Congratulations to all shortlisted entries for this year's Dynamites 22 Awards in association with Nigel Wright Recruitment.
We look forward to celebrating with you all on the 10th November!
For full Dynamites information please visit Dynamites 22 page
Hughes are the largest renter of domestic electrical products in the UK (150,000 items in 65,000 households). With so much data, it was difficult for Hughes to predict customer quality and product performance.
Azets Newcastle Data Analytics helped Hughes understand their customers and products and how demographics, brand and marketing channels influence quality and value. This insight drives investment decisions in marketing and purchases, reducing annual spend by £0.75m without impacting income.
Without a warehouse management system, transparency on stock was an issue. That had to change but a WMS project was months away. In stepped the Data Team, to build an application which processes, tracks, and visualises millions of daily stock records to highlight trends at a glance. By empowering staff with lightning-fast stock data at their fingertips, teams are able to concentrate on their day jobs and put debate around stock to bed.
Jumping Rivers took over the maintenance and streamlining of the WHO/Europe’s COVID-19 vaccination programme monitoring app. By increasing the efficiency of the data processing tasks and utilising external tools such as GitHub, they were able to create a positive user experience for all visitors to the vaccination monitoring app. They also automated most of the data cleaning, such that staff at the WHO/Europe can concentrate their efforts elsewhere
Kani exist to automate and reduce complexity of complex payments data, regulatory reporting and reconciliation processes for the fintech and payments industry, worldwide, from their home in Newcastle.
Kani's solution ingests payments data from any source, automates mission-critical transaction reporting and reconciliation processes, and presents data in a simple, standardised way – within seconds. Whereas in-house reporting can take days or even weeks to complete, Kani speeds up the delivery and accuracy of valuable data-driven insights to fintechs at all stages of their journey.
SARA Partnership – Sunderland City Council
The SARA Partnership is a ground-breaking way of working; with the Partnership embarking on a journey of data-driven decision making, enhanced through the development of the Partnership Data Platform, designed and owned by practitioners. Converging several datasets through automation, the Data Platform provides rich insights to practitioners at community, location, street, household, or individual level contributing to decision making, targeting and deploying of resources, optimising different agencies involvement and underpinning problem solving.
The Waterstons-built A Star Attendance System was created to use data to provide school staff with information around pupil attendance, helping them to monitor absence, identify patterns and provide early intervention, support and pastoral care before absence impacts education.
The system enables attendance data to be used for the best possible purpose – helping children access education. And not only does it work, it’s been proven.
Promoting good mental health, diversity and inclusion, pioneering equality to break down barriers through digital and social inclusion! When you give with meaning, everyone thrives! Their work is all about people, their expressions, dreams and aspirations. They are determined to work for the betterment of people and support them to realise their full potential.
Cognassist is the UK’s leading digital cognitive assessment and neurodiversity platform, working with over 150 education providers and businesses. Our cloud-based platform identifies a broad spectrum of cognitive differences in 30 minutes, provides personalised support and delivers in-depth neurodiversity training, which enables us to drive real change at scale.
Cognassist is on a mission to create a world where every diverse mind can thrive.
Opencast is working hard for a more diverse and inclusive tech sector – and our action is driven by our people. We want to open up opportunities to all communities in and beyond the North East. We strive for a better workplace balance – and half our hires are now women. 30+ visa sponsorships help people relocate to the UK. We’re a signatory to the Tech Talent Charter and a Stonewall Diversity Champion, and sponsor diversity events.
Enabling training, connectivity and the use of an IT-device gives access to a fair education to newly arrived children, young people and their families.
Having the opportunity to develop new skills gives an excluded community the courage and confidence to unlock within them the desire to discover, to learn and to create.
Without fair access to education, the world remains closed and out of reach.
Co-founders Ben Ridgway and Jamie Cooke established iamproperty to innovate and pioneer digital solutions which modernise the property market for everyone. Through acquisitions, organic growth, and building its Partner Agent network to share industry leading solutions, iamproperty has continued to build a culture of innovation. Investing in people and hiring forward-thinking teammates allows iamproperty to stay ahead of the curve and create digital solutions that drive real value for Estate Agents.
Mediaworks continues to rapidly grow and we’re recognised as one of the leading Independent Digital Agency in the UK by delivering best in class brand, marketing and digital experiences.
