THE QUEEN’S AWARDS FOR ENTERPRISEwww.ft.com/queens-awards-2012 | twitter.com/ftreportsA SPECIAL REPORT

Inside this issueFilmLightThe Sohocompanyhelpscreativetypes keeppace withthe digitalrevolution in moving imagesPage Q2

Duo Export success ismade-to-measure for thisSomerset-based bespokefashion footwear businessPage Q2

TTS Group Lessons fromthe UK market are beingapplied overseas for thiseducational resoucescompany Page Q3

DoubleawardwinnersThe fourcompaniesreceivingawards inboth theInnovation

and International Tradecategories have commonfeatures. One of the four isRacelogic, which suppliesmotor race monitoringtechnology Page Q3

Co-operative GroupEthical thinking is ingrainedat the stores-to-bankscombine Page Q3

Pearson EngineeringAgricultural knowhow hasbeen put to good use inmine clearance Page Q4

Lifetime achievementCarmel Gahan (below)has spent three decadespromoting enterprisein WalesPage Q4

On FT.ComFull list of all the 2012Queen’s Awards winners

A record number of busi-ness winners in thisyear’s Queen’s Awardsfor Enterprise – and

the highest ever standard ofentries, according to the judges– marks a timely achievementin the monarch’s diamond jubi-lee year.

The UK needs an export boommore than ever, as it strives toaccelerate economic recovery,and the winners provide ampleevidence of businesses’ abilityto create innovative productsand services and sell themaround the world.

This year’s successful compa-nies demonstrate the breadthand depth of business achieve-ment, whether devising smart-phone applications to identifysongs and videos or an uncon-ventional hairbrush that pain-lessly detangles hair.

The 2012 list, published todayto mark the Queen’s birthday,contains 209 business awards,including FTSE companies, sub-sidiaries of foreign-ownedgroups and private businesses.The core of it remains the doz-ens of often unsung smallercompanies for which the awardsprovide important recognition.

British exports have

rebounded from the depths ofrecession, helped by a fall insterling’s effective exchangerate of 25 per cent between mid-2007 and early 2009, althoughimports have also remaineduncomfortably high.

A further push is needed ifthe UK is to improve its rela-tively low share of exports toemerging markets in Asia,Africa and South America.

“The Queen’s Awards forEnterprise are the highest acco-lade a business can receive,”says Mark Prisk, enterprise min-ister. “The standard of thisyear’s winners highlights thegreat work being done by busi-nesses of all sizes to help boostthe growth of the UK economy.”

He added: “I hope that it willinspire more entrepreneurs tostart or grow their business aswe look to make 2012 the year ofenterprise.”

The awards demonstrate theUK’s strength in sectors fromarchitecture and design to con-struction, motoring, electronics,engineering, law and finance,pharmaceuticals, oil and gas,printing, recycling and manyothers.

Winners include a Savile Rowtailor, cake decorators, suppliersof educational resources andmakers of personalised medi-cines, music amplifiers, andtracking systems for intelli-gence gathering. Many haveachieved technological break-throughs that are firing theirown growth and that of others.

Other winning businessesrange from enterprises with as

few as three employees tohousehold names such asNissan, the carmaker, B&Q, thehome improvement chain, andMarks and Spencer, the foodand fashion retailer.

Four companies have wonawards in both the InternationalTrade and the Innovation cate-gories: Revector, which providesanti-fraud services to mobileoperators, Ubisense, a maker oflocation tracking systems, ICCSolutions, a supplier of testtools for chip and pin certifica-tions for banks, and Racelogic,which supplies speed measure-ment devices to the automotivesector.

Sun Mark, a supplier of food-stuffs to companies in morethan 100 countries includingAfrica, the Middle East and

Asia, is the first company to winan award in four consecutiveyears.

Awards are given for achieve-ment in three categories: Inter-national Trade, where there are151 winners; Innovation, with 50awards; and Sustainable Devel-opment, with eight.

The total was the highestsince the awards began in 1966and judges said the standardwas the highest ever, withnearly 25 per cent of entrantsgaining an award. There arealso 11 Enterprise Promotionawards to individuals for effortsto encourage entrepreneurship.

