Other successes announced at the awards, held at MKEX Technology Exhibition in Milton Keynes were the MK:Smart project, The Movey Academy, strategic database management platform Zizo and marketing agency Interdirect’s Sitemachine for Grand Central Birmingham.
Biztech business and technology forum chairman Fredi Nonyelu said: “One of the great joys of the Biztech BrightSparc Awards is they way they positively showcase great ideas and put students, innovators and businesses together to network for mutual benefit.
“This year’s awards saw some fabulous ideas entered and our judges, who included political leaders and leading business people from around the Milton Keynes region, had a difficult job in coming to their list of finalists.
“Congratulations to all our winners. Biztech wishes them all the best on capitalising on their success through the positive PR that comes through winning an award and the new connections made.”
Fredi also thanked the awards sponsors, Transport Systems Catapult, UCMK, MK Business Leaders Partnership and this year’s speaker Stephen Catchpole, the new chief executive of SEMLEP.
Most Innovative Student Technology Project
Winner: Chukwuagoziem Anosike, University of Bedfordshire Smart Household Bin. This has a sensor which automatically opens once a hand is detected and closes after the hand is not detected.
The winner was praised by the judges for entering a project with a good fit to the SmartCity agenda, which has the potential to deliver real benefit to a broad range of user groups.
The project utilises the MKSmart project to gain feedback from SMEs and this was a positive aspect of the entry.
Best Academic & Business Research Project
Winner: The Open University for MK:Smart. This is an excellent demonstration of what can be achieved when academia and businesses work together collaboratively. Lead by the Open University, MK:Smart is not only delivering excellent commercial outputs but also social outcomes and educational elements, too.
Best Technology-focused Collaboration Between Academics & Business:
Winner: Milton Keynes College and Movey for The Movey Academy. The judges felt this collaboration was an innovative concept that has delivered real community benefit already through technology and it also has a direct link to the SmartCity agenda. It was felt that the project had great prospects for the future.
Best Business to Business Technology Innovation
Winner: Zizo The strategic database management platform Zizo impressed the judges with its excellent results involving big data analytics. The judges felt it was an interesting idea on a new and common issue of how big data is used, which was reflected in the clear outputs achieved so far.
Best Business to Consumer Technology Innovation
Winner: Interdirect for Sitemachine for Grand Central Birmingham. The judges were impressed by the great success of this digital wayfinding and web project and commented that the application potential is enormous. The solution provided required a significant level of technological excellence and flexibility to be built into the project by Interdirect.
Interdirect account manager Laura Wiles is pictured receiving the award.
