A trio of local companies have been confirmed as finalists for the 2014 leg of the Merseyside Innovation Awards.
Three businesses were selected by a panel of judges from a shortlist of six and will go head-to-head next month to decide the overall champion.
The finalists:
- Supercar developer Briggs Automotive Company (BAC) (pictured) – creator of the first road-legal single-seat sports car the BAC Mono. The car has a £110k price tag, a top speed of 170mph and the ability to go from 0 to 60mph in 2.8 seconds. Sixty jobs were created by the company when it moved to Speke last year and manufacturing capacity is set to be increased to 100 cars per year by 2015.
- Liverpool John Moores University spin-out Pulmorphix, which has developed a ‘lung biosimulator’ device that replciates the conditions of a human lung, in order to develop drug testing. The invention will allow drug developers to have a reliable understanding of how drugs will behave when inhaled so that more medicines can be produced in powder form to overcome refrigeration issues in some countries.
- Bromborough-based recycling company Ultromex, which has designed a chemical process that aims to aid the recycling of cathode ray tubes from old televisions. The innovative method removes the harmfil byproducts created by traditional methods . Processes for the recycling of flatscreen TVs and computer motherboards are now also in development.
The finalists are now due to present to a judging panel BBC Radio Merseyside presenter Linda McDermott; BBC North West Tonight anchorman Roger Johnson; Mike Houghton, divisional director of Siemens Industry; and Neville Freeman, creator of last year’s winner Nanoflex, at the Liverpool Crowne Place Hotel on 10th July.
MIA founder Brian McCann, partner and director of MC Vanguard Corporate Finance, championed the standard of this year’s entries. He said:
“We have had so many high quality entries across a wide range of commercial applications.
“From medical research tools to websites which offer a new way to engage with music to industrial machines which could revolutionise their respective fields of work.
“Never have we had such a diversity and volume of good, commercially viable innovations to choose from and choosing between them has been difficult.”
Supporters
Sponsors include Insider Media, BBC Radio Merseyside, Brabners, Kenyon Fraser, Unilever, Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, Liverpool LEP, NatWest, University of Liverpool Management School, MC Vanguard Corporate Finance, Village Software, Butters Innovation, WP Thompson, C-Tech Innovation, Trustech Smart Healthcare Ventures and the North West Fund.
Source: Insider Media
Image source: Liverpool Echo