Chamber Champion Awards Finalists 2024

Showcasing businesses paving the way in the digital world

Showcasing businesses supporting skills of the workforce now and for the future.

Sponsored by CAM Ventures 

The CAM Ethos: Our ethos is to implement strategies that are simple, modern and effective resulting in increased performance across all areas.  Whether your business is a start-up or already established, we take the time to understand your business and focus on developing strategies that will make the most significant gains first.  When you work with CAM Ventures you work with highly engaged individuals that want to deliver, but want to deliver in a way that is bold, creative and fun.

Showcasing businesses making a big difference in our region.

Sponsored by The Selkie Group

A small family owned group of hospitality businesses encompassing The Selkie Exchange Street, The Ferry Selkie and new addition Sol y Sombra. Their offerings include casual dining fantastic coffee, cake and Spanish Tapas.

Showcasing businesses putting our region on the map globally

Sponsored by ChamberFORCE & The Highland Reserve Forces and Cadets Association 

ChamberFORCE is a partnership programme between selected Chambers of Commerce and local Army, Navy and RAF units, designed to bring tangible business benefits to Chamber members. Dundee & Angus Chamber of Commerce has already pledged its support by signing the Armed Forces Covenant and has also been awarded Employer Recognition Scheme Gold Award. 

Highland RFCA is a Central Government Arms' Length Body set up by statute to support Reserves, Cadets and the Armed Forces community across the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.

Showcasing businesses in the region on a mission to become more sustainable.

Sponsored by SSEN Transmission 

SSEN Transmission is the trading name for Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission.

They are responsible for the electricity transmission network in the north of Scotland, maintaining and investing in the high voltage 132kV, 220kV, 275kV and 400kV electricity transmission network. Scotland’s transmission network has a strategic role to play in supporting delivery of the UK and Scotland’s Net Zero targets.

Showcasing businesses making people the heart of what they do.

Sponsored by STV

STV is a Scottish free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the STV Group. It is made up of the Central Scotland and Northern Scotland Channel 3 public broadcaster licences, formerly known as Scottish Television (now legally STV Central Ltd) and Grampian Television (now legally STV North Ltd) respectively.

Backlit Films said they should win because:

Digital Innovation in Dundee is infectious which is why we are proud to say we are a Dundee based company. We don’t accept that world class creative filmmaking is only based in creative hubs further south, why can’t Dundee be leaders in creative media as well? Our recent innovation project is just the beginning for Backlit Films, with a longer term plan to collaborate with other organisations like Abertay University to create a hub of filmmakers pushing the capabilities of creative technology, being at the forefront of digital innovation.

Our founder, Peter has spent the last year building relationships with key decision makers from the likes of Innovate UK and venture capitalists to encourage critical funding so that Dundee is seen as the place to be for creative technology. We have already seen this in the industry as filmmakers continue to adapt gaming technology in almost every high end film and TV project. This is being shown in the governments huge investment into virtual production through their CoStar programme in collaboration with Abertay and our latest innovation is very much
in line with this, creating solutions that democratise the filmmaking industry offering opportunities for talented people within Scotland.

Hutcheon Mearns said they should win because:

We are leading the way in the implementation of Power BI and automation for financial analysis. Our projects can lead to significant time-savings across entire finance departments, freeing up accountants to work on more meaningful analysis and action any findings.
 
As qualified accountants, we are best placed to understand our clients requirements when it comes to financial reporting – ensuring that not only are they getting a new innovative way of working, but they have assurance over the quality of the work being done.
 
Our team thrive on not only being able to improve the way finance departments are run, but also making people’s lives easier and more enjoyable. Being able to free up their time so they are not working excessive overtime at peak times, and can get home to their family at a reasonable time is a massive motivation for us.

Tayfusion Digital said they should win because:

We are, at our core, a provider of systems that deliver innovation. This is at the heart of everything that we do.
 
