Today marks the launch of the 2021 LeicestershireLive Innovation Awards – with applications now open for companies that think they have what it takes to be a winner.
Now in their third year the awards recognise the individuals, businesses and new technologies that have either changed, are changing or will one day change the way we live.
And following a year in which so many big events have been postponed or held virtually, we are confident that scientific excellence will have a vaccine widely available so that our awards can take place on Thursday, June 24, 2021. Here’s hoping anyway.
Past winners of the awards have included Meater – a wireless cooking thermometer developed in Leicester – National Space Centre chief executive Chas Bishop, and the retired University of Leicester’s Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, who developed DNA fingerprinting in the 1980s.
Headline sponsors are Morningside Pharmaceuticals in Loughborough – founder and chairman Dr Nik Kotecha OBE was central to the launch of the first awards back in 2019 – De Montfort University and the University of Leicester.
Adam Moss, LeicestershireLive editor, said celebrating success like this was more important now than ever as UK industry and innovation gear up to bounce back from almost a year of lockdown.
He said: “In its third year, the LeicestershireLive Innovation Awards 2021 will celebrate the very best technology, services, digital advances, and creative thinking that the region has to offer.
“We want to celebrate the individuals, teams, businesses and public sector bodies that are leading the way in research and development and in manufacturing techniques, software and digital technologies. “Alongside this we also want to honour the engineers and construction specialists who are shaping our world.”
The 2020 ceremony took place last February at the Leicester Riders basketball team’s Morningside Arena, where the headline speaker was space industry entrepreneur and pioneer Will Whitehorn.
Among the 2020 winners were the creators of a school book impregnated with seeds that children can plant, an exhibition design agency which works all over the world and a Leicester company that designs a product to keep household goods smelling fresh.
The overall innovation of the year award went to Previsico – picked by the judges because of the important role it has the potential to play in so many people’s lives.
Based in Loughborough, its FloodMap Live technology can give risk predictions right down to street level, and has been praised by local authorities, insurance companies and even humanitarian organisations.
A lifetime achievement award went to Les Zellan, the chairman of Leicester based Cooke Optics, for his contribution to Hollywood, Bollywood and beyond.
The lighting specialist turned camera and lens distributor bought the business after visiting its Leicester factory in 1981 – realising its future could be just as significant as its past.
The lenses – which have been championed by such great directors as Ridley Scott, Martin Scorsese and Ron Howard – were first made in 1894.
Such has been their success that the “Cooke Look” has become a trademarked term – summing up the warm colours, sharp images and lack of harshness which are so sought after by film-makers all across the world.
To nominate please visit www.leicestershireliveinnovationawards.co.uk and start tweeting at #LeicsLiveInnovation
