Three firms from the Bath area ranging from an eyewear frames manufacturer to a consultancy using artificial intelligence to transform businesses and an internet services company have been awarded coveted Queen’s Awards for Enterprise.
The accolades won by Inspecs Group, Kaiasm and Netcraft are the most prestigious for UK businesses in the country and are widely recognised as a highly valued mark of excellence. 
They have been awarded annually since 1965 and this year 128 companies received a Queen’s Award for International Trade with 66 gaining a Queen’s Award for Innovation.
Bath-based Netcraft is one of only three firms across the UK to win a double Queen’s Award for Enterprise, meaning it has received awards in both categories.
The firm has provided internet security services for around 25 years, including cybercrime disruption, application security testing and automated vulnerability scanning.
Netcraft now provides countermeasures against some 75 different forms of cybercrime, and on behalf of customers, disrupts at least a quarter of all phishing attacks worldwide.
It has worked with the government on cyber security and preventing phishing emails and is currently involved in preventing cyber criminals exploiting the coronavirus pandemic.
So far it has is has disrupted more than 2,000 Coronavirus related cybercrime attacks.
Inspecs has been awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise: International Trade for its outstanding overseas sales growth over the past three years.
It is the second time the firm, which employs 1,300 people globally – 55 of them at its Bath headquarters – has won the award. The accolade comes two months after the firm raised around £23.5m from the sale of 48.2m shares ahead of its listing on the Stock Exchange’s junior Alternative Investment Market (AIM).
Inspecs has founded by former bond trader Robin Totterman in 1988 after he failed to find a pair of glasses he liked. It won its first Queen’s Award in 2007. 
It has since grown rapidly, making underlying profits of £6.2m on sales of £45m in 2018 with a distribution network covering more than 80 countries and reaching around 30,000 points of sale.
The group said winning the award for International Trade for the second time highlighted its global network and vision of providing the highest standard of design and manufacturing of eyewear products to consumers across the globe.
Inspecs is one of the few global companies to produce large volume, high-quality eyewear in-house. It has operations in the UK, Portugal, Scandinavia, the US and China – including Hong Kong, Macau and Shenzhen – and factories in Vietnam, China, London and Italy.
In addition, it exports to more than 80 countries across five continents through a network of distributors, direct supply, and subsidiaries. Its top four international markets are the US, Germany, France, and the Netherlands.
CEO Robin Totterman said: “I am absolutely thrilled that Inspecs has won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade once again, an amazing achievement considering we started the business out of my railway cottage in Battersea in 1988. Today we are celebrating the company’s success as a global business.
“This award acknowledges our stellar international growth whilst cementing our vision to provide the highest standard of design and manufacturing of eyewear products to consumers across the globe.
Kaiasm, based at Whatley, near Frome, has won its Queen’s Award for innovation, reflecting what it calls its “mission to benefit society by empowering business to meet more of its needs”.
The firm works to improve the outcomes for both organisations and for the individuals in them who are seeking new ways of working.
It does this by using human-guided artificial intelligence (AI) and big data to create a new kind of market insight from the measurable demand of tens of millions of people in market spaces of tens of thousands of retail competitors. 
Its clients range from Somerset firms such as shoe retailer Clarks and DIY products retail group Screwfix to the NHS and Lloyds Bank.
Businesses gaining a Queen’s Award can use the highly recognisable emblem for the following five years on its letterhead, advertising and packaging and publicity material.
Since the scheme’s launch 54 years ago just over 7,000 UK businesses have received awards, ranging from global manufacturing and retail giants to micro businesses employing a handful of people.
Winners are invited to attend a special reception at Buckingham Palace and are also officially presented with their award during a company visit by their county’s royal representative the Lord Lieutenant.
