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In its fourth year of celebrating British connections with California, BritWeek (www.britweek.org) and UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) announced the winners of the first-ever BritWeek UKTI Business Innovation Awards.
Clipper Windpower, Ribbit, and G24 Innovations won the award in the design, service provision, and technology category respectively.
The announcement and awards presentations took place at the Awards Dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills on Tuesday evening, May 4th 2010.
The three Awards winners were selected from a pool of nine finalists that included some of the most outstanding companies in business innovation from the UK-California business community. Among the judging panel were entrepreneur engineer Sir James Dyson, Maggie Shields of the BBC, and internationally recognized creativity guru, Sir Ken Robinson.
Additionally at the Awards Dinner, British television icon, Simon Cowell, received a Special Recognition Award for his contributions to television and entertainment in the UK and US.
BritWeek President, Nigel Lythgoe, who presented the award to Simon remarked, “Simon’s productions have became such popular and commercial successes that they constitute some of the UK’s biggest creative services exports today. We are proud to recognize his contribution to the creative industry, which is an important sector of the British economy.”
“I'm delighted about the recognition from BritWeek and UK Trade and Investment and it’s brilliant that so many British companies are doing so well globally,” said Simon Cowell.
“We are delighted to accept this award which recognizes the design of the world’s largest offshore wind turbine” said Mauricio Quintana, President and CEO of Clipper Windpower. “Wind energy has become one of the world’s fastest growing sources of new energy capacity. Powered by these substantial 10 MW offshore turbines, offshore wind will bring significant environmental and energy security benefits to both the US and UK in the not-so-distant future.”
“We’re very honored by this Award in service provision,” remarked Ted Griggs, CEO of Ribbit. “That we received such recognition encourages us to further provide the best service and technological innovations we can for communications in the cloud-based environment.”
“We pride ourselves on our work in developing and refining renewable energy for consumer applications. Receiving this Award in technology reinforces our commitment to bringing innovations in sustainable energy to citizens around the globe and improvement in their quality of life,” said Robert Hertzberg, Board Director of G24 Innovations.
The BritWeek UKTI Business Innovation Awards finalists in the Design category were Clipper Windpower Plc, Cogent Systems, Inc., and POM Wonderful; in the Service Provision category: Blurb®, I.C.G. (Internet Connectivity Group, Inc.), and Ribbit; and in the Technology category: DISC-LOCK International, G24 Innovations (G24i), and RightScale®, Inc.
The Awards Dinner was attended by senior executives from a diversity of businesses with operations in California and the UK, as well as community leaders and other dignitaries.
Winner in the Design Category:
Clipper Windpower Inc., a subsidiary of Clipper Windpower Plc, is engaged in wind energy technology, turbine manufacturing, and wind project development. The company designs advanced wind turbines, manufactures its 2.5 MW Liberty wind turbine, and actively develops wind power generating projects in the Americas and Europe. The company’s US headquarters are based in Carpentaria, CA. See: www.clipperwind.com.
Winner in the Service Provision Category:
Ribbit is an open platform for communication innovation, bringing together the Internet, voice and data allowing voice and data to travel seamlessly across devices, networks, carriers, and protocols for the first time to form a new world of intelligent, integrated communication solutions. The company’s US offices are located in Mountain View, CA. See: www.ribbit.com.
Winner in the Technology Category:
G24 Innovations (G24i) is a leading global manufacturer of next generation Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells, an alternative to traditional silicon solar cells and a disruptive technology to environment-depleting batteries. G24i holds the license to manufacture the Photovoltaic Dye Solar Cell Technology of the Swiss institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, in Europe with unlimited worldwide distribution rights, which includes all current and forward intellectual property. Its DSSC modules are used for powering mobile electronic devices both indoors and outside in variable lighting condition. The company’s global sales and marketing headquarters are located in Silicon Valley’s Campbell, CA. See: www.g24i.com.
The BritWeek UKTI Business Innovation Awards Dinner was sponsored by UKTI, Oury Clark, BP, the British American Business Council Los Angeles, Cunard, Jaguar, Air New Zealand, and the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills.
About the BritWeek UKTI Business Innovation Awards
First held in 2010 the BritWeek UKTI Business Innovation Awards recognize outstanding innovations in Design, Technology and Service Provision from companies based in both the UK and California. For more see: http://www.britweek.org/2010/InnovationAwards
About UK Trade & Investment
UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) is the government organisation that helps UK-based companies succeed in the global economy. We also help overseas companies bring their high quality investment to the UK's economy - acknowledged as Europe's best place from which to succeed in global business. UKTI offers expertise and contacts through its extensive network of specialists in the UK, and in British embassies and other diplomatic offices around the world. We provide companies with the tools they require to be competitive on the world stage. For more see: https://www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk/ | www.youtube.com/UKTIWeb | http://blog.ukti.gov.uk | www.flickr.com/ukti | http://twitter.com/ukti
