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REVEALED: Isle Of Wight Businesses Celebrated As Queen's Awards Winners

Two Isle of Wight businesses have been given the UK’s most prestigious business awards - the Queen's Award for Enterprise.

InFlight Peripherals Ltd and Wight Shipyard Co Ltd are among 205 winners announced today (Thursday) across the UK which are celebrating the achievements of UK businesses following an incredibly challenging year.

InFlight Peripherals in Calbourne was given an award for Outstanding Performance improvements in the last two years. Wight Shipyard Co Ltd in East Cowes was recognised for outstanding growth in the last three years.

Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant Susie Sheldon will be presenting the Awards to businesses locally throughout the year.

This year’s Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are given for outstanding achievement in:

  • innovation
  • international trade
  • sustainable development
  • promoting opportunity (through social mobility)

The awards were created following the recommendation of a committee chaired by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh in 1965. The first awards, originally known as the Queen’s Awards to Industry, were made the following year.  

Themed this year on Promoting Opportunity through Social Mobility, 18 have won awards in this category for helping disadvantaged people in their communities.

InFlight Peripherals Ltd was founded in 1996 and specialise in the design and manufacture of passenger interface solutions to the global In-Flight Entertainment and Connectivity (IFEC) industry. 

The company identified that a seat back payment system would enable airlines to offer additional retail opportunities to its customers and hence make their seatback systems a source of revenue. 

To address this need they developed a patented contactless payment and personalisation device for use in commercial passenger aircraft to be installed as an addition to seat back inflight entertainment systems.

This novel solution has enabled the possibility of placing a Payment Card Industry compliant contactless payment and customisation device into the seatbacks of passenger aircraft.

Enabling installation into seat backs meant that the company had to develop a device that was low in weight and that could withstand the complexities associated with aircraft such as vibration frequency and electrical interference.

IFPL founder and CEO Geoff Underwood said:

“The aviation sector has been through a tough period recently, so being recognised as a company that is consistently working hard to create innovative products that will help operators to recover post-pandemic is a real boost. I’m so proud of the whole IFPL family for this fantastic achievement.”

Wight Shipyard Co. Ltd is a specialist manufacturer of aluminium marine craft up to 50 metres in length, based at East Cowes.

The products are high-speed passenger ferries, tourist boats and commercial vessels for the wind farm support vessel market. The company was formed in 2016. Over three years overseas sales have grown by over £16 million reaching £16.3 million in the year to September 2019, with sales to Mexico, Malta, and Austria.

It is seeking to help revive British shipbuilding and is driving efficiencies whilst nurturing a new generation of shipbuilders to produce world beating products for both domestic and international markets.

The company employs 36 people and wants to retain the dwindling skill base of ship builders and also has 13 apprentices being trained.

Peter Morton, Chief Executive of the Wight Shipyard Company said:

"We are delighted to receive this recognition. The overarching ambition was always to see a revival in British shipbuilding to compete on an international stage. To do so we understood and drove the need for efficiencies whilst nurturing a completely new generation of shipbuilders in order to produce world beating products for both the domestic and international markets.”

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said:

“The past year has been a tough time for many businesses across the UK, which is why it is more important than ever to celebrate the achievements of our wealth creators and recognise the contributions they make to our communities.

“In the last 12 months, British businesses showed the entrepreneurial spirit that this country is renowned for, continuing to drive social mobility, find new markets to export to and produce innovative products and services.

“I congratulate this year’s winners and I wish every business that applied for an award this year every success in the future as we build back better from the pandemic.”

Eligible businesses are free to apply for one or more categories. The winners pass a robust assessment process, judged by senior officials in Whitehall and experts from industry, academia and the third sector.

On that basis, each year, the winners of The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are recommended by the Prime Minister.

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