Business Weekly East of England Business Awards: Excellence is the judge of excellence - Archive - Awards - Business Weekly

HOME

Business Weekly East of England Business Awards: Excellence is the judge of excellence

Written by Business Weekly

Thursday, 18 January 2007

World-leading companies like Acambis, ARM, TTP, CSR and Cambridge Antibody Technology that have won the Business of the Year title in the past have all applauded the quality of the judging process. Judging entries rather than picking winners with insufficient insight ensures Business Weekly has maintained the credibility of the competition.

There is no championing of companies or executives set to go bust or who have been discredited.

Michael Marshall, entering his 53rd year in local business and a Business Weekly Awards judging 'veteran,' says: "Business Weekly's very professional judging process results in high quality winners among a truly excellent field of contenders. the competition has contributed enormously to the general growth of the region."

"World-class" is how Dr Hermann Hauser, a key member of the judging process, describes the winners down the years.

Our ability to identify future world leaders when they are in their relative infancy excited Segal Quince Wicksteed when the renowned internationally consultancy revisited the theme of the Cambridge Phenomenon.

They contrasted Business Weekly's sound judgement with competing events - one of which had Ionica as champion business two years running. One local executive called that 'judgement call' "an attempt to refloat the Titanic."

Joining Michael Marshall and Dr Hauser for the judging are other distinguished investors and entrepreneurs.

These include Laurence Garrett, director of 3i in East Anglia, which has backed a vast array of the region's best companies across a range of industry sectors.

Many former winners of these Awards have been companies backed from infancy by 3i and nursed to maturity on a global stage. It is a theme Laurence Garrett warms to.

He says: "The pedigree of companies that have won and been shortlisted for Business Weekly's Awards down the years has been stunning."

Business Weekly is also delighted to once again be able to call upon highly respected local investor and entrepreneur, John Lee, whose ability to spot a trout dressed up as a salmon is unsurpassed.

His various roles as an investor, troubleshooter and talented entrepreneur in his own right - witness CamSemi - bring unique insights to the judging process.

Charles Cotton of Library House has been an invaluable addition to the judging panel in recent years.

He was invited to join the panel the year after the company of which he was chief executive - Virata - won the Business of the Year title.

He has since been anything but idle, proving a driving force behind Library House in its formative days and helping to nurture what will be another world-class company, Level 5 Networks.

He has also been instrumental in broadening the horizons of Cambridge and its companies thanks to his international experience.

Senior directors and partners of the sponsoring organisations also bring their individual but complementary skills to the process, gained in the worlds of international trade, banking & finance, the legal profession and property development.

Whichever companies collect the major prizes on March 22 will have been judged by the best in the business.

A battle royal is developing in all categories of this year's East of England Business Awards, ensuring a fitting climax to a glittering presentation dinner at Queens' College, Cambridge, on Thursday, March 22.

Business Weekly's 17th annual Awards competition has a hall of fame of past winners that reflect the world-class economic profile of the region.

ARM, CSR, Cambridge Antibody Technology, Acambis, Virata, Domino and TTP are just some of the world-leading businesses to hold the 'champion of champions' accolade as our Business of the Year.

This year there will be a new Business of the Year - and it is guaranteed to be in the same class as its predecessors on the podium.

Crystal obelisks await the winners of five categories - Innovation, Private Company of the Year, Quoted Company of the Year, International Trade and Corporate & Social Responsibility. From the shortlisted companies in all those categories, the all-star judging panel will choose a Business of the Year - a company that has achieved something truly outstanding in the last 12 months.

Our reigning champion - Cambridge Antibody Technology - is a classic example. With the business sector locally anticipating a hat-trick of titles for the all-conquering CSR, our judges honoured CAT for becoming the first UK company to produce a blockbuster drug (over $1 billion in sales).

That judgement looked gilt edged when pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca moved in to acquire CAT in a £702 million coup less than four months after our Awards triumph.

Similar foresight by our judges had seen ARM chosen as Business of the Year three years before it became Cambridge's first $1bn company. We also picked CSR well before it earned global acclaim.

Such judgements have enabled overall champion companies and category winners raise cash, profile and morale with investors, staff and clients.

Sir Robin Saxby, who steered ARM from a barn and seedcorn funding to a world leader, returned to be a guest speaker at a subsequent Awards dinner and said: "Of all the business awards I know, this is the most professionally organised and the most significant in its reach and influence for winning companies."

The Government's chief scientific adviser, Professor Sir David King, a guest speaker two years ago, added: "I am delighted to be able to go back to the Prime Minister and tell him that innovation is alive and kicking in the East of England and I have seen an impressive example of that in these Awards."

Shortlisted companies mingle at the presentation dinner with the region's leading serial entrepreneurs and also key UK government influencers, including representatives of overseas governments.

Lucrative business is achievable through this networking - a bonus long before the crystal obelisks are handed to our winners.

These Awards hold up a mirror to the East of England's broadening economic profile. You will see from the initial shortlist of 32 published on this page that entries span the entire region and a host of different sectors.

What encourages us most is the large number of cutting edge science & technology businesses in the line-up and the number of technology consultancies.

This is by no means a Cambridge-centric awards competition, but the entry is redolent of the early years of the Cambridge Phenomenon - bristling with young innovators and the consultancies that can take the rawest of products to a commercial success.

Stem cell science is represented for the first time; in fact the presence of LCG Bioscience - better known as Bourn Hall Clinic - makes the scientific element of the entry this year even more fertile ground for the judges.

A battle of the consultants is warming up with Cambridge Consultants, TTP and Plextek in the mix. There is also a healthy representation from the biotech cluster.

But this isn't just a tea party for tekkies: Just look at the raft of traditional businesses on the initial shortlist.

They encompass: Air conditioning & refrigeration; Sport-related healthcare; instrumentation; IT consultancy; plant design; web software; business travel; leisure; construction; R & D; recruitment; analytical services; courier work; electronics; aquaria and aquatic design; medical devices; engineering & manufacturing; high definition TV; visual solutions. The cream always rises to the top in the East of England Business Awards.

They will be feted in champagne style at the Awards dinner when executive and governmental guests will also use the occasion to offer guests a valuable insight into major developments in the region's economy in 2007.

It's the ultimate inside track to business excellence. You'll be there, of course!

INITIAL SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

A total of 32 companies have made the initial shortlist for the East of England Business Awards.They are now firmly in the judging mix but no results will be unveiled before the presentation dinner on March 22. Shortlisted companies (in alphabetical order)

Adcock Group

Advance Performance UK

Akubio

Anglia Business Solutions

Artimi

AVEVA Group

Business Web Software

Cambridge Business Travel

Cambridge Consultants

Cambridge Leisure Park

Haymills

Howes-Macnaghten Technology Ltd