Mediaworks has recruited the brightest minds in marketing and digital transformation, expanded across the north of the UK and has worked with some of the the largest brands in the UK and Europe, resulting in doubling the size of its business since 2019.
In a remarkable growth year, Opencast has more than doubled its people numbers and turnover. We now expect to employ 500 people by 2023, with new clients and partnerships, and revenues exceeding projections.
A new HQ office and new hubs in three cities support our UK-wide presence. We're led by a dynamic and forward-thinking senior team.
Despite rapid growth, we’re determined Opencast will not lose its people-focused culture. Our people remain our top priority!
Seriös Group are a North-East-based data analytics and testing consultancy who have organically doubled their first year revenue and are already on track to repeat the feat this financial year whilst remaining profitable.
The significant expansion of the investment and debt-free business is also reflected by its current headcount, with staff numbers growing from 7 to 40 in the past 12-months.
De-La-Rue, Jones Lang LaSalle, Integral-UK and Sage are among their big corporate clients.
For techies who are fed up with the age-old recruitment approach, Haystack is a tech careers marketplace that uncovers, highlights and curates opportunities based on a user’s interests, values and tech stack. We’re ditching dull job boards and scrapping recruitment middlemen - allowing techies to filter out the noise and tech employers to engage directly with tech talent.
HMRC has adopted a ‘scaffold by default’ approach to service creation. Scaffolds create real world and maintainable codebases that have unlocked new ways of working between User-centred Design and Engineering colleagues. They greatly reduce our time to market and allow for longer periods of time experimenting and learning ‘in Beta’. Appropriate use of standard patterns reduces the overall cost of ownership, resulting in massive savings to taxpayers in the short, medium and long term.
Created for Agents by Agents, movebutler was developed to modernise the Private Treaty process and solve industry problems by bringing much needed speed, transparency, and collaboration. With the addition of new modules including Mortgages and Compliance, movebutler joins financial and legal preparation with the onboarding and sales progression journey with improved upfront information, ensuring Agents can spend more time adding value for clients and winning new instructions to maximise revenue opportunities.
Deepeo was developed in the Northeast by Infotel to help solve a problem which affects every business that holds personal data, it has already been adopted by local banking and automotive clients and is a cost-effective solution to managing a very difficult problem. Deepeo helps businesses avoid non-compliance to GDPR and ensures consumers data is fully remediated at the end of its use and is expanding to be a holistic tool for Data Protection Officers.
BAI Communications/Sunderland City Council
Sunderland City Council’s joint venture partnership with BAI Communications has formed a world-first, 20-year smart city strategic partnership to deliver significant socio-economic benefits to residents and businesses. This includes designing, building and operating next generation wireless networks, incorporating free ultrafast WiFi, LoRaWAN connectivity and a private 5G small cell network alongside a wide range of innovative digital and data solutions.
The consultancy delivered by Ira Watt allowed the People Analytics team at Kingfisher PLC to meet their goals in automating and innovating their data analytics practices. The project saved Kingfisher 170 FTE hours per month in what was manual work and an additional saving of £280k in internal cost. On top of this, the wider benefits of the project will be most felt by Kingfishers employees though greater oversight of employee happiness, engagement, and inclusion.
With the covid-19 pandemic severely impacting the global air-travel industry, British Airways needed to adapt its Manage My Booking system to keep customers updated, display travel information and ensure passengers complied with vital travel restrictions and requirements. With restrictions and requirements ever-changing throughout the pandemic, speed and agility were key to ensure travellers were up-to-date and always complying with restrictions. The resulting solution set the standard for airlines globally, with best practice shared with other airlines and governments.
Traveling plays a critical role in everyday life. Nomad Digital supports transport operators in providing a seamless journey experience for passengers, making travel easy and convenient. Nomad’s On-Board Information System (OBIS) plays an important role in achieving this. OBIS provides real time journey information via onboard screens with audio and visual announcements supported in multiple languages. OBIS allows passengers to be in control by ensuring important journey information is heard, seen and accessible by everyone.
In conjunction with the Centre’s Trusted Partners, the NEBRC developed an Incident Response Helpline to support organisations who require immediate help in the event of a cyber or financial fraud incident. The Centre recognised if this were to occur, it is important for organisations to get back to secure operations, and to minimise potential impacts. The helpline is a free initiative and is run 24/7 to provide expert guidance to get back on track.
