Wigan manufacturer wins Innovation Showcase
20 September 2018
Reach and Rescue was named overall winner of the Innovation Showcase awards at Venturefest North West 2018, with experts praising the simplicity of its inventive rescue equipment.
The company was voted winner in the Product Innovation category, as well as being named the overall winner of the competition out of twelve finalists, for its long reach telescopic poles that are used in rescue missions.
The 17 metre, extendable carbon fibre poles are used by rescue services to save lives in over 30 countries worldwide.
The Innovation Showcase competition was the centre attraction at Venturefest North West 2018, which was attended by over 1,000 people on 13 September.
Business owner Jo Taylor, said:
“We are absolutely delighted to have won the overall award and the Product Innovation category. It shows how our company’s innovation can save lives, and I’d like to congratulate every individual person who has been involved in the product.”
Speaking to BusinessCloud Magazine after the event, company director Sean Burke added that simplicity was an under-appreciated element of product innovation:
“There are a lot of amazing tech innovations out there but I don’t understand half of them. We took an idea and made it very simple, very easy to use and distilled down a really important thing that’s needed to rescue people from the water, which didn’t exist before this. Our system is hands-on and useable by a whole range of different people – I could teach you to use it in ten minutes.”
Jo Taylor showing the Reach and Rescue system
Other manufacturers recognised in the Innovation Showcase competition included Middleton-based Whitham Mills Engineering, which won the Established Business award for a novel food waste tipping solution that uses a state-of-the-art hydraulic system to reduce costs for supermarket clients.
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