In the FTSE 100, M&S wins aSustainable Development awardfor Plan A, its programme tobecome the world’s most sus-tainable retailer by 2015.

B&Q, part of Kingfisher, alsowins one for initiatives includ-ing environmentally friendlyproducts and engaging with sup-ply chains to improve wood,peat and paint sourcing.

From the FTSE 250, Interna-tional Trade awards go to Dom-ino Printing Sciences, the Cam-bridge-based producer of codingand printing technologies, R.D.Trading, a computer recyclingspecialist that is part of Com-putacenter, and Electrocompo-nents, a distributor of electron-ics and maintenance products.

Renishaw, a Gloucestershire-based maker of precision meas-urement systems, wins an Inno-vation award for an ultra-highaccuracy analogue scanningprobe system. Big YellowGroup, which operates self-stor-

age facilities, wins a SustainableDevelopment award.

Other listed companiesinclude Nichols, the soft drinksbusiness which first exported itsflagship Vimto brand in theearly 1920s. It wins a tradeaward, as does Morson Projects,which supplies outsourced engi-neering and project manage-ment design services and is partof Morson Group.

The largest winner in terms ofemployment is the Co-operativeGroup, with 109,000 staff, whichwins a Sustainable Developmentaward. Another award in thiscategory goes to Adnams, theSuffolk brewer, which has intro-duced “carbon-neutral” beer andlighter bottles.

Winnersadd weightto globalsales driveThe high standard ofentries highlights howhard UK businessesare working to boosteconomic growth,writes Brian Groom

On a strong tack: sailing and marine clothing maker Douglas Gill International was among 151 International Trade award winners

Continued on next page

2 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES SATURDAY APRIL 21 2012

The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise – Q2

At the small end, Square BoxSystems, with three employeesand based in Leamington Spa,has won an Innovation awardfor CatDV, its media asset man-agement and workflow softwarefor use in video post-production.

Among the longest estab-lished winners, Thomas Keatingbegan life in the 1780s makingflea powder, but has trans-formed itself into a creator andsupplier of space equipment. Itwins a trade award.

Francis Maude, the Sussex-based company’s local MP, said:“As well as helping astronomersfurther our understanding ofthe Universe, Thomas Keating’sinstruments are working onsome of the urgent challenges ofthe age, from monitoring man’seffect on the atmosphere to thescourge of Alzheimer’s disease.”

Henry Poole and Companywas established in 1806 and by1846 became the first tailor toopen a showroom on London’sSavile Row. It continues tomake only bespoke clothes in itsworkshops on the Row, andwins an International Tradeaward.

Foreign-owned groups arewell represented, including Nis-san’s productive Sunderland carplant, which wins an Interna-tional Trade award for the fifthtime.

Other non-UK owned winnersinclude Elekta, a Swedish-owned maker of devices for radi-otherapy treatment of cancer,Glen Dimplex Home Appliances,an Irish-owned supplier of cook-ing and other appliances, andHackett, the pukka Britishclothing company controlled bySpain’s Pepe Jeans.

Manufacturing has a broadrange of winners including Glas-gow-based Linn Products, whichwins an Innovation award fordesigning and manufacturinghigh performance recordedmusic players.

There is an interesting musi-cal cluster this year, withOrange Music Electronic Com-pany, one of the most recog-nised guitar amplifier brands,winning a trade award, as doesAudio Network, a library ofmore than 42,000 music tracksfor use by audio-visual produc-ers.

Services are well represented,too, with trade award winnerssuch as Mind Tools, an onlinetraining company, Tristar Cars,a chauffeur-driven limousineprovider, and Skyscanner, anEdinburgh-based travel searchsite.

Ingenuity is to the fore amongwinners, including west London-based Shazam Entertainment,which receives an Innovationaward for a smartphone applica-tion that enables consumers toidentify details, such as songtitles and artists, from musicand videoclips.

