KPMG’s Tech Innovator competition has been celebrating the best of British technology for a decade. The 2023 competition is celebrating its 10th year, with applications open now.
We catch up with 2022 UK and global winner HiiROC to find out the impact that entering the competition has had on their business.
With the global need to produce more green energy, HiiROC, a Hull-based scaleup, has developed a third way to produce hydrogen that comes at a lower cost and with zero emissions. Once deployed across industrial settings, it could help to fully unleash hydrogen’s potential.
HiiROC was founded in 2019 by Tim Davies (CEO), Simon Morris (chief commercial officer), and Ate Wiekamp (chief science officer). The trio bring with them decades of experience in high tech industries, scientific expertise and FTSE 250 managing director experience.
Last year, HiiROC entered KPMG’s Private Enterprise Tech Innovator in the UK competition alongside more than 200 scaleups across the breadth of the UK.
After a hotly contested quick-fire round of pitching in front of judges at Leeds’s Nexus centre, HiiROC was crowned UK champion and later that year went on to secure the global crown at Web Summit in Lisbon.
Since then, HiiROC has seen interest in its technology step up and its profile raised.
“We have seen a noticeable increase in enquiries from a variety of sectors since entering the UK competition,” says HiiROC CEO Tim Davies, who delivered the winning pitch. “Furthermore, our credibility as we enter into discussions has been strengthened by winning the award. This raised profile has also help increase awareness of the key challenge facing the hydrogen sector generally – how to make it in an affordable and zero-emission way.”
“The global competition was exciting for the HiiROC team; a great reward for all their hard work and much appreciated by shareholders. It also provided a great opportunity to highlight our transformational new process for making low-cost, zero-emission hydrogen to a much wider audience, which included potential partners, suppliers, investors, advisors and policy makers. The competition was really impressive, with some amazing businesses and inspiring leaders. We had great support from the KPMG Private Enterprise UK team at every step in the process and they have continued to support us through the subsequent Access Programme.”
Entering the competition couldn’t be easier. Apply now to be one step closer to taking home the 2023 UK crown.
