The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has announced 12 winners in this year’s ‘Made in the UK, Sold to the World’ awards.
Back for its third year, the awards celebrate “outstanding small businesses achieving exporting success”, the government announced yesterday (24 June).
DBT said this year’s winners showcased the UK’s strength in “sustainability and AI innovation”.
“The innovation and entrepreneurship shown by the businesses entering the Made in the UK, Sold to the World Awards demonstrate the best of British business,” said exports minister Gareth Thomas.
‘Inspiring innovators’
Marco Forgione, the director general of the Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade, and one of the award judges, said that this year’s winners were “inspiring and innovative” that “prove that UK SMEs can still thrive in global markets”.
“What stood out to me, when judging for this year’s awards, was the sheer number of inspiring and innovative SMEs in all nations and regions of the UK.
“From AI to sustainability, the UK small business community is leading the way in finding solutions to the challenges that the world faces.
“These awards also provide an important opportunity to recognise the growth that international trade can bring to businesses of all sizes. The winners prove that UK SMEs can still thrive in global markets, despite the challenging economic landscape.”
“When small businesses export, the whole economy benefits,” said minister Thomas.
“By celebrating the outstanding international trade achievements of UK SMEs, we hope to encourage more businesses to get on the exporting ladder and take the best of Britain to markets around the world.”
The winners
· Avon Specialty Metals (Gloucester) won the Advanced Manufacturing & Construction award
· Gerald McDonald and Company Ltd (Basildon, Essex) won Agriculture, Food & Drink
· Champions Speakers (Loughborough) won Consultancy & Professional Services
· Luminous Show Technology (Exeter) won Creative Industries
· Porotech (Cambridge) won Digital & Technology
· Twin Science & Robotics Ltd (London) won Education & EdTech
· Ozone Financial Technology Ltd (London) won Financial Services & FinTech
· LIMB-art (Conwy, Wales) won Healthcare
· Maritime Developments Limited (Aberdeen) won Infrastructure & Engineering
· Osbit (Riding Mill, Northumberland) won Low Carbon Energy
· Jenolite UK Ltd (Biggleswade, Bedfordshire) won Retail & Consumer Goods
· ubloquity (Scarva, Northern Ireland) won Export Services
All of the winners and highly commended entries get a year’s free membership with the Chartered Institute.
Serial winners
Among the winners was ubloquity, which also won one of the Chartered Institute’s International Trade Awards in 2023.
In 2023, after receiving that award at that year’s Import Export Show, the firm’s CEO, Rob Chester, said:
“I think it’s because we’re innovating, and the world of international trade has got to move more towards innovative ways of doing things. We formed a consortium of different companies where we’re all trying to innovate. We’re all trying to do things in a better and more efficient way [compared to] the traditional approach to trade.”
Many of the winners have also been recognised in this year’s King’s Awards for Enterprise.
SME growth strategy
DBT said the awards supported the government’s mission to grow UK GDP.
“A key part of this mission is supporting SMEs to grow, scale and enter global markets—recognising that when more businesses trade internationally, the entire UK economy benefits,” the department said.
“Exporting supports a fifth of UK employment, paying on average 7% higher wages and delivering 21% higher productivity for goods exporters.”
