West Coast tech companies doing everything from clamping down on fraud to removing sewage from water without any chemicals were honoured Thursday (June 4) at the B.C. Technology Industry Association’s (BCTIA) 2015 Technology Impact Awards.
Laurie Shultz, CEO of software firm ACL, told Business in Vancouver she’s “immensely proud” her company was honoured as team of the year.
“We’ve gone through a lot of change at ACL in the last four years,” she said, adding a new team of engineers specializing in cloud-based technologies has been working well with the incumbent engineers that had been leading product development for the past decade.
“It’s an awesome dynamic.”
ACL specializes in fraud detection and anti-bribery measures and the company has seen its headcount grow 30% over the past few years, according to Schultz.
The CEO said this has created more diversity as the company now boasts employees from 34 different countries working to get products out to markets across the globe.
Meanwhile, Vancouver-based Axine Water Technologies was recognized for creating the most promising pre-commercial technology.
It’s developed an on-site treatment for polluted water using electrolytic cells that is relatively cheap, produces no sludge and uses no chemicals.
“We’ve got such a powerful technology community here in British Columbia and to be recognized by that community is just a tremendous honour and validation for all the work that’s gone into building this company,” Axine CEO Jonathan Rhone told Business in Vancouver.
“We are still pre-commercial, and so a huge milestone is to be getting our technology on-site at customer facilities in the U.S. and Canada within the next 18 months.”
List of winners
· Company of the Year - Sierra Wireless
· Person of the Year - Jeff Booth, President & CEO, BuildDirect
· Emerging Company of the Year - Cooledge Lighting Inc.
· Most Promising Startup - Optigo Networks
· Adoption of Technology - Traction on Demand and Canlan Ice Sports
· Excellence in Product Innovation – iQmetrix
· Community Engagement - Left of the Dot Media
· Most Promising Pre-Commercial Technology - Axine Water Technologies
· Team of the Year - ACL
