback that you can feel and manipulate. Ultrahaptics’ technology will take away the need to touch to engage, without losing the feeling of touch.
Finalists Young Innovator of the Year Sponsored by
Tom Carter (Ultrahaptics) During his final year as a computer science undergraduate, Tom became intrigued by the possibility of generating haptic (touch) feedback in mid-air using focused ultrasonics, and subsequently enrolled on a PhD to explore his idea. His dream was to create virtual buttons, switches and shapes in mid-air that you could touch, that didn’t exist. The company he founded is now engaged with a number of carmakers, gaming companies and computer manufacturers, with significant engineering and royalty revenues on the horizon.
Tom Dewhurst (Ordable) Tom started his first business aged 17. His latest venture Ordable, aims to change the way we order food and drink using technology to simplify the ordering process and to save the most precious commodity – time. The vision for the company is to be the mobile ordering interface for every cafe, coffee shop or quick service outlet with a menu board above their counter.
Robert Hall (Wriggle) Rob Hall is a former corporate lawyer who is now the founder and CEO of Wriggle - a Bristol-based startup founded in 2014. Wriggle is a mobile and web-based marketplace revolutionising the way that independent restaurants, cafes and bars are discovered and make sales. Rob launched Wriggle singledhandedly in 2014, raising initial investment, project managing creation of the app and gaining initial traction before raising £160,000 on Seedrs.
Samantha Payne (Open Bionics) Samantha successfully pitched Open Bionics to the Disney Techstars accelerator in LA, where only 1% of applicants are successful. She then secured a landmark royalty-free licensing agreement with Disney to sell kids prosthetic hands that are inspired by their favourite characters from the Marvel, Star Wars and Disney Frozen universes. She has generated lots of coverage and interest in Open Bionics visiting Brazil, China and Japan on UK trade missions and was recently listed in Marie Claire’s top women to watch in tech list.
Finalists Best Product of the Year Sponsored by
Simpalarm Simpalarm is an unobtrusive activity monitor for the home, designed to support older people who live independently by connecting them with the mobile devices of their caring network, such as their family, friends and neighbours. It plugs and monitors activity such as movement, door opening and visitor arrivals without cameras or microphones. Information is sent using the mobile networks to a cloud server, where it is compared against normal activity patterns.
Squash Stix When working at Marks and Spencer’s on a placement year from UWE Tom Anderson-Dixon had the idea for Squash Stix, single portions of squash in a tear and pour stick, after seeing many people bringing in bottled squash to make up at the water cooler. Since Squash Stix’s launch, it has supplied the product to firms such as Virgin Trains, Flybe, the House of Commons, Hilton Hotels, North Somerset Council, the Prison Service and, the area it has had the most impact, the NHS.
Waterless Waterless manufactures a range of personal hygiene products that allow people to get washed effectively without using any water. Nilaqua is a liquid based soap and shampoo, formulated so that you simply towel it off to remove the grease and dirt that has been released into the lather. It was listed in the NHS catalogue this year.
Finalists Innovator of the Year Sponsored by Connecting the region’s business leaders
Tom Carter (Ultrahaptics) Tom is chief technical officer and co-founder of Ultrahaptics, the world’s leading mid-air haptic technology company. At the age of 26, he is one of the youngest CTOs in the country and his achievements to date have been nothing less than remarkable. During his final year as an undergraduate, he became intrigued by the possibility of generating haptic (touch) feedback in mid-air using focused ultrasonics. He has since developed the idea into a successful and fast growing business.
Ian Herbert (Vistair) Ian founded Vistair in 2001. It started out providing electronic versions of systems manuals and has since expanded its service to include all important safety management and reporting systems and other services. It was quick to adopt tablets, creating iPad version of its technology. Its customers include major airlines around the world and in 2015 was given the Queen’s Award for Enterprise. It started 2016 by securing £9 million investment to accelerate its growth.
Stephen Fitzpatrick (OVO) OVO Energy was launched by Stephen in 2009 with a simple idea – that he could do a better job of supplying energy to UK customers than existing energy companies. Despite little experience and being told “it couldn’t be done”, Stephen has led the company to become an established consumer champion and innovator in the sector. His approach has been to build the business around customers, developing OVO as a great retail brand first, a technology company second and only as a distant third, a utility.
