THE Government of Jersey, Reel Creative and SystemLabs were among those taking home trophies on Friday, as the winners of the sixth annual Jersey TechAwards were announced.
Having attracted both a record number of entries and a record turnout for the gala celebration, the awards were described by Digital Jersey chief executive Tony Moretta as a “true celebration of excellence and innovation which reflects the Island’s thriving digital landscape”.
“These awards showcase the remarkable achievements and contributions that entrepreneurs and established businesses bring to Jersey’s digital ecosystem,” he said. “Their ingenuity is integral to the Island’s prosperity, creating opportunities in all areas of our community, driving economic growth and positioning Jersey strongly in the digital world.”
In total, 13 trophies were presented by the evening’s host and stand-up comedian Hal Cruttenden. This included a “secret” Digital Jersey Award, given out at the judges’ discretion, to someone whose achievements they felt deserved special recognition.
This year’s winner, Call the AI co-founder Chris Meyer, was rewarded for his work, “solo coding a way to talk to ChatGPT and get voice responses from it using a standard phone line”.
This, the judges said, was a truly “innovative solution, as it uses a standard phone number, can be trained to be company-specific, speaks most global languages, and can be connected to multiple types of services and data”.
Judging the entries this year were Hayley Butcher, head of the future economy and economic programmes at the Government of Jersey, Rachel Harker, director at TPO12 and a technology development consultant to Digital Jersey and Jason Laity, co-founder of 80Twenty Ltd and former senior partner of KPMG in the Channel Islands.
They were joined by Ed Daubeney, deputy chairman of Polygon Collective, Jensen Nixon, group chief executive of Warm Solutions and OPAL-UK, Joel Mills, chief executive of OSC AS and AugmentCity, Norway-based leaders in high-level visualisation and simulation. Also on the panel were Dr Louise Magris, director for Housing, Environment and Placemaking – Cabinet Office, Government of Jersey, Dave Cartwright, chief information security officer at Santander International and Advocate Emma German, founding principal of Monoceros Law and consultancy Monoceros Innovation and a Jersey law commissioner.
The winners were:
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Sustainability Award: Government of Jersey Marine Resources.
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Productivity Award: Channel PC.
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Fintech Award: TrustQuay Viewpoint.
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Leadership Award: Paul Fosse, JTC.
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Innovation Award: Government of Jersey Marine Resources.
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Start-up Award: Reel Creative.
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Public & Third Sector Award: The Allan Lab.
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Company Award: SystemLabs.
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Teacher Award: Ruth Lea.
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Creative Award: Anova.
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Student Award: Margaux McQuilton.
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Cyber Security Award: JCSC, Soteria and the CIISF.
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Digital Jersey Award: Chris Meyer.
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A photo supplement commemorating all the winners will be published in the JEP on 15 May.
