8:40am Thursday 15th July 2010
By Maggie Hartford
High-tech know-how is behind the success of the six Oxfordshire companies which won this year's Queen’s Awards for Enterprise. The top honour is only given to firms which demonstrate outstanding performance in their chosen field.
Drug-test kit specialist Concateno, of Milton Park near Didcot; radar sensor developer Navtech Radar of Ardington, near Wantage; electronic notice board firm Onelan and high-tech engineering firm Oxford Instruments Nanoscience, of Tubney Woods, near Abingdon, took honours in the Innovation category.
Abingdon-based medical equipment manufacturer Penlon and luxury boat-builder Williams Performance Tenders of Berinsfield both won in the International Trade category, given for increasing exports.
Concateno's laboratories at Milton Park, near Didcot, developed the Cozart DSS saliva test kit for six drugs, used by police forces worldwide.
Concateno's takeover of Abingdon-based Cozart in 2007 in a £64.5m deal made multi-millionaires of Cozart's founders, Chris and Philip Hand. Chris Hand, a former Oxford University researcher, remained a non-executive director of Concateno until 2009, when it was bought by US company Inverness Medical Innovations. It employs about 300 people at Milton Park.
Chief executive Peter Welch said: “Designed and built here in the UK by our own staff, the DSS device has helped improve the efficiency of police officers, healthcare professionals and others around the world by significantly speeding up sample analysis.”
Navtech Radar's founders, Philip Avery and Stephen Clark, were also researchers at Oxford University. They specialised in radar with short wavelengths and moved together to Australia before returning to Britain to set up the company.
Mr Avery said sales of its outdoor warning systems had been boosted by increased awareness of the need to protect airports, power stations and data centres.
“The Queen’s Award is very highly recognised outside the UK and this will certainly help us to raise the awareness of our solutions both nationally and abroad,” he said.
Innovations by the small company include a precision timing system, a new radar beam pattern to improve coverage and detection, and robust electronics to ensure reliable and accurate operation in harsh environments, said the citation.
Oxford Instruments NanoScience is honoured for Triton 200, a high-tech refrigerator with an integrated superconducting magnet. The instrument can cool to near absolute zero temperatures without the need for expensive liquid helium.
Oxford Instruments was Oxford University's first spin-out company, set up in 1959 by Sir Martin and Lady Audrey Wood, who won a lifetime achievement award at this year's Oxfordshire Business of the Year awards.
Dr Jim Hutchins, managing director of Oxford Instruments NanoScience, said: “Innovation has been at the heart of our company’s growth and success for over 50 years, and I am delighted that it continues to flourish.
“Our focus on listening to our customers and developing tools and systems that they want is reflected in this achievement — and we shall continue to build on this success.”
Chief executive Jonathan Flint said: “This is the ninth Queen’s Award that the company has won, and is a reflection of our commitment to delivering the tools that are needed to face the great challenges of the 21st century.”
It is the fourth award for Penlon and its 300 employees. It is the only independent UK-based manufacturer of anaesthesia systems, set up in 1943 by Oxford University medics.
More than 60 per cent of its life-supporting medical equipment is exported to more than 90 countries and revenues have more than doubled over six years.
Penlon supplied the first liquid oxygen contract to Sri Lanka for five regional hospitals following the tsunami of 2006 and installed medical pipeline into 12 new hospitals in Iraq. Its Sigma Delta Vaporizer won an Innovation award in 2002.
Group sales director Peter Worrallo, who has been with the company almost 20 years said: “It is particularly gratifying in what has been a tough economic climate and is a testament to the dedication of the team and strength of partnerships with our excellent distributors.”
Ian Gil-Rodriguez, business director of subsidiary Medical Gas Solutions, said: “We have worked closely with many health ministries to help them adopt this technology, to ensure the safe delivery of gases throughout hospitals.”
Chief executive Peter Leyland said: “Penlon is immensely proud to receive this accolade, which reflects the combined expertise and effort of everyone who
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