Finalists Outstanding New Business Idea Sponsored by
BibShot Only five per cent of athletes currently purchase a photo of their greatest sporting achievements, because they have limited choice or photos are expensive. Yet family and friends are often standing around waiting for their loved ones to pass by. BibShot mobile app enables athletes to buy photos taken by other spectators at events such as marathons and triathlons.
Helpful Peeps There are 12 million people in the UK who used to volunteer but don’t any more. There’s a further 18 million people who would like to do more volunteering. The problem is finding opportunities that match availability and the need for on-going time commitments. Helpfulpeeps allows users to help on their own time, as and when they can. It also encourages people to do more, offering karma points.
SNUG Home An innovative product offering a creative, sustainable and cost effective housing solution bridging the gap between architecture and product design. Combining the efficiency of pre-fabricated design with the home grown quality of the self-build environment, the SNUG Home addresses a much needed gap in today’s housing market. The initiative has been designed and developed in collaboration with architects at Barton Willmore, a leading integrated planning and design consultancy, and Ecomotive.
Yellow Dog YellowDog’s vision is to build the world’s biggest supercomputer, without actually owning any computers. It crowd-sources computer power in return for paying computer owners or helping them donate to charity. That power is then offered to the creative sector for computer rendering for 3D animators and artists. The global market for 3D animation software and services is worth $21.5 billion and growing. Nine out of 10 of the animation studios YellowDog contacted run out of computer power at crucial points of their production process.
Finalists Creative and Technology Ambassador Sponsored by
Judges Professor Nicholas O’Regan
Associate Dean of Research and Innovation and Professor of Strategy/Innovation and Enterprise at UWE Bristol
Chris Pockett
Head of Communications at Renishaw
Matt Lawman
Partner, EIP Europe LLP
Richard Gordon-Brown Partner, EIP Europe LLP
Tara Walsh
Business Development Manager at Foot Anstey
Steve Mellen
Assistant editor (content) at the Bristol Post
Hussain Bayoomi
Commercial Director at the Bristol Post
Sponsors www.deloitte.com/uk | @Deloitte
www.downingventures.com @downingventures
Deloitte is a professional services firm that provides audit, consulting, financial advisory and tax services in the UK. We work closely with businesses as well as public sector organisations in the South West, helping them solve their challenges and achieve their goals. Our vision is to make a positive impact on the reputation and success of our clients, the economy and the wider society. At Deloitte, we create opportunities for our people to build successful careers that meet their aspirations as well as deliver for our clients. We nurture the talent of the future – volunteering in schools and mentoring promising entrepreneurs, helping grow business leaders who can have a wide impact on UK plc. It is through all this and more that we are able to realise our vision of supporting client success, fostering sustainable economic growth and a more prosperous society. It’s a vision that has spanned our 160-year history. In 1849, William Deloitte invented a rigorous system to protect investors in the expanding Great Western Railway network against fraud. Such was its success that the company’s shareholders recommended the practice of external auditors be adopted into law. And so both the independent audit, and Deloitte as a firm, were born. That innovative mind-set of William Deloitte lives on in our firm today, as we push the boundaries of our work in consulting and corporate finance advisory. By harnessing the power of technology, our people are responding to the ever evolving needs and challenges of clients and society. From the outset, our values of quality and integrity have never wavered. We seek to drive higher standards of governance and transparency through our audit and tax practices, bringing confidence to the key decisions of business and government alike.
Downing Ventures is the London based Venture Capital arm of Downing LLP, an investment management firm which has invested over £1.6 billion in businesses across a range of sectors. Downing Ventures invests in early- and growth-stage technology businesses. Often investing at seed-stage, the team, led by Matt Penneycard, then looks to continue to support those companies through to series A and beyond. Downing Ventures has made five investments in the Bristol and Bath area to date, and more than 10 in the London area. For more information visit www.downingventures.com.