The Great North Children’s Hospital and a student team from Newcastle College Group have been working collaboratively to produce high-quality and educational animated films for children and young people with persistent fatigue at The Great North Children’s Hospital. This innovative project combines the clinical experience of medical and therapy staff at the GNCH with the creativity and skill of local students and is a successful proof-of-concept of a relationship between the hospital and college.
Newcastle City Council/Your Homes Newcastle
The Housing Plus Pilot aimed to bring digital literacy training and support previously provided by Newcastle Libraries and Your Homes Newcastle to vulnerable older people in Sheltered accommodation during lockdown. Using specially set up tablets, and focused training and support, initially by telephone, and later in small groups in sheltered accommodation, older people were given the confidence and equipment to explore basic online skills development. Thereby enhancing digital confidence and social belonging during the Pandemic.
Helen Robson - Connect Health
This nomination is for our Clinical Integration and Transformation Lead, who has transitioned from a completely clinical background to now working in an IT environment, leading, and delivering complex digital transformation projects whilst aligning all key organisational functions. Helen has been integral in two large projects, and over 94,195 patients nationally have completed the solutions she has been integral in designing in the last 2 years.
Jack Walton - Jumping Rivers
Jack is very community driven, leading data science meetups and contributing to open source projects and online support networks. He inhabits a unique space in the industry, between data science and data engineering, carving out a position for himself acting as an intermediary between the two areas, and allowing for greater collaboration across the company.
Joe Cockroft - NEBRC
Joe has recently graduated with a first-class honours degree in cybersecurity, whilst delivering extracurricular cybercrime prevention initiatives which have benefited our local business community and the public. He is now employed with the NEBRC, where he supervises and develops the next generation of cybersecurity students in delivering invaluable assessments to local SMEs. His potential has already been recognised with a chief constables commendation, and his shortlisting as the 2022 national cyber student of the year.
Ira Watt - BULIEN
Ira Watt is a host of the Alteryx Northeast UK user group, an AI blogger, and a data analytics consultant who has saved businesses hundreds of thousands of pounds in the past year through data automation and predictive modelling. He has great ambitions for the future aiming to lead the adoption of advanced analytics in the Northeast through the SparkED program and further increase his expertise and impact through the globally recognised Alteryx ACE program.
Russell Johnston - XR Therapeutics
Throughout his first year of working within the tech sector, Russell has grown and developed his skillset to become an exceptional Unity Developer, without his hard work we would struggle to be able to provide our life changing therapy to so many people.
Setlla Simbo - Success4All
Stella Simbo from knowing very little of the digital world took it upon her to train and upskill herself to devise online services for Success4All during covid, to devise an online basic IT;skills course for parents to support their children with online learning, to then devise further new online modules and refine, post-covid, our online services in order to generate income is an incredible achievement worth celebrating.
Aspire are one of the fastest growing IT and Cyber Security Providers in the UK and are a real credit to the region. With a beautiful location right on the Newcastle-Gateshead Quayside the people focussed strategies they have adopted are just as spectacular to see.
They are supporting skills/ growth and have a keen interest in the tech community by offering work experience/ school support, apprenticeships, technical upskilling and management development. It has been impressive to see and support Aspire training staff in all areas and watch the growth of not only the company but also the employ
Led by Gateshead College, this innovative collaboration, unites 5 leading education and training providers across the wider North East region, benefiting both learners and employers. Working in partnership, this consortium is developing the regional skills pipeline by upskilling home grown talent and attracting new people to the region. Gateshead College are working with employers to deliver the skills they need to develop their business and put the North East tech sector on the map.
Against the challenging background of the COVID-19 pandemic and remote working, the DDaT teams of the NHS Business Services Authority achieved great success by taking a new approach to finding Software Developers. Instead of trying to recruit in a crowded and competitive market, they reached out to new groups of people to help build a team of Software Developer Apprentices who have become embedded in the organisation and are fast developing into our future talent.
Skills development is how the business thrives. Our recruitment process are fair and innovative. Our team are encouraged to be creative. Our apprentices are supported and mentored both at work and through a local apprenticeship programme. Our approach to project management is inclusive and agile. Our team feel supported and are confident in their roles as well as feeling secure about their future with the company.
