Date 26 June 2007

The prestigious Emirates Stadium, home to Arsenal Football Club, was Friday night’s venue for the coveted 2007 Watford and Northwest London Business Awards – a glittering night that annually pays tribute to the region’s top businesses. Hosted by the BBC’s “Breakfast” business news presenter Declan Curry, the dinner and awards ceremony saw 8 of the 32 nominated finalists walk away with the much-sought after titles.

Of the 8 awards, the SA Law-sponsored “Innovation Award” drew huge interest. Winning the title was Imagination Technologies – a Kings Langley-based company that develops multimedia and communication technologies for use in mobile, consumer, automotive and computer products. In addition to licensing their technologies to many blue chip companies such as Intel, TI and SHARP, Imagination's PURE Digital division has become the leading brand for radios in the UK – having pioneered DAB digital radio products.

Joining them as winners were: Nigel Fredericks for “The Small Business of the Year Award”; Link Research for “The International Trade & Export Award”; Optoma EMEA for “The Growing Business Award”; Clock for “The Success Through People Award”; Gary Penning of Pennings Accident Repair Centre for “The Entrepreneur Award”; and Chris Rogers of iReglatory Ltd for “The Best New Graduate in Business Award”. The prestigious “Business of the Year Award” went to Sigma Pharmaceuticals.

“As judges, we were faced with an unprecedented level of quality amongst the finalists,” comments Steve Ryan, SA Law’s Managing Partner. “Judging the Innovation Award was extremely difficult – each of the nominated finalists had embraced innovation in many different aspects of their businesses and used it as a pivot for their continued success. However, we are delighted to single out Imagination Technologies, which not only applies innovation to its outstanding products, but also to the methods it uses to get those products to market.”

“We are delighted to have been involved as a sponsor for such a prominent and celebrated regional event,” adds Julie Gingell, SA Law’s Head of Marketing and co-judge of the Innovation Award category. “The 2007 awards have once again highlighted the exceptional talent of our local businesses across extremely diverse sectors. This is particularly the case with the Innovation Award, which has brought us into contact with some of the real commercial leaders in the region.”