Queen’s Awards for Enterprise: International Trade

Parker Domnick Hunter, a division of Parker Hannifin, a leader in motion and control technologies, has been presented with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2010: International Trade in a prestigious ceremony at its Gateshead headquarters. Lord Lieutenant Nigel Sherlock OBE, made the presentation which recognises the company’s success in developing new export markets for its ranges of gas separation technologies.

The Mayor of Gateshead, Mayor Michael Hood attended along with local leaders of industry, key suppliers and international trading partners to the business. Parker Domnick Hunter’s General Manager, Derek Turnbull, said: “The event was a huge success and it was great to have so many influential figures there to witness this achievement, which recognises the exceptional efforts of our staff throughout
our global sales and support network. This is now our ninth Queen’s Award success and it is perhaps our greatest to date, as it pays testament to the strength of our technical and business
development capabilities, while recognising our long term global export strategy and ongoing commitment to manufacturing in the UK.”

Mr Turnbull added that one particular range of products has been vital to the company’s ongoing success: “The MAXIGAS technology represents significant long term potential for Parker domnick hunter in many key growth markets globally, providing us with opportunities to develop solutions that offer our customers real improvements in productivity and profitability.“

Autonomy Corporation plc, (Cambridge) a leader in infrastructure software is also an award recipient. "I am delighted that Autonomy has been awarded the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise: International Trade," said Dr Mike Lynch, Founder and CEO. "This coveted accolade further validates Autonomy’s market-leading position and unique technological offering. I would like to thank the Autonomy team for making our achievements at home and abroad possible. We pride ourselves on our international operations and we are thrilled to see our success recognised by such a prestigious entity." Autonomy’s core infrastructure software, the Intelligent Data Operating Layer (IDOL), forms an understanding of all data in the enterprise, including human-friendly formats such as Web pages, emails, voice and video. By processing over 1,000 data formats automatically, IDOL enables organisations to unlock the hidden value of these traditionally untapped data assets the company said.

Bio Products Laboratory (BPL) won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade 2010, in recognition of its commercial success and substantial growth in overseas earnings. Tony Whelan, Chief Operating Officer for BPL, said: "We are delighted to win such an esteemed award. It demonstrates the advances we have made in the world export market in the last three years and our commitment to the work that we undertake daily to save and improve lives."

BPL started trading in 1954 and employs 466 people. In 2007 the company took steps to manufacture its products for both the UK and export markets. In the three years since 2007, the company’s export earnings have doubled from its markets in 46 countries worldwide.

The Binding Site was presented with The Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2010: International Trade, for its outstanding achievement in increasing export revenues by 74% to over £42 million/year in 3 years and selling more than 90% of its production overseas. Aggregate exports over this period totalled £96 million.

This exceptional growth is primarily driven by sales of Freelite™, a tumour marker for several bone marrow cell cancers (such as Multiple Myeloma) as well as AL amyloidosis and other B cell dyscrasias. Since the Freelite free kappa and free lambda immunoglobulin light chain assays were launched in 2000, sales have grown exponentially up to £20 million/year in 2009. New jobs have been created in sales, marketing, research and clinical education, both in the UK and internationally, to support this trade.

This is Binding Site’s 3rd Queen’s Award for Enterprise. The first was awarded in 1992 also in the International Trade category and the second award was in 2007 in the category Innovation for its Freelite technology.