Published on the 19/05/2014 | Written by Newsdesk
The 20th anniversary of the Hi-Tech Awards competition was a reflection of the strength and vibrancy of New Zealand’s technology industry, said Chairman, Wayne Norrie…
Winners were presented with their awards at a Gala Dinner in Christchurch on Friday 16 May, marking the 20th anniversary of the Awards.
Judges reported that the calibre of this year’s entrants was extremely high, making the job of selecting winners exceedingly challenging for the more than 50 local and international judges who assessed entrants across the 12 award categories. The result was six ‘highly commended’ recognitions being handed out in addition to the winners. The Hi-Tech Awards emphasised that these are only given in exceptional circumstances “when results are particularly close and the judges consider a runner-up entrant is worthy of recognition”.
NZ Hi-Tech Trust Chair Wayne Norrie said that with such tough competition across the categories, it was pleasing to see some new faces amongst the winners – companies such as Delta Strike International, Vigil Monitoring and Smart Water Technology.
“For these companies to have won against such a stellar line-up of entrants is a great sign for this industry,” he says, “it shows the wealth of talent and opportunity that’s out there.”
The IBM Hi-Tech Exporter of the Year Award for companies under $5 million was particularly hotly contested, and judges were so impressed with the entry from Animation Research that they took the unprecedented step of recommending a special award be made in recognition of Animation Research’s contribution to the industry.
Orion Health, Vend and Vmob were standout winners in this year, all winning two awards each, with Vmob also being singled out for a special commendation in a third category. The latter prompted Vmob to say it was the “most recognised company” at the Awards and VMob CEO and founder Scott Bradley said coming out on top at the awards highlights the proven success and value of VMob’s offering.
“It was such a strong field this year – so we’re thrilled to have VMob recognised for the significant traction we’re making in market. Our proven technology software continues to perform at scale both here and overseas, generating measurable results and delivering significant ROI for clients.”
Bradley said that while VMob is rolling out unique mobile marketing campaigns with the technology, it’s not so much the technology behind the product that won them the award, but the way Vmob is using it.
Orion Health won the big award of the night, the PwC Hi-Tech Company of the Year Award for 2014, 13 years after winning it for the first time, and also took home the NZMEA Hi-Tech Exporter of the Year Award for companies over $5 million.
Judges were highly complementary about Orion Health’s performance and future plans.
“Orion Health has demonstrated outstanding year-on-year growth, substantial business acumen in a terribly complex and competitive market, and amazing international diversification. It is no small achievement that Orion Health has obtained 49 of the 50 US States as customers. Orion Health is simply a standout example of a New Zealand company that has achieved global presence and financial scale through product and management excellence.”
Orion Health CEO Ian McCrae said: “Given the calibre of the finalists, we are obviously immensely proud to be named as the leading Hi-Tech Company for 2014. The companies we were up against are not just leading New Zealand businesses, but are well on their way to becoming global leaders in their respective industries.”
McCrea also believed that Orion Health’s ability to continue as a highly influential technology company with sustained global excellence over more than 13 years is a remarkable achievement and the highlight of the win.
Vend scooped up the Cisco Hi-Tech Emerging Company of the Year Award, and, for the second year running, the IBM Hi-Tech Exporter of the Year Award for companies under $5 million.
Judges were particularly impressed by Vend’s history of meeting its forecast numbers every time, its mature approach to sales and marketing and how well the product and business story were presented to judges.
“With 10,000 customers located in 140 countries, Vend is clearly well on its way. It’s also very pleasing to see they have been able to rebuff all approaches to locate offshore which is testament to their determination to remain a Kiwi company.”
Vmob won both the Grow Wellington Innovative Service Product Award and the UK Trade & Investment Innovative Mobile Technology Award, and received a commendation in the Duncan Cotterill Innovative Software Product Award – which was won by Mindscape.
Guy Horrocks, co-founder of Carnival Mobile – which last year won the Most Innovative Mobile Technology Award – was amongst the winners again, taking away the Fronde Hi-Tech Young Achiever Award.
Norrie said of the night: “Tonight marks a particularly special milestone for the Hi-Tech Awards itself. Not only is this the 20th Anniversary of the Awards, but we’re also thrilled to be able to host the Gala Dinner in Christchurch this year. The industry here in Christchurch has been incredibly welcoming and supportive, and I’d like to thank them for all their help.”
“I’d also like to extend a huge thank-you to all our local and international judges for helping to make this Awards such a success. We are incredibly fortunate to attract judges of the calibre that we do. These are highly successful, busy people. For them to devote considerable time and energy to judging these awards says a huge amount about their commitment to this industry,” Norrie says.
“It also says a lot about the calibre of entries we receive. Judges have been full of praise for the outstanding companies participating in this year’s Awards – they are all deserving of our congratulations. And it’s great to see how past winners are continuing to go from strength to strength too. We look forward to next year’s Awards.”
The 2014 NZ Hi-Tech Award winners are:
Fronde Hi-Tech Young Achiever Award
Winner: Guy Horrocks – Co-founder of Carnival Mobile
New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Best Contribution to the New Zealand Hi-Tech Sector by an Internationally Headquartered Company
Winner: Microsoft
IBM Hi-Tech Exporter of the Year Award – Under $5million
Winner: Vend
Special Lifetime Achievement Award: Animation Research
NZMEA Hi-Tech Exporter of the Year Award – Over $5million
Winner: Orion Health
Duncan Cotterill Innovative Software Product Award
Winner: Mindscape
Highly Commended: VMob
Endace Innovative Hardware Product Award
Winner: Delta Strike International
Highly Commended: Dairy Automation
Grow Wellington Innovative Service Product Award
Winner: VMob
Highly Commended: Mindscape
UK Trade & Investment Innovative Mobile Technology Award
Winner: VMob
Callaghan Innovation Pre-commercialisation Company of the Year
Winner: Vigil Monitoring
New Zealand Venture Investment Fund Hi-Tech Start-up Company of the Year
Winner: Smart Water Technology
Highly Commended: Timely
Cisco Hi-Tech Emerging Company of the Year
Winner: Vend
Highly Commended: Movio
PwC NZ Hi-Tech Company of the Year Award
Winner: Orion Health