Winnersboostglobalsales driveContinued from previous page

International Trade Success is made-to-measure at Duo

In the past decade Nick Sinfield hasgone from being a “picker and packer”– taking shoes off the shelf anddispatching them to customers – tochief executive and part-owner of abespoke fashion footwear businesswhose overseas earnings have grownmore than fourfold in three years.Elitehill Trading, which trades as Duo,

was founded in the early 1970s after atrip to Italy by Ted and Muffy Maltby.The couple brought home a carload offine leather shoes and boots and beganselling them around their home nearBath.Today, Duo, which has won an award

for International Trade, is a specialistmulti-channel retailer with three shops inthe UK and a fast-growing ecommercebusiness, with websites in fourlanguages: English, Dutch, French andGerman.

Turnover in the financial year to end-April is expected to reach  £8.5m, withthe UK providing about two-thirds ofsales, followed by Germany, its largestexport market, with 11 per cent. It sellsin more than 80 countries and has 70employees, with core staff at its headoffice in Frome, Somerset, doubling to45 in the past two years.After establishing a high-street retail

business, the Maltbys saw a gap in themarket for made-to-measure boots thatwould fit either petite women or thoseneeding larger calf fittings.It is this part of the business, coupled

with an early move into ecommerce, in2003 – when Mr Sinfield came on board– that has propelled Duo’s growth.“From the start, I felt strongly about thepotential overseas,” says Mr Sinfield, a38-year-old ex-City of London lawyer.Duo now offers up to 21 leg fittings in

almost 40 boot styles. A key point ofdifferentiation is its online measuringservice: some 80 per cent of customersget the right fit first time, comparedwith a fashion sector average of just 20per cent.The Maltbys, both past the usual

retirement age, make up two of thefour-strong UK-based design team andown the business in partnership with MrSinfield. Almost all production is carriedout at four small, independently-ownedplants in Portugal.“We have looked at the Far East, but

this has been proven to lead to lowerquality,” says Mr Sinfield. “European[footwear] handcrafting is very hard tobeat.”The company has invested significantly

in social media, but coverage in thefashion press both in the UK andoverseas has also been important, as

have word-of-mouth referrals, which areabove average at 22 per cent of sales.A key element in an ambitious new

strategy to increase annual sales by 10to 20 per cent is to persuade bootcustomers to buy Duo shoes, sales ofwhich are exceeding expectations.“Our customers . . . are the kind of

people who walk out of our stores andcall their friends straight away,” says MrSinfield.He believes UK companies have an

advantage in e-commerce, because ofthe high level of broadband penetrationand the short distances involved inshipping products to customers.“The same lessons can be applied in

other markets,” he says. “We canpredict what is likely to happen and rollout in other countries with confidence.”

Virginia Marsh

Deep in FilmLight’sbuilding in a Soho sidestreet, Jacqui Loran ismaking the Lake Dis-

trict look sinister. With one eyeon a vista of Lake Coniston onthe screen before her andanother on a screen of blinkingdata, she moves her hands overa sleek black desk studded withbuttons shining softly in thepitch-black studio.

A swipe of the hand and thebuttons become a qwerty key-pad for typing; another swipeand the mood in Coniston haslifted. The scene looks sunnier,the ferns intensify in colour,every frill of lichen is visible. Acar comes into view – it’s red,but maybe the film directorwants it to be blue? No problem.

FilmLight, a pioneer in digitalfilm technology, which has wonits second a Queen’s Award forInnovation, is working withSony on the production andpost-production workflows ofimages being output from itsnew F65 motion picture camera.

Ms Loran is using FilmLight’slatest version of Baselight, oneof its flagship products, tomanipulate the footage.

Founded 10 years ago, Film-Light develops and manufac-tures kit that helps creativeprofessionals keep pace with the

digital revolution in movingimages, from movies to TVdrama and commercials. Direc-tors can be sure that the finalimage on screen will have thelook and atmosphere they want,with accuracy and consistency.

Baselight was used in Hugo,Martin Scorsese’s latest film, tosuggest the look and feel ofearly cinema. In The King’sSpeech, FilmLight technologywiped out the modern skyline torender it suitably 1930s for theconfrontation scene in Regent’sPark. Baselight can also helpcontrol costs – if the sky cloudsover during filming, it simplychanges the weather.