All of the clients that work with us discover their own technological and cultural revolution within their organisation, through the digital transformation and innovation that we champion.
 
More than anything we love to surprise our clients and we do this by helping them truly transform, avoiding all the common pitfalls associated with improving their digital world.
 
We do this every day and it's easy for us to say this, so here are some of the things that our clients say about us.
 
"The database has transformed how we run our service and has hugely reduced administrative time compared to the old system." David Wood, Planning Aid Scotland
 
"We are beyond delighted with the bespoke case management system created for us by Tayfusion." Moira Bayne, Housing Options Scotland
 
"Over the last 15 years, I have worked with Mark and the team at Tayfusion I have found them consistently helpful. We see them as an extension to our own IT team, adding skills such as web and database system design." Ed Middleton, Tayside Contracts

Zudu said they should win because:

Through our work with industry-leading organisations, we’ve gained a first-hand look into the UK digital sector, allowing us to identify the key skills gaps, the demands of consumers, the abilities of organisations, and the ways technology can ease people's lives.
 
These concepts underpin our work on ePass as we’ve focused on end-users: incorporating usability, accessibility, user expectations, and legislative demands into one system that allows non-technical users to comply with legislation and removes barriers to entry.
 
We see ePass as a game-changing innovation that modernises and streamlines application processes while ensuring data safety. Many current market solutions are outdated and predisposed to data breaches, due to a lack of adequate checks to ensure the validity of an application (as shown when we successfully signed up Zudu on the tobacco register with a fake address!). These legacy systems lead to disjointed and incomplete records, causing delays and errors as data is passed between systems.
ePass solves all these problems as checks are handled within ePass directly - ensuring a safer and more secure data entry and storage solution that is GDPR-compliant, developed by an ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 accredited company with ample experience creating software for B2B and B2C use.

Dundee Heritage Trust said they should win because:

As an independent charity with 50 employees (30 FTE), Dundee Heritage Trust punches above its weight. Over the last 5 years the charity has welcomed over 400,000 visitors and 10,000 school children, through their Sandford award- winning education programme. Their museums generate £20 million for the Dundee economy and over £150 million for the wider Scottish economy. The charity directly employs 30 FTE local people and supports a further 150 FTE jobs elsewhere, with its 50-strong volunteer cohort giving over 1200 hours each year to Discovery Point and Verdant Works.
 
Dundee Heritage Trust generates 98% of its income through museum admissions, hospitality and fundraising. Since 1985 it has existed to preserve Dundee’s precious heritage and portray it to audiences of all ages in ways that educate, inspire and enlighten. Its award-winning education programme, initiatives such as Dundee Goes Free, and Creative Community Network showcase its commitment to its local community and undertaking actions that have a positive, lasting impact on the city of Dundee and beyond.

Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre Limited said they should win because:

We know our work impacts on participants in different ways but have not always been rigorous in monitoring and evaluating (M&E) outcomes. We have initiated a new, three-year project, re- designing our M&E protocols to more effectively measure the impact of our work on audiences, stakeholders, communities and sector. We believe results will have relevance both to our sector and wider audiences looking to measure the positive differences made to those they engage with.
 
We now clearly specify the impacts we wish to achieve, how each activity relates to our business objectives, along with measurements to demonstrate these have been achieved. Specifically, we wish to gain a greater understanding around the feeling(s), sentiments and/or attitudes we have created in those we work with. We will do this by:
 
·      Collaborating with appointed Peer Reflectors who will provide their opinions around the level of success achieved in the delivery and impact of projects against the stated intention(s) We will also engage with key stakeholders including funders and partners to understand their feedback.
·      Using an extensive range of mechanisms to analyse audience feedback, evaluating this against the stated intention(s) of the project.
·      Assessing published critical discourse, evaluating this against original objective(s).