www.eip.com/uk | @EIP EIP partner Matt Lawman said: “EIP is proud to be associated with the EDGE Awards 2015 as sponsors of the Emerging Technology category. EIP is an innovative Intellectual Property (IP) Law firm advising on patents, trademarks, designs and copyright. Founded in 2000, EIP has more than 140 staff practising from its six international offices, including an office in Bath. “We believe that innovation should be celebrated and the individuals and companies who are at the forefront of new developments in technology recognised for their achievements. Through our work as patent attorneys, we are privileged to have direct access to innovative companies and individuals on a daily basis and it is encouraging to see a means by which their achievements may be championed. “As a firm based in the South West we are lucky to be part of this most dynamic of regions which has produced many of the UK’s eminent inventors and is home to a host of organisations who are highly-respected for their technological advances. “The EDGE Awards will celebrate all that is best about the South West from a creative and entrepreneurial perspective and EIP is excited to be part of this through our association with the EDGE Awards.”
www.footanstey.com | @FootAnstey Innovation in the field of Environmental Technology will bring real change to our world and assist the rate of sustainability and global development. We’re closely involved with this sector, offering a genuine 360 degree service to operators, developers, funders and landowners in connection with solar, wind, biomass and anaerobic digestion, as well as geo-thermal, EfW and marine and tidal projects. The rate of change in this sector is phenomenal and exciting, and we want to help those working in it succeed. As an entrepreneurial law firm, an event which celebrates everything excellent about technology and innovation in the region was something we were keen to get involved with. With nearly 500 staff across our five offices in the region, we’re involved in numerous creative, innovative projects and schemes across the South West and beyond.
www.gregglatchams.com @GreggLatchams “Through our offices in Bristol and London, the Digital Media & Technology team at law firm Gregg Latchams works with a wide variety of High Tech/High Growth businesses. Whether you are starting out or preparing for exit, our lawyers aim to use the benefit of their experience, expertise and networks to help you achieve your aspirations. We’re people as well as experts, who believe that strong partnerships create great results in the long term. If you are looking for accessible legal advice delivered in a personal and cost-effective way, please contact us.
www.tltsolicitors.com | @TLT_LLP TLT is a full service commercial law firm with offices throughout the UK, including Bristol, London and Manchester. We act for ambitious entrepreneurs as they seek to build their businesses from initial fundraising through to an ultimate exit. The team provides the full range of legal advice required by entrepreneurs and fast growing businesses, with particular experience in the TMT sector. We frequently advise on financing arrangements (through crowdfunding, business angels or venture capital investors), shareholders agreements’, employment contracts, employee incentivisation, commercial contracts and intellectual property protection and have developed a fixed price menu for many of our services. We have established long-term partnerships with industry bodies and other organisations that further the economic interests of the TMT sector. These include the Founder Institute, Watershed, Engine Shed, SETsquared, UKBA, The Landing, South West Founders, Camden Collective and the NOA. Through these organisations and our wider links with the industry we work with some of the most innovative businesses in the UK. For more information about TLT, please visit: www.tltsolicitors.com
Sponsors www.UWE.ac.uk @UWEBristol The 2016 EDGE Awards provides a stage to celebrate, recognise and reveal our region’s finest in design, gadgetry and entrepreneurialism.
pride in our region, preparation for the future and achievement.
From garden-shed starts up to globally established businesses, EDGE will provide an unique opportunity to make a mark in their business sector.
As well as our highly acclaimed Team Entrepreneurship course we have recently received funding for a University Enterprise Zone. We have recently been awarded the coveted Small Business Charter that provides for a range of help, assistance and guidance to growing businesses. On the research side, we are heavily involved in Big Data research, the Internet of Things, new business models and leadership for the future.
