In a night of big wins for Cornwall, Software Cornwall Co-founder & Director wins Lifetime Achievement Award at the Tech South West Awards

Reporting by CIoS DSP strategic partner, Software Cornwall.

Back in 2010, Mike Barritt was working for Oxford Innovation and created a Director peer group, bringing founders of software companies together, which paved the way for the launch of the Software Cornwall community as we know it today.

Mike attracted funding to develop a new programme for Cornwall, centred around developing skills in Agile, an iterative approach to project management and software development which was completely new for Cornwall and the southwest at the time. Not only did this facilitate the early success of some of Cornwall’s biggest software companies, but also enabled Mike to launch ‘Agile on the Beach’; a conference now in its tenth year, bringing 500 delegates and speakers from all over the world to Falmouth and putting Cornwall on the map for Agile methodologies.

Upon winning Tech South West’s Lifetime Achievement Award last month, Mike said “I am truly honoured to have won and would like to say a massive thank you to everyone that I have had the pleasure of working with over the years because it is those people who have done the hard work and created the growth for the tech sector in Cornwall.”

Mike wasn’t the only Cornish winner at the annual awards, which this year took place at stunning new venue, the Market Hall in Plymouth.

There were 18 categories in total and judges – including Cornwall’s DSP Coordinator Chloe Rickard – assessed over 200 entries

Cornwall-based businesses did brilliantly, with ARC Marine winning both the Innovation Award and the Marine Tech Award. Truro-based RouteNote won the Tech Company of the Year Award (revenue over £5m) and Feritech Global won the International Success Award.

Niki Davies, Head of Marketing for Software Cornwall said “It was a real honour to be invited to judge two categories and co-host this year’s Tech South West Awards with Martin Barnes. Since working for Software Cornwall, I have been continually blown away by the welcoming and collaborative tech community that stretches from Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly all the way through to Swindon and everywhere in between.

The ceremony was a chance to celebrate individuals and innovations from across the region and fly the flag for the southwest and it was brilliant to see Cornish businesses do so well. Congratulation to all award winners and those that were highly commended!”

A full list of award winners can be found on the Tech South West website.