Inovus Medical, a St Helens-based technology scaleup that designs and manufactures surgical training technologies, has excelled amid strong competition from fast-growth businesses from across the UK to be crowned KPMG’s UK Tech Innovator 2023.
Following close to 400 applications to the competition, eight finalists – one from each region – were selected to take part in the national final, which was held at KPMG’s new Ignition North centre in Manchester on Monday night.
Dr Elliot Street, co-founder and CEO of Inovus Medical, delivered a winning pitch to a panel of judges from the tech industry and investor community.
Inovus Medical is a multi-award-winning designer and manufacturer of surgical training technologies. The company was founded with a clear purpose: to improve surgical care through connected training.
At the heart of everything Inovus does are its core values of affordable, accessible and functional technologies. A relentless drive to deliver on these values is what is allowing Inovus to deliver on its mission of becoming the world’s partner for surgical training.
Inovus Medical joins the impressive list of winners who have gone on to do great things, including companies such as What3Words, SafetoNet, FIDOTech and 2022 winner HiiROC, which went on to win the global final in Lisbon.
“I am excited and humbled,” said Street. “It’s a massive thing for us to win this and I’m really proud of our team and excited for them to receive the recognition for their incredible commitment to our mission. Being crowned KPMG’s Tech Innovator in the UK winner will really galvanise the team as we scale.
He added: “I am really looking forward to the global final in Lisbon and I am incredibly proud to be representing the UK on a global stage and representing UK medtech. There’s a lot of chatter about AI but we also need tech to solve some fundamental day-to-day problems, in our case, safe surgical care for all.”
Warren Middleton, lead partner of the Emerging Giants Centre of Excellence for KPMG in the UK, said: “The power of our technology sector to deliver impact on a global scale and unlock huge economic benefits, is more important than it’s ever been. The UK continues produce and nurture exceptional innovation and this competition shines a spotlight on just some of the truly disruptive technology being developed up and down the country.”
In addition to taking the Tech Innovator in the UK crown, Inovus Medical also won the Social Impact Award. The People’s Choice winner was Electrogenos, while iethico scooped the Diversity in Leadership Award.
Middleton added: “Inovus Medical is a fantastic example of the growing number of innovative UK businesses who are proving that there is much opportunity for growth if businesses are prepared to think differently or come at the problem from a new angle. I wish them the best of luck as they move on to represent the UK at the global competition in Lisbon and we are excited to be supporting all of our finalists with their journey as they work towards becoming the game-changers of tomorrow.”
The nationwide competition, which is celebrating its 10th year, has uncovered British tech innovators including What3Words and HiiROC. Having shone a light on a host of tech success stories from across the country, the competition is also now in its third year of going global and has expanded to include technology innovators competing across over 20 countries representing major regions of the world.
Inovus Medical will now progress to the global stage of the competition in Lisbon for Web Summit, taking place in November, to compete with tech innovators from 22 other countries. The winner of that stage of the competition will be crowned the Global Tech Innovator 2023.
The finalists representing eight regions across the UK were:
– Mimicrete – East of England
– Oaktree Power – London
– Goldilock – Midlands
– Inovus Medical – North West
– iethico – Representing the North East
– Leap Automation – Scotland
– Electrogenos – South
– TrimTabs – South West/Wales
The finalists will not only have the opportunity to be recognised as one of the UK’s most successful technology innovators but have also been provided with entry to a bespoke version of KPMG’s Access programme for fast-growth businesses, exclusive networking opportunities among industry experts, their peers and other tech innovators.
The 12-month programme has been designed to help supercharge the growth of some of the UK’s most innovative scale-up businesses with insights, knowledge and a robust peer and adviser network. Founders will be supported by monthly masterclasses on business fundamentals such as leadership and resilience, governance and building effective boards, ESG strategy and reporting and international growth.
These sessions, alongside four peer networking events and regular one-to-one mentorship, will connect businesses with KPMG advisers to support firms in developing their growth strategy.
In partnership with KPMG.