At the Best of British Industry awards 2006 ceremony held at Tate Modern, London, on 8 February, metrology company Renishaw was honoured with the 'Innovation in industry' award
This new award was achieved against strong competition, with entry open to any industrial business with headquarters located in the UK.
Winners were selected by a panel of ten highly distinguished judges from industry, finance, academia and government, including Ron Dennis, chief executive of McLaren, and Digby Jones, former director general of the CBI.
The Innovation in industry award recognises innovation that has resulted in a measurable improvement or impact, either on the company, and/or more widely on industry, the economy or society.
In their deliberations, judges applied industry benchmarks to measure innovation levels, but also looked at the broader social impact of award entries.
Renishaw achieved the award against strong competition from internationally respected UK companies, including Oxford Instruments, Qinetiq, Magal Engineering, and Curvaceous Software.
Ron Dennis said: "Innovation is tough to measure - is it about products or about things such as behaviour? In the end, though, we picked a company that has a stunning record of investment in R+D, patents and processes.
"Congratulations to Renishaw".
Ben Taylor, Renishaw's assistant chief executive, who was present at the awards ceremony with other directors and managers said: "To receive this award for innovation was an outstanding achievement, especially as we faced entries from other world class suppliers across British industry, for whom we have the utmost respect.
"I would like especially to thank all employees at Renishaw who have contributed so much to a culture of innovation, inspired by David McMurtry, our chairman and chief executive".
The Best of British Industry Awards, which claim to be the first awards to recognise and celebrate achievement, innovation and leadership across all segments of UK industry, are sponsored by the Sunday Times, Amec and the Work Foundation.
All short-listed companies and award winners were profiled in a Sunday Times special award supplement published on 11 February 2007.
Speaking about the awards, John Waples, business editor of the Sunday Times, said: "There is no other mainstream event that specifically aims to sing the success of British industry.
"Industrial manufacturers make up well over a fifth of the companies in the FTSE 100, and it is often these organisations that are associated with 'Britishness' on the global business stage."