The awards will showcase businesses and individuals across all creative disciplines, from branding to innovation, products to interactivity with a commitment to recognising and rewarding the very best in design, gadgetry and technology. The EDGE Awards brings together the best of the South West, where finalists will be given the opportunity to showcase their products and receive the recognition they deserve. Entrepreneurs are the drivers of employment and successful economies – but not all are successful for various reasons. These awards focus on the really exceptional cutting edge firms – those that inspire others and enable businesses to compete in different and more innovate ways. Bristol has many leading edge firms that contribute in many different ways to a successful economy and to making the lives of others more effective. UWE Bristol is happy to sponsor these awards as they are the first of their kind in the Region, that recognise and reward the excellent work being carried out. UWE Bristol sponsors the Edge Awards because we are aware of their importance to Cutting edge businesses. The awards are one of a series of initiatives and events that UWE Bristol is involved in; others are the Bristol Women in Business Awards and the Bristol Business Awards - events that are quickly becoming established as the highlights of the business year. What do these awards mean for UWE? UWE is passionate about business and we aim to help business achieve in every way that we can. We offer exciting undergraduate and postgraduate courses, professional and executive development as well as a range of advice services and incubation facilities. Innovative and creative businesses are the backbone of the Bristol economy and we will do everything that we can to help them compete, grow and prosper. Running your own business is not easy and success results from hard work, tenacity and creativity. The awards are an excellent way of raising the awareness of the Cutting edge creativity in the region and are also a means of encouraging others to develop and leverage their entrepreneurial skills and of course establishing more successful businesses in the Bristol Region. The Bristol region has all that any aspiring entrepreneur could ask for: advice on setting up a business and an array of financial and legal firms, and infrastructure. We believe in encouraging and promoting the entrepreneurial mind-set and celebrating success. How do these awards relate to UWE’s Offering? Awards events like the Edge help to develop talent from Universities like UWE that see Entrepreneurship as a clear career choice. We want to inspire talented individuals to pursue innovative ideas. And of course winning or being a finalist in these awards has its own benefits – giving the firms credibility and setting them on the path to further success. We want to recognise and reward companies that have innovated, bringing new ideas to the market in a range of activities. By supporting early-stage technology development and research, UWE can increase the number and quality of start-ups that reach growth stage. Not only are they important employers – they are underpin a high achieving economy The finalists showcase Bristol business – an important activity for the region. I am very pleased to see a high number of finalists – this reflects the degree of Cutting Edge thinking and the diversity of the region. The Edge awards has a range of categories – they are all part of the jig-saw of regional competitiveness that is Bristol. They represent
What are some of the ways that UWE is helping business?
Why are Cutting Edge firms important? We know from our research that innovative and creative firms are the key to a successful economy – a reason that Bristol is the most innovative city outside of London. The finalists are likely to have high degrees of agility, innovativeness, technological strengths and the capacity to adapt to rapidly changing market environments.
www.renishaw.com @RenishawPLC Renishaw, the West Country based FTSE 250 listed engineering business, continues to grow and now employs over 4,000 people globally of which around 2,200 are located at its five sites in Gloucestershire. In July the company reported record turnover of £495 million for its financial year ended June 2015, of which 95% was due to exports. A world leader in engineering and science based technologies, Renishaw supplies products used for applications as diverse as jet engine and wind turbine manufacture, through to dentistry and brain surgery. It is also a world leader in the field of additive manufacturing (also referred to as 3D printing), where it is the only UK company that manufactures industrial machines which ‘print’ parts from metal powder, including the world’s first metal bike frame produced in titanium for Empire Cycles. Renishaw is also working with the Bristolbased BLOODHOUND supersonic car team to 3D print the car’s nose cone and also the steering wheel which has contours that are precisely designed to match the hands of driver Andy Green. Renishaw has won multiple international awards, including 18 Queen’s Awards, the latest of which was awarded for innovation in April 2014 for its inVia Raman microscope. The company is also recognised for its manufacturing excellence and in September 2012 its Woodchester assembly site near Stroud, was named the UK’s Best Electronics & Electrical Plant. In May 2014 Renishaw hosted the Prime Minister David Cameron, who praised staff for their contribution to the re-balancing of the UK economy: “Thank you for all that you are doing here at Renishaw to drive a great industrial revolution and a British revival of manufacturing, technology and exports.” To continue its success Renishaw is highly committed to developing its own skilled staff and this year recruited a record 70 graduates, and has a record 120 apprentices in training. In December, Lucy Ackland, who joined the company as an apprentice aged just 16 and went on to achieve a 1st Class Engineering Honours Degree, won the national Women’s Engineering Society Prize for her work to inspire young students to follow STEM-based careers. Throughout its history the company has invested between 13 and 18% of its annual sales in R&D and engineering to maintain technology leadership, and employs five full-time patent officers at its HQ site near Wotton-under-Edge. Therefore it is a natural fit for Renishaw to support the EDGE Awards and to help recognise other organisations that put innovation at the heart of their business.