Inspirational techie entrepreneurs and their teams came together to celebrate the best tech-based companies in the Swindon and Wiltshire area at the fourth Swindon & Wiltshire annual IT and Technology Awards – the Techies, on Thursday 4th November.

The Techies, which is an initiative of The Business Exchange were broadcast from the internationally renowned, state-of-the-art Sandstorm Films studios in Swindon and live-streamed. The audience included local businesses, business people, colleagues, friends and family that entered the awards, sponsors, supporters and judges. The night was hosted by Tom Ward, Founder of Sandstorm Films and compèred by Chris Dawes, local sports commentator and media trainer. Judges and sponsors graced both the real and virtual stage to announce the worthy winners.

Organised by Anita Jaynes, Founder of The Business Exchange, the annual event shines the spotlight on some amazing tech talent that would otherwise have gone unnoticed. It shows that innovation, enterprise and future tech is emerging continuously from SMEs working in the community.

Anita Jaynes, said, “It is important once again to recognise the area’s assets and celebrate the most exciting and innovative tech firms right on our doorstep. When analysing this year’s Techies entries, I worked out the businesses entering the 2021 awards employ nearly 700 people across Swindon and Wiltshire and deliver over £65 million in turnover for the local economy.

“Despite the challenges the pandemic has thrown at us, the future is looking bright for our local tech sector. Of the repeat entries, those who entered both last year and this year, turnovers are up, and 58 new job roles have been created in the last year. We’ve seen teams double in size and Techies finalists turn from one-man-bands into teams. The Techies is here to recognise and celebrate those successes.

“The Techies Awards wouldn’t be possible without the support of our headline sponsor, the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership and category sponsors, All Boxed, Computer Network Defence, Elm Workspace, SETSquared, Ntegra, Thrings, MHA Monahans and Sandstorm Films.

“I would like to thank everyone involved with the Techies 2021, including our judging panel. The judges give hours of their time reviewing the entries and deliberating before making their final decisions.

“I would like to personally thank, Kate Westbrook, Paddy Bradley, Kathryn Wellum-Kent, James Eades, Ali Hadavizadeh and Mirabelle Stobbs. They work as a cracking team and had a particularly difficult task this year making their decisions, the competition was fierce with lots of debate before the final cut could be announced.

“A huge congratulations to all our finalists and winners. We hope to see you entering the Techies again in 2022 and look forward to hearing your continued growth and success stories.”