BusinessCloud’s inaugural UK Business Tech Awards are set for November and will recognise the individuals and businesses who are making the most impact in the world of technology.
Every day we are highlighting a different category ahead of a glitzy ceremony at London’s Montcalm Marble Arch on November 20.
There will be 18 gongs up for grabs including Edtech Company of the Year, with four finalists shortlisted by our stellar line-up of judges: DigiDentistry, Emile Education, OneFile and Synap.
We profile them below. Tickets are available at the Business Tech Awards website while sponsors confirmed so far include Jumpstart and Touchscreen Rentals.
Anyone interested in sponsorship opportunities should contact [email protected].
The judging panel included David Hardman, MBE, managing director of Innovation Birmingham; Louize Clarke, co-founder, ConnectTVT; Elizabeth Clark, CEO, Dream Agility; former director of Tech North Richard Gregory; Tom Cheesewright, founder of Applied Futurism Practice; former Vodafone exec Rob Mukherjee, director of Greater Sport; Chris Dymond, director, Sheffield Digital; and Scott Henderson, managing director of Jumpstart.
EDTECH COMPANY OF THE YEAR SHORTLIST
Visual learning platform DigiDentistry has been developed by dental nurse-turned-entrepreneur Chloe Barrett and uses augmented reality and computer animation.
Barrett, a former professional dressage rider, wanted to create something that would allow students to continue learning at home and support more practical learning.
The firm, based at The Landing in MediaCityUK, has had successful pilots in Europe trialling its multi-language system and is currently working on a project with an NHS Trust and a university to detect and diagnose oral cancer and rare diseases.
Barrett recently completed a Women’s Tech Accelerator in Silicon Valley, allowing the company to receive support from expert advisors and resources for the next 12 months.
Funded by Creative England and Innovate UK, Emile Education developed a cutting-edge maths resource that children want to play.
It is not putting together other people’s resources or simply managing data – it is making real games that help engage students, harnessing the addictive power of Candy Crush and delivering real impact on learning.
Featured by Microsoft in their education partners brochure and shortlisted for a global education prize, Emile can already be accessed in over 1,000 schools in the UK.
Available in eight different languages, Emile expects to be in schools in 20 different countries before the end of 2018.
OneFile has transformed how vocational training is delivered and assessed, with its software helping thousands of people learn their own way and reach their full potential.
Employing 85 people, Onefile has more than 600,000 users across the globe. The all-in-one learning platform is now a training eportfolio, assessment software, CPD tracker and virtual learning environment.
In 2017 it won the Greater Manchester Business of the Year award and the 2017 Queen’s Award for Innovation for its offline eportfolio app.
With a quarter of all UK apprentices now using OneFile, its mission is to shape the futures of a million people by the end of 2020.
Synap is an intelligent online learning platform that helps companies deliver personalised, effective and engaging training at scale. It was developed to address a major problem its founders experienced whilst studying at Leeds University: that training is often dull, repetitive and does not lead to long-lasting retention of information.
Synap’s unique approach helps to break down training into 5-10 minute chunks people can practise anytime, anywhere. Over time, Synap learns about each individual’s strengths and weaknesses and uses that to create a personalised learning plan just for them.
Its goal is to change the way workplace learning is delivered. Online learning should mean that training is more responsive, adaptable and tailored to individual needs. It should also take advantage of the medium to create social, engaging and challenging learning experiences.
The Leeds firm has worked with the likes of the US Air Force and NHS Digital to deliver bespoke training programmes.