Upstairs from the basement,the reception has the almoststandard Soho media companytable football. Less usual are theframed accolades on the walls.In 2010 FilmLight won four“technical Oscars”, the scien-tific and engineering awardfrom the Academy of MotionPicture Arts and Sciences –unprecedented for any com-pany.

As well as its earlier Innova-tion award, the company haswon an award for InternationalTrade before, thanks to the fansit has won around the world.

How does it maintain its paceof innovation? First, it pridesitself on a powerful mix of soft-ware and hardware engineeringwith strong industrial design,says co-founder Peter Stothart.

“You constantly look aheadand analyse what is coming up,”says Caroline Williams, financedirector. Everyone, whether insales, support or development,is expected to listen out for the

next thing clients are lookingfor. Even when there are no biglaunches, FilmLight introducesupdates so it always has innova-tions to announce.

At this year’s NAB trade showin Las Vegas, Wolfgang Lemppand Steve Chapman – two co-founders with Mr Stothart – aredemonstrating Flip, an on-setsystem that will break newground for FilmLight by insert-ing its technology earlier intothe scene-to-screen process.More than ever, it will allow thedirector and cinematographer toset the look they want beforeand during production and thensave it for further manipulationduring post-production.

Up another flight of stairs, thedevelopment team is ensconcedbehind a display of beautiful oldcameras – a reminder of howtechnological developmentshave driven innovation in themovie industry.

“The development team isworking with clients on almosta daily basis,” says Ms Williams.They may develop a bespokeservice for one client – say, toachieve a matt appearance –that is then applied morewidely.

The company invests heavilyin recruiting talented people,she says. Many of the team holdtechnology PhDs, some arerecruits from the booming

videogames industry and one isa former Ministry of Defencescientist.

Another plus is the lack ofoutside finance, even thoughFilmLight struggled at first withstart-up funds of just £240,000.Turnover is now about £13m,with net profit of £2m. The com-pany is “freer” without financialbackers, Ms Williams says:“Outside finance can sometimesbe a process-killer.”

She even notes the advantagesof the economic downturn forinnovation: “The danger is thetemptation to sit on your lau-rels. But a downturn jerks youinto action – you start behavinglike a new company again.”

Kit to helpfilm makersbuff uptheir imageInnovationFilmLightThe Soho company isalways looking ahead,writes Harriet Arnold

FilmLight’s technology was used in Hugo, Martin Scorsese’s latest film, to suggest the look and feel of early cinema GK Films

‘The danger is thetemptation to sit onyour laurels. But adownturn jerks youinto action – you startbehaving like a newcompany again’

FINANCIAL TIMES SATURDAY APRIL 21 2012 ★ 3

Q3 – The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise

ContributorsBrian GroomUK Business andEmployment Editor

Harriet ArnoldDeputy Editor,Business Life

Andrew BoundsNorthern Correspondent

John Murray BrownMidlands Correspondent

Chris TigheNorth-East Correspondent

Virginia Marsh,Rod NewingFT Contributors

Andrew BaxterCommissioning Editor

Steven BirdDesigner

Andy MearsPicture Editor

For advertising details,contact Robert Grange,Tel +44 (0) 207 873 4418email robert.grange@ft.com or your usual FTrepresentative

A bank that refuses“unethical” business,staff who turn off thelights and managerswhose pay is linked tocorporate responsibilitymeasures have helped theCo-operative Group win aSustainable Developmentaward.

The UK’s biggestconsumer co-operative,owned by its members,has pioneered Fair Tradeproduce, ethical bankingand the use of renewableenergy.

Barry Calvin, head ofsustainable reporting atthe Co-operative, says:“Sustainability is ingrainedin everything we do.”

The £12.3bn turnoverbusiness, based inManchester, spanssupermarkets, banking,insurance, funeral care,pharmacies and farming.

The Co-op decidedrecently it would sourcepurely Fair Trade bananas– which guarantee aminimum price forproducers – after doing thesame for chocolate severalyears ago.

It has also introduced aresponsible fish sourcingpolicy and higher welfarestandards for animalsreared for its meat. Itsfarms have eliminatedmany pesticides andcreated areas for rarespecies to flourish.

Its investment armcampaigns againstpractices such as oilextraction from tar sandsin Canada, employing itsshareholder’s vote.

