Speechmatics win two National Business Awards for Innovation and Growth

Last week I was in London for what was to be first of two National Business Award wins that evening. I attended the SME National Business Awards at Wembley Stadium where we were crowned winners of the High Growth Business of the Year Award.

My colleague and VP Products, Ian Firth, was just down the road at the UK Business Awards where he was awarded the Silver Innovation prize after presenting our application to a panel of judges and the rest of the competition.

Speaking about his experience, Ian commented:

“I really enjoyed attending the UK Business Awards, it was a privilege to represent Speechmatics as an innovative company working with businesses to solve real-world problems. We were nominated for awards in both innovation and for the way we operate in the B2B SME space. I presented two pitches where I explained the cool way Speechmatics can use machine learning to rapidly build, learn and experiment with languages within speech-to-text. I also touched on our ability to deploy the resulting technology wherever and however customers need it so that they can transcribe audio in low latency, high volume and in private environments without the need for overly complex solutions. “The atmosphere at the event was fantastic, there was a real buzz among all the companies and it was great to hear about the challenges they have overcome in business, and as teams. These events are great ways to build new relationships and gain insights from others along the way. “The icing on the cake was receiving the Silver Innovation award, a real celebration of the great work that the Speechmatics team do to maintain research and innovation across the whole company throughout the year. This continues to form the foundation of a growing company that really unlocks the power of speech and keeps putting speech back at the heart of communication.”

The innovation and high growth awards were fantastic recognition of Speechmatics’ achievements over the past year and reflect our amazing team and hard work. In particular, the judges for the High Growth Business Award commented: “the impressive revenue growth, potential applications, ability to collaborate and evolve has created a winning proposition.” – SME National Business Awards. The award not only focused on our impressive growth to date, but also focused on scalability and how well prepared and equipped we are for future growth. The Innovation Award form UKBusiness Awards recognised our ability to adapt and change to market demands to ensure a positive future. The application was based upon our unique machine learning framework which gives us the ability to build and maintain language packs at a rapid rate. Our initiative transforms the accessibility of our technology on a global scale.

It was great to be amongst so many other great companies and guests at the event. There was a wide variety of businesses in attendance, from charities to pubs and restaurants, networking groups, and manufacturers, and I was pleased to meet several people from Cambridge and the surrounding area being recognised on a national stage. The atmosphere was fantastic with some live music to kick start the evening and, at one point, a conga line got momentum amongst the audience – who’d have thought! There was a moving talk from the representative of the Diana Award, the food was good, and seeing our national stadium completely empty (aside from myself and two lovely ladies from Grub Club Cambridge) was something. It was a fantastic end to the awards season and something that the team should be proud of. It’s a great achievement to be recognised by two huge national awarding bodies and we’re looking forward to what next year has in store for us. Interested in speech recognition? Why not try our real-time system here. Kathryn Lye, Speechmatics