2007 South region winners announced

2007-02-22 21:23:48

Last night four businesses from the Shell Springboard South region picked up awards of £40,000 each, in this, the second year of the competition. Held at One Whitehall Place in London, the competition featured eleven small businesses. The awards were presented by Shell UK Chairman James Smith and chair of the judges Daniel Doulton, co-founder of SpinVox Ltd.

Winners Nigel Stokes and Dr John Hassard From HydroVenturi Ltd with Chair of Judges Daniel Doulton and James Smith, Chairman, Shell UK.

The expert judging panel - Dr Klaus Hellgardt (Imperial College), Martin Harper (RSPB), Karen Lawrence (Energy Saving Trust) and Daniel Doulton (Entrepreneur) - vetted applications for carbon reduction, innovation and commercial viability. From a highly competitive field, and after a full day of interviews, the judges decided on Cambridge based businesses Epicam Ltd and Green Energy Options, Oxford based WheelRight Ltd and London based HydroVenturi Ltd as this year's South winners.

Winners Simon Anderson and Patrick Caiger Smith from Green Energy Options Ltd with Chair of Judges Daniel Doulton and James Smith, Chairman, Shell UK.

Speaking about his award Tony Dye from Epicam Ltd said "This is great news for us, the recognition the Shell Springboard award brings will be brilliant for Epicam, and the funds will give us a much faster route to market. It's great to have got through to the final round of the awards, and we're really looking forward to the challenge."

Judges surprised the finalists by announcing that all four winning businesses will go on to meet the National Judging panel at the UK final in London on 6th March.

Winners Michael Taylor and John Catling from WheelRight Ltd with Chair of Judges Daniel Doulton and James Smith, Chairman, Shell UK.

John Catling, Chief Executive, WheelRight, said: "We're ecstatic to receive this award. Shell Springboard has done a fantastic job of helping small businesses to showcase their green technology. We hope that the technologies WheelRight is developing will make a positive difference to the environment, both in the UK and globally."

Winner Tony Dye and Peter Howarth from Epicam Ltd with Chair of Judges Daniel Doulton and James Smith, Chairman, Shell UK.

To find out more about South region finalists, the winners and their projects, please see Winning Ideas.