The business hasinvested in loweringenergy consumption. Since2007, it has cut waste by26 per cent, greenhouse gasemissions by 35 per centand refrigerant gas leaksby 58 per cent. A recentsimple improvement is toinstall doors on fridge andfreezer compartments in itsstores to keep them cooler.

Its new £100m head officein Manchester will have anefficient combined heatand power boiler runningon biofuel and usedcooking oil. It will capturerainwater to use and hasan open atrium and adouble-skinned façade thatsaves on heating, coolingand lighting.

Mr Calvin says manysuch measures contributeto profitability. Some £40mhas been cut from theenergy bill and the bankhas won customers for itsrefusal to do business witharms, tobacco companiesand the like.

This has meant thatit has turned down £1bnof “unethical” business.

“There are things you dothat do not have abusiness case, but you dobecause they are right,”explains Mr Calvin.

The Co-op won theaward in 2007, but sincethen it has doubled in sizeand membership, mergingwith a Yorkshire-basedCo-op and Britanniabuilding society andacquiring Somerfield, thesupermarket chain.

Senior managers havepart of their bonus linkedto the group’s performancein the CR (CorporateResponsibility) Index,run by Business in theCommunity, the charity.It was one of only 15businesses in the platinumplus category last year.

Peter Marks, chiefexecutive, said in a recentinterview that itsownership model helped.“For a plc, it’s difficult totake short-term pain forthe sake of long-termgain.”

He added that, while thecompany must makemoney to ensure continuedinvestment and itssurvival, that was not itssole purpose. “We are anethical business and try tobe as ethical as we can,”even if that meanssacrificing some profit.

Mr Marks says the grouphas stuck to the ethicalplan created in 2011through the worst tradingconditions he has knownin 40 years in retailing.

Mr Calvin says theaward was won by all the109,000 staff. “We have5,000 estates and propertiesand it is about goodhousekeeping andmanagement in all ofthem. We asked staffwhether we shouldcontinue to prioritisesustainability even intough times. Ninety percent said yes.”

No slip-ups asbanana supplypolicy switchesSustainabilityCo-operativeGroupEthical thinking isingrained at thestores-to-bankscombine, writesAndrew Bounds

“If you turn a schoolupside down and shake it,we’re responsible for allthe bits that fall out –barring the staff and thechildren of course,” saysCath Jeffrey, deputymanaging director of TTSGroup, theNottinghamshireeducational resourcescompany.

It is an arresting imagebut one she likes to use to

explain the company’sextensive product range.

Now part of RM, theleading ICT supplier toEnglish schools, TTSdesigns, creates andsupplies educationalresources to schools andparents.

Its strategy is based onproducts inspired by theteachers to pioneer andenable new methods oflearning.

The company is aleading operator in itssector in the UK. Since2006, it has also beentargeting export markets,with international salesgrowing 146 per cent in thepast three years.

TTS products are madeunder contract in UK,China and India. To

facilitate its growthaspirations TTS in 2011started shipping from athird party distributioncentre in South China, toimprove its service toexport markets outsideEurope.

The company catalogue –the sales route is stillessentially via mail orderin the UK – comprises14,000 products, everythingfrom smart aids forchildren with learningdifficulties to humdrumitems such as desks, chairsand games balls.

But within that, TTS hasdeveloped many of its ownproducts, which include arechargeable metaldetector, an “artefact pack”for teaching religiouseducation and a

programmable toy calledBee-Bot, its best seller.

In the past year alone,the company launched 505products.

To become an approvedsupplier to schools is hard,and TTS makes a point ofattending all the mainteacher conferences, wheremany of those crucial firstcontacts with principals,and then ultimately theschool bursars, andsecretaries are made.

Often the idea for aproduct will arise from ateacher’s classroomexperience, in which casethe teacher will be paid aroyalty by TTS.

One example is a TTS-designed writing slope forchildren with handwritingproblems. This followed a

meeting with a speechtherapist – what thecompany calls its “goldenconversations”.

The teacher complainedthat all the products thenavailable were bulky andwooden and off-putting for

the children. “This isPerspex and coloured. Soit’s cool. It’s also stackableso a number of childrencan have one,” says MsJeffrey.