"From Don't Know to Zero". In the last year Aspire Technology Solutions has transformed from having limited understanding of its environmental impact to delivering a series of initiatives that have eliminated or offset its direct and indirect emissions. Aspire has stepped up to take a leadership role on sustainability: engaging staff, supporting customers and challenging suppliers on the journey to Net Zero.
Connected Energy has developed new technology, business models and cross value chain partnerships to enable degraded electric vehicle batteries to be used in large scale stationary energy storage systems, thereby doubling their working lives and reducing the requirement to manufacture new batteries.
These second life batteries vary greatly so the ability to maintain their safety and optimise their use is underpinned by data science.
Connected Energy predict that by 2025, the reuse of batteries has the potential to provide a carbon impact benefit in excess of 10M tonnes.
Kraken IM have developed a unique GHG modelling and accounting software tool, to estimate and then track the carbon footprint of complete capital projects across the entire supply chain from very early stage design through into operations.
Able to highlight emissions hotspots from the very early design it allows project teams to avoid significant Scope 1, 2 & 3 emissions.
NBS is helping construction become greener, ensuring architects and other construction professionals can use its platform to make sustainable choices and significantly lower the long term environmental impact of building projects. At the same time, it’s become carbon neutral and picked up three silver awards from the UN for its sustainability
SmartCarbon is a business that is driven by its mission to empower and enable businesses to make real and sustainable reductions in their greenhouse gas emissions. We have grown significantly driven by this aim. Our digital tools have empowered our clients to make real progress in their journey to net zero, building their own and the region's reputation for low carbon technology and making a key contribution to the urgent challenges of the climate emergency.
GL Education is a world leader in the provision of digital assessments and data analytics for schools. Our products deliver a significant and positive impact on society by providing teachers with the information they need to give children the best possible education for their individual needs.
We are pioneers in digital assessment, having delivered 30.6 million online tests in over 100 countries worldwide. Our digital capabilities are designed, developed and delivered by our Tech team based in Houghton-le-Spring.
Global Teacher exists to ignite tomorrow's dreamers, visionaries and changemakers through exposure and access to high-quality education. Our immediate and urgent mission is to empower one million marginalised students by 2030. To do this, we have designed and manufactured the world’s first 3D-printed, solar-powered educational learning system which aims to put world-class educational content in the heart of marginalised classrooms across the developing world. Welcome to the future of education.
Sage knocks down barriers to digital equality through First Lego League in the North East. An event that sees students programming Lego robots to compete in a series of challenges. Students solve a series of real-world problems (pollution, water shortages, renewable energy) and engage with industry professionals to come up with creative solutions. Sage engineers engage with students directly over three days of fast-paced fun. For some students it’s their first exposure to programming.
Enabling training, connectivity and the use of an IT-device gives access to a fair education to newly arrived children, young people and their families.
Having the opportunity to develop new skills gives an excluded community the courage and confidence to unlock within them the desire to discover, to learn and to create.
Without fair access to education, the world remains closed and out of reach.
Dan Fitzpatrick - Education Partnership
Dan represents the values that every Tech Champion should aspire to have. Through his work with EPNE, the Edufuturists initiative podcasts and awards or while collaborating with global tech companies, Dan provides encouragement, leadership, and direction for others with a consistent focus on amplification of others' voices and championing digital success. His ripple effect has its centre in the North East, but his work extends globally.
David Sarginson - Opencast
‘Sarg’ is a respected and passionate technology leader, leading Opencast’s software delivery, while nurturing collaborative communities in and beyond the business.
He is the instigator of a new non-profit ‘open source’ project to build and reward OS software development. His clarity helps convey complex projects to non-specialists.
North East-born Sarg ‘pays forward’ to the region’s tech sector as STEM ambassador and code teacher to kids of six. He has helped hundreds to understand technology better.
Martin Wilson - NEBRC
Martin Wilson is a serving police officer at Durham Constabulary. He has 16 years policing experience across various policing roles. He is currently seconded onto the NEBRC and leads their student network to deliver affordable cyber resilience services to the North East business community. At present, Martin is also undertaking a PhD, of which the findings will be influential in how agencies can better protect businesses from cybercrime and online fraud.