Bath software developer Rocketmakers has triumphed for the second year in a row at The SPARKies, the awards that champion the best of the West of England’s tech and digital community.
Held in Bath’s Parade Gardens last week, the annual awards are staged by TechSPARK, the information hub for all things tech in Bristol, Bath and the West of England.
But while Bath firms landed six of the 17 awards last year – which celebrate the best start-ups, designs, hardware, people and more – this year Rocketmakers was the city’s sole winner.
Having landed the Best Use of VR/MR title in 2022, the firm this year headed the Best Digital Design category.
Rocketmakers, which was launched in 2007 by Richard Godfrey, Paul Cross and Keith Walker, has grown to employ around 60 people by helping large organisations innovate like start-ups and start-ups build enterprise-quality solutions.
Clients include accountancy giant KPMG, the BBC and Nokia.
A long-time supporter of The SPARKies – it was again among the sponsors this year – the firm’s services span User Experience (UX) design and prototyping, Artificial Intelligence & machine learning, and web development.
The SPARKies, which were launched in 2012, have grown to become to best-respected tech accolades in the region, attracting hundreds of entries from across the region’s vibrant tech sector.
Other winners this year were:
The ‘Totally Killing It’ Award
Winner: Cajigo, a mentoring and recruitment app designed to help bridge the gender gap in the tech sector, which was launched by Bristol-based entrepreneur Rav Bumbra.
The Hardware Award
Winner: Matter, for its product Gulp. The Bristol-based firm was founded in 2017 by former Dyson engineer and keen scuba diver Adam Root, who was shocked to discover the size of the microplastics problem – 5.25trillion particles of plastic are currently in the world’s oceans – and set about using his skills and experience to engineer a solution to stop them reaching the ocean in the first place, then recycling them. Gulp is an innovative method of capturing, harvesting and recycling microplastics before they can pollute the world’s oceans.
The ‘Good’ Award
Winner: Bristol Braille Technology CIC, which has dedicated the past 12 years to creating better Braille technology and breaking down the barriers blind people face.
Most Innovative Use of Tech
Winner: EarSwitch. As a medical student 30 years ago, founder and CEO Dr Nick Gompertz witnessed people with Motor Neurone Disease lose their ability to communicate. The concept of a communication device that uses the tensor tympani, one of the smallest muscles in the body, was born. Based at UWE’s Future Space innovation hub, EarSwitch is augmenting human-to-environment interaction in medical and interactive tech.
FutureSPARK
Winner: Georgia Howlett, senior cloud generation manager and VP of pWr UK. Bristol-based Georgia is empowering a world-class sales team and technology professionals while also driving female empowerment and collaboration with the ambition to uplift careers for women in Pax8.
Founder of the Year
Winner: Mel Rodriges, founder and CEO of Bristol-based Gritty Talent, which connects the best under-represented talent with decision-makers in the TV industry.
Data Data Data
Winner: Good With. Bude, Cornwall-based Good With takes a scientific and psychology-based approach to money. Its app has been proven to alleviate financial stresses and aims to create life-changing money habits that support mental health.
Community Award
Winner: GEL Studios, a branding, graphic design and website design agency based in Swindon.
Best Use of Immersive Tech
Winner: Bristol-based Zubr.co, which specialises in augmented and virtual reality innovation.
Best Startup
Winner: Based in Bristol, Stornaway is an interactive video story maker designed for non-coders with a browser-based editor lets users map out their story visually and play it instantly.
Best Scaleup
Winner: Loqbox, the Bristol-based FinTech aiming to eradicate financial exclusion.
Best Place to Work in Tech
Winner: KETS Quantum Security, the Bristol-based data protection and cyber security firm that is pioneering quantum encryption on a chip. It won the Hardware Award last year.
Best Mentor/Advisor
Winner: Aimee skinner, the senior innovation and growth manager at Future Space, the science and tech hub on UWE Bristol’s Frenchay campus.
Best Cyber Company
Winner: Stripe OLT, the Bristol-headquartered leading Microsoft cloud & cyber security specialist.
Awesome Human Award
Winner: Zoe Colosimo, the COO and a founding member of Neighbourly, the Bristol-based award-winning community engagement and investment platform that supports more than 20,000 community causes across the UK and Ireland, connecting them to resources from leading businesses.