The company’s currentfocus is to expand its

export markets. Afterinitially targeting Europeand the US, last year itmade a big push into Briccountries with visits toBrazil and India.

Given the nationalcharacter of curricula indifferent countries, MsJeffrey says TTS’s salesapproach has to becustomised for eachmarket.

So in the US, TTS workswith separate partners foreach product group.

In France, it sells directto those French companiesserving the French schoolsystem.

In Germany, the strategyhas been different again,employing a local “man onthe ground” as Ms Jeffreydescribes it.

Lessons from UK schools market applied abroadInt’l TradeTTS GroupSuccess is built ona growing productrange, says JohnMurray Brown Sales buzz:

the Bee-Bottoy is TTSGroup’s bestsellingproduct

N o less than four compa-nies have won both theInnovation and theInternational Trade

awards. The inescapable conclu-sion must be that innovativeproducts compete successfully inworld markets.

Two businesses, Racelogic andUbisense, both sell extremelyaccurate tracking products to theautomotive industry. WhereasRacelogic provides open-air track-ing systems, Ubisense tracksinside buildings.

The common thread between allfour companies is that they arerun by experienced businesspeo-ple, not by full-time inventors.

Three products were developedto solve specific problems.

Racelogic, which is based inBuckingham and won the Interna-tional Trade Award in 2007, pro-duces global positioning systemsthat measure speed, distance andacceleration to within 2cm. Itdeveloped its own in-house solu-tion for laboratory testing, with-out the traditional need for road-testing or expensive simulators.

“It was borne out of frustrationwhen trying to test our devices,”says Graham Mackie, its chiefexecutive. “We built a ‘simple’device that allowed us to make atest drive, record the satellitetransmissions seen during thedrive and then play then backinto our devices – time and timeagain. At first we used it inter-nally and then realised there wasa market for it.”

Andy Ghent, chief executive ofRevector, has 42 years experiencein the telecommunications indus-try. He developed a solution to“Sim box” fraud. This pinpoints,right down to the room, equip-ment being used by unlicensedoperators to route internationalmobile telephone calls illegally,taking revenue from licensedoperators.

“I became aware of the problemon a trip to Afghanistan,” he says.“I developed a solution in mygarage, wrote software and hireda team of young graduates.”

Warrington-based ICC Solutions

was founded by David Maisey,who was working at a leadingbank on launching chip and pintechnology. A merger halted allprojects, so he left to develop asimple testing solution on a bankcard, as an alternative to cumber-some computer-based testingthrough probes.

By contrast, Ubisense was bornof the only idea to emerge fromresearch laboratories. It is a real-time location system that usesultra-wideband “radar” to trackany person or item in threedimensions to within 15cm. As isoften the case with research, itwas a solution looking for a prob-lem to solve.

Richard Green, the company’schief executive, was a veteran ofthe software industry, whose lastbusiness was outdoor tracking. He

met the researchers at theOlivetti Research laboratory, affil-iated to Cambridge university,where it was developed as part ofa project whose funding hadended. It was looking at interfaces

between people and computers aspart of a vision of ubiquitous com-puting driven by a sensing net-work.

“A lot of investment hadalready gone in and I thought itwas an opportunity not to miss,”he says. “We are all familiar with

global positioning outdoors, buttracking accurately indoors isincredibly difficult. I could seesome big problems to address.”

His experience and instincts ledhim to identify different marketideas from those the researchershad come up with.

He monetised it by pushing outtechnology packs to 250 research-ers in laboratories, for a widerange of uses, including trackingcows, athletes and robots. It hasemerged as an important tech-nique for managing tools andcomponents in automotive andaerospace manufacture, both toautomate processes and for safety.

It has always been a challengefor UK-based companies to com-pete globally, but all four doublewinners have succeeded.

ICC Solutions, Revector and

Ubisense all sell direct. Each hasa clearly defined market that ena-bles them to target their potentialcustomers. Because its testingsolution helps to get productscertified for use, the leading inter-national card associations, includ-ing MasterCard and Visa, publi-cise ICC Solutions to their mem-bers and conduct joint seminars.

