Business Solent Champion of the Year Award

Business Solent’s 200-plus champions have teamed up as part of a mission to drive economic prosperity.

Recognising the best organisation dedicated to this vision is the Business Solent Champion of the Year Award.

Judges are looking for outstanding commitment to promoting the region on a regional, national and international basis.

The winner will also demonstrate pride in the region through its involvement in projects and events that attract businesses and people to the Solent region.

They will also show evidence of key involvement in Business Solent action groups, projects and events, and a partnership that has benefited the region.

Geoff Paterson, Business Solent area director for the west region, said: “The successful contender will have to tell us what contribution they have made.

“We want to see finalists who have made a good job of ticking all the boxes and have really engaged with what our vision is all about.”

The winners last year were Southampton City College, whose commitment to changing lives through education as well as arming the local economy with the relevant skills won the accolade for them.

DUTTON GREGORY LLP

Dutton Gregory LLP is one of the
south’s leading commercially-orientated
law firms, with offices in
Southampton and Winchester.
As a firm of solicitors, it says it’s
proud of its regional roots where it has
sought to grow – but also of capitalising
regionally, nationally and internationally
on what the Solent region has to
offer.

In 2011 the firm launched its

India Business Group (IBG), which has
since gone through a sustained period
of growth.
At its heart the IBG’s sole mandate is
to promote and strengthen bilateral
trading relations between India and the
Solent region.
As a key champion of Solent business
the firm, through the IBG, has forged a
close partnership with the Solent India
Business Network (SIBN).

THE SOUTHAMPTON HOTELIERS ASSOCIATION

THE Southampton Hoteliers
Association supports and collaborates
with Business Solent, the city council
and the major hotels in the city region,
actively promoting the area, the visitor
economy and local attractions.
The association members
meet on a bimonthly
basis, with each of its
member hotels taking turns to
host.

Its aim is to provide a voice to work on initiatives

that all can benefit from, as well as discussing

pressing issues.
The association was formed in 1956
with just a handful of local hotels, as
the city has grown so has the association
members which now number 34.
This includes affiliate members such
as St Mary's Stadium, Destination
Southampton and many of Hampshire's
top attractions.

PEER 1 HOSTING

PEER 1 Hosting is one of the world's
leading hosting providers, offering an
alternative to the widespread