Martin Vander Weyer Martin Vander Weyer

A booster shot of optimism

Stormy weather, stormy politics, a flatlining economy — but in a gala gathering of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists there’s always optimism. Our Spectator Economic Innovator of the Year Awards dinner sponsored by Investec at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel on 9 November really was a booster shot against autumn blues: a glittering crowd, a buzz that could have charged a fleet of Teslas, and a spectacular venue in the great 19th-century railway terminus that was itself an icon of British innovation in its day.

These awards, now in their sixth year, salute high-growth, entrepreneur-led businesses from across the UK. A record 247 entrants for 2023 represented the widest possible range of sectors and technologies, with trends towards artificial intelligence and environmental sustainability.

Our panels of judges convened in London, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Edinburgh to meet a total of 43 regional finalists, invited to pitch across convivial lunch tables. The judges applied their experience as business founders and investors in choosing
winners that represent significant innovation and have the potential to make international impact.

Recognising that we’re looking at businesses in very different stages of development, we introduced an innovation of our own this year by dividing regional finalists into categories by size, breakthrough (less than £3 million in annual revenues) and scale-up (£3 million or more). Our most testing challenge was to pick two final names: an overall winner and the recipient of the Award for Excellence in Sustainability.

In the latter category among many worthy entrants was one which blew us away: Graphene Innovations Manchester, represented by Dr Vivek Konchery, uses the miracle material graphene — invented in Manchester — to make concrete for the construction industry without cement (which accounts for 8 per cent of global carbon emissions) and with minimal use of water. GIM has already signed large contracts in the Middle East and is certainly a name to watch.

Our overall Economic Innovator of the Year 2023 is ComplyAdvantage, a financial crime intelligence venture which uses AI and machine learning to provide business clients — more than 1,000 so far — with the means to detect money-laundering, fraud and other criminal activity. It’s a business with global scope, using cutting-edge tech to provide an increasingly vital service: represented by Iain Armstrong, a winner that met our criteria in every way.

Finally, we welcomed as this year’s guest of honour Kevin Hollinrake MP, the minister for enterprise, markets and small business, who spoke about government schemes such as Help To Grow designed to support entrepreneurs — but perhaps more importantly, shared his own experience, before politics, of steering a successful enterprise through difficult times. ‘There are good days in business and there are tough days,’ he said, ‘but there are never bad days.’ This year’s winners and entrants we look forward to meeting in 2025, united in optimism, will all cry: ‘Hear hear!’

Read more about the winners at spectator.co.uk/innovator

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