“We can reach a huge globalaudience with relative ease,” saysMr Maisey at ICC. “Our software-based solution can be deployedelectronically and I also travel alot, spending a week a month inCanada.”

Revector attends internationalmobile communications confer-ences to meet telecoms operatorsface to face. It also harnessesinternet collaboration and video-conferencing tools to sell from itssole office at Wokingham, Berk-shire. Its nine employees havesigned up operators in 75 coun-tries.

From his experience, Mr Greenat Ubisense knew that the largestmarkets in the world for technol-ogy are North America and Ger-many, so he acquired local compa-nies to take Ubisense’s productsto market. He has since addedoffices in Asia. “If you are goingto sell into a market, you needlocal nationals,” he says. “Youhave to go direct, because nobodyelse will take a new technology tomarket until it is proven.”

Ubisense, which is still based inCambridge, was also helped by apartnership with Atlas Copco, theworld’s largest tool manufacturer,which has incorporated the tech-nology into automotive manufac-turing tools. Mr Green alsobelieves that it was important tohave access to London’s juniorAim exchange to fund globalgrowth.

Racelogic, having proven itssolutions in-house, uses distribu-tors to reach customers in 90countries, all of which are part ofthe global positioning industrysupply chain.

“We go through distributorsbecause our products generallyneed local demonstration and sup-port,” Mr Mackie says.

All double winners stress theimportance of customer serviceand after-sales support. They areusing modern internet-based toolsto compete globally, but supple-ment this with internationaltravel. All four chief executivescan recognise a problem needinga solution, and have the skillsneeded to compete successfully inglobal markets.

Bright ideas spur global successDouble winnersRod Newing findscompanies receivingawards for Innovationand International Tradeshare common features

‘A lot of investmenthad already gone inand I thought it was anopportunity not to miss’

Keeping track: Racelogic’s race monitoring system is used at Australian GT events

4 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES SATURDAY APRIL 21 2012

The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise – Q4

Lifetime Achievement award Carmel Gahan

Carmel Gahan is just back fromvisiting an engineering company inNewport, along the M4 from her basein Swansea. The traffic was bad andthe price of petrol is eating up hertravel budget, but she is upbeat.After three decades of devising ways

to support business in Wales, she isenthused by the potential for Welshcompanies to be ambitious and settheir sights on the global economy.“There has been a resurgence ofentrepreneurship in Wales,” she says.Ms Gahan has been recognised in

the Queens Awards for a lifetimededicated to promoting enterprise.A lot has changed since Ms Gahan

first settled in rural Wales from WestCork and became involved with thestart of Wales’s first enterpriseagency, Antur Teifi, set up to assistdevelopment of the local economy inthe beautiful but remote Teifi Valley.“In Welsh, antur means something

like ‘venture’ but also ‘adventure’,”explains Ms Gahan, who has become afluent Welsh speaker. She uses it withher Welsh-speaking business contacts,not least because it helps buildrelationships – “the right words areimportant for trust”.The early 1980s were a time of

economic convulsion, but Ms Gahansays Antur Teifi was started with apositive outlook. “To create jobs youmust have skills and businesses, andin a rural area, the opportunities werelimited. That’s what got me intosupporting other people to startventures of their own,” shesays.“When you’re young

you have chutzpah –you don’t know whatcan go wrong,” shesays. “It was all newand great to be involvedin. We were working outwhat worked and whatdidn’t . . . You could saythat policy making hascaught up with what

we did.” The idea that business needsstimulation and support was novel, shesays. Funders of Antur Teifi’sinitiatives were fascinated by itsschemes.Ms Gahan herself was intrigued by

the potential of new technology,including the then outlandish visionof working from home. She wasinstrumental in setting up WomenInto New Technology, a pioneeringtechnology programme for womendeveloped with the University of Walescampus at Lampeter.“I went around knocking on doors

trying to get women to join the courseand got shown the door by somehusbands. The challenges were social;people were very traditional,” says MsGahan.Her wide-ranging roles have included

schemes to promote graduateenterprise, helping businesses connectto the internet, a range of start-upprogrammes, advising the Welshgovernment and mentoring.She has also set up a business

development services consultancy,Ross Carbery. This allows her toengage deeply with individualcompanies going for growth. “I’m likea critical friend,” she says.With a huge network of contacts

and experience built up over years,she is also pondering a charitableventure to take the work forward.As she prepares to visit a

construction company inCarmarthenshire, she pauses

to reflect on how much haschanged since her firstforay into businesssupport. Welsh small andmidsized companies aremore ambitious, shethinks. And overall:“Attitudes are different– business has becomeseen as a good thing tobe in.”

