Royal recognition for North East innovators

Two pioneering North East companies have received royal recognition for their innovative contributions to global challenges, securing King’s Awards for Enterprise.

North Shields-based Kinewell Energy has been celebrated for international trade, after its AI-powered software, used in offshore wind farm development, gained traction across the Americas, Europe and Asia. 

The company’s solutions help major energy firms such as SSE Renewables and Equinor to optimise turbine layout, cabling and export routes, helping accelerate progress toward net-zero.

Dr Andrew Jenkins, founder of Kinewell, said: “It fills us with immense pride to have been awarded the King’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade.

“Over the past eight years, our state-of-the-art infrastructure optimisation solutions have been deployed during the design and development of some of the world’s largest offshore wind farms, helping developers save hundreds of millions of pounds in capital expenditure while slashing development times.

“Our solutions have also played a key role in helping countries around the world to decarbonise their power grids, reduce their energy costs, diversify their energy security and combat climate change.

“But none of this would have been possible without the ingenuity and determination of our team to design, develop and deliver each of our innovative solutions.

“This award is also as much our success as a North East of England success. 

“Our extensive R&D activities underpinning our software solutions have been made possible thanks to fantastic support from economic development initiatives such as the North East Combined Authority’s TIGGOR programme, delivered by ORE Catapult, Innovate UK, The North East BIC, Innovation Supernetwork, RTC North, Energi Coast and others.”

Meanwhile, Durham-based Geoptic, a spin-out from Durham University, University of Sheffield and St Mary’s University, Twickenham, has received an award for innovation. 

The company uses cosmic ray muon imaging to safely assess the structural integrity of railway tunnels – offering a futuristic alternative to traditional, riskier methods. 

Originally developed to monitor carbon capture sites beneath the North Sea, the technology can now map hidden underground voids and weaknesses with pinpoint accuracy.

Dr Chris Steer, managing director of Geoptic, added: “Receiving a King’s Award for Enterprise is a tremendous honour and recognises the hard work and ingenuity of our entire team.

“Innovation and its impact is at the heart of everything we do and, in particular, this award acknowledges our work in making the UK's historic and complex infrastructure safer through cutting-edge science.”

Both firms emerged from the North East’s innovation ecosystem – Kinewell through private cleantech entrepreneurship and Geoptic through the Northern Accelerator programme, linking regional universities with commercial opportunity.

Kinewell and Geoptic will be officially presented with their awards later this year and are now entitled to use the King’s Awards emblem for the next five years.

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