Dundee Science Centre said they should win because:

Over the past 24 years, our dedicated team has passionately delivered engagement programmes that aim to:
 
·      Provide fun and engaging experiences for communities across the region
·      Raise awareness of STEM activities and their relevance to our everyday lives
·      Showcase local businesses and STEM research  
·      Engage young people in activities that link to future careers.
·      Widen access for those in the most disadvantaged areas to interact with STEM.
·      Build a legacy of confidence in future STEM engagement
 
Each year, we collaborate with local organisations and experts to deliver a range of events, most notably the Dundee Science Festival, which unites the community through STEM activities, engaging over 27,500 visitors. Backed by key funders, including Michelin Tyre PLC, we support the local event economy and widen access by reaching the most deprived wards in Dundee. In addition, we inspire the next generation of innovators through initiatives such as the Lord Provost of Dundee STEM Inspiration Award that had over 100 entries in its first year.
 
Receiving this award would recognise our dedication to fostering an inclusive, diverse, and inspired community that is confident and has access to the necessary career skills to reach its full potential.

Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre Limited said they should win because:

We believe we are leaders in the field of carbon mitigation and adaptation amongst Scottish performing arts organisations and we are working hard to share climate action knowledge and resources with other organisations both locally and nationally, to support goals in carbon reduction, promoting living in a climate and socially-just world.
 
To date we have developed and/or produced two climate-related productions. This is a Love Story, is a musical; a 200,000-year love story between Earth and Humanity in fourteen original songs, which is an intelligent, accessible invitation to audiences to engage with the climate crisis emotionally. This will tour next year. Optimism is a show co-developed with Dundee Rep Young Company, addressing concerns young people have, including the climate crisis, allowing them to develop their own solutions.
 
During our recent toilet refurbishment, we mitigated the project’s carbon impact by buying local; estimating we generated 21.5 tons of Co2 through the manufacture, transportation, fitting out and waste removal. However, we recycled, donating most of the fixtures, fittings and doors to Scrapantics, the local recycling social justice enterprise. The remainder of our waste, (16 tons of rubble etc.) was recycled by waste contractors and not sent to landfill.

John Lawrie Tubulars said they should win because:

We offer an environmental and commercially viable data-led solution for the piling market. Our employees are proud to work for a company that is dedicated to safeguarding the future of our planet, a value we have worked hard to instil in our team. They take pride in coming to work and carrying out their roles to the best of their ability, we're proud to have a high employee retention rate.

Our life cycle assessment (LCA) report - modelled in accordance with ISO14040 and ISO14044 and EN 15804:2012+A2:2019 “Sustainability of construction works. Environmental product declarations. Core rules for the product category of construction products” - which details our exact impact with regards to energy consumption and provides a benchmark for moving our own activities forward in a responsible and effective manner. We are supporting zero waste and net zero strategy objectives by offering over 97.3% reduction in CO2e emissions when using our repurposed steel tubulars over commissioning new material from prime steel. We have therefore developed a KPI that states for every tonne of steel purchased from JLT, our customer (construction) saves 2,163kg of CO2 versus the production of a new product from prime steel.

Montrose Port Authority said they should win because:

Montrose Port Authority should win the Net Zero Champion Award for its unwavering dedication to sustainability and its pivotal role in Scotland and the UK’s energy supply chain, especially for offshore wind. As the O&M base for Seagreen and Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farms, MPA leads the energy transition for the supply chain through innovative, self-funded solutions like shore power, which significantly reduce emissions by enabling vessels to use green energy while at berth. This proactive approach not only decarbonises MPA’s own operations but also those of its partners in the energy sector.
 
As a trust port, MPA reinvests its profits into infrastructure and the community, promoting local green industry opportunities and supporting the local supply chain. Recent investments in shore power and the Customs House exemplify this commitment.
 
Winning the Net Zero Champion Award would validate MPA’s leadership in driving a greener economy and inspire others to follow suit. This recognition aligns with MPA’s core values and long-term vision of becoming Scotland’s greenest port, highlighting its dedication to sustainable practices and community development.