Harriet Arnold

Carmel Gahan: skillsand businesses areneeded to create jobs

Innovation award winner PearsonEngineering (PEL) has succeededin a sector that is highly chal-lenging for small companies –

international defence procurement –by literally ploughing its own furrow.

The company owes its existence, inits present form, to Alan Reece who,as a reader in agricultural engineer-ing at Newcastle University in the1980s, pursued the application ofploughing technology to industry.

Long before university spinoutswere commonplace, he and other aca-demic colleagues were involved inoutside consultancy. Their applicationof ploughing science has, ultimately,led to the creation of a small clusterof high performing north-east compa-nies, now in diverse ownerships.Earth ploughing technology has beendeveloped for activities includingcable laying for telecommunications,for the oil and gas sector and, in Pear-son’s case, mine clearance.

However, back in the late 1980sPearson, based beside the Tyne, was amachine tool company which wentinto receivership. It was thenacquired, and transformed, by a man-agement buyout of which Alan Reece,because of his consultancy work, waspart.

Today, as part of the Reece Group, afamily business chaired by Alan’s sonJohn Reece, Pearson has won con-tracts internationally thanks to

designing products in anticipation ofdefence market needs, rather thanwaiting for development contractsfrom potential customers.

Taking this approach requiresskills, nerve and commitment; atPearson Engineering, 10 of the profes-sional engineers among its 50 full-timestaff are focused on research anddevelopment. PEL’s ideal is to pro-duce solutions even before customersrealise they have a need. Fabricationand assembly are carried out by sistercompany Pearson Engineering Serv-ices, which employs 200 people on anadjacent site.

“If you develop your own products,you are ahead of the game,” saysJohn Reece, PEL’s chairman, who ishimself an engineer. This gives com-petitive advantage that customers arewilling to pay for. “Especially ifthere’s a war, the customer is veryimpatient,” he observes.

It has enabled Pearson to break intothe US market, despite a general pref-erence there to source domestically.“To overcome that you have to havethe right products available at theright time,” he says. Some 75 per centof PEL’s turnover of £40m-£50m a yearis from the US, with 10 per cent fromthe UK and 15 per cent from the restof the world, including Denmark,Spain and the United Arab Emirates.

Its Queen’s Award-winning equip-ment has saved hundreds of soldiersfrom injury or death in Iraq andAfghanistan. The Spark (Self Protec-tion Adaptive Roller Kit) equipment isa modular roller system which,mounted on wheeled and tracked plat-forms, runs ahead of armoured fight-ing vehicles as a countermine andexplosive device. The Spark 1 and 2roller models have triggered hundredsof devices which would otherwisehave detonated under vehicles.

The design has been engineered so

that vehicles can still travel at up to60mph, turn sharply and reverse. Theroller steers to maintain protection inturns and generates its own power. Itsground load can be varied and, if dam-aged, it can be jettisoned from withinthe vehicle.

The Reece Group remains commit-ted to expand and invest in businesseswith a similar product developmentethos. This week it completed theacquisition of Sunderland-based

Velocity, which makes equipment torepair pot holes in roads. And at PEL,it is investing in new mine clearancesystems and a range of innovativemobile bridge laying equipment.● SMD, a Wallsend-based subseatechnology company previouslyowned by John Reece, has won anInternational Trade award, a yearafter receiving an Innovation awardfor its work-class remotely operatedvehicles.

How ploughingahead saveslives in battleInnovationPearson EngineeringAgricultural knowhow hasbeen put to good use inmine clearance equipment,writes Chris Tighe

John Reece with Pearson Engineering’s Spark II anti-mine system