On Friday, three businesses from the Shell Springboard Central region picked up awards of £40,000 each, in this, the third year of the competition.
Held at the MacDonald Manchester Hotel in Manchester the competition featured nine shortlisted small businesses, from Central England. Awards were presented by Shell's General Manager Stanlow Manufacturing Complex, Yuri Sebgrets and Chair of the judges, Lord Wade.
The expert judging panel Steve Moore, Environment Agency North West, Prof Erik Bichard, Salford University and Lord Wade - 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 2D Heat Ltd, Econotherm (UK) Ltd and Innovation Station Ltd as the overall winners. Judges also Highly Commended Prof. Fernando from Birmingham University.
2D Heat Ltd and Econotherm (UK) Ltd were chosen to meet the National Judging Panel at the UK final in London on the 4th March.
Jeff Boardman from 2D Heat said "I've been working on this technology since 1990 and after 18 years I've finally got validation. We're finally on the road to fame and fortune. We plan to use the money to take on another engineer freeing up my time to focus on the businesses development."
Commenting on their win Mark Boocock from Econotherm (UK) Ltd said "We are overwhelmed to win this prestigous award, having entered it completely speculatively as a new business start-up. The prize money will make a big difference to our business and will enable us to further develop and enhance our product. We are also particularly delighted to be invited to the UK final."
Sharon Warmington from Innovation Station Ltd said "This award will make a huge difference to our business. Setting up the business has been a difficult process in a short period of time due to product demand. Winning this award will allow us to scale up significantly to meet those demands - we're over the moon!"
The Judges also highly commended Prof. Fernando from Birmingham University commenting on this project, Lord Wade Chair of the Judges, said "We commend very highly this extremely interesting research project which could enable this industry to bring it's manufacturing techniques into the modern world. His research is a highly significant step change in the composite pipe industry."
To find out more about North region finalists, the winners and their projects, please see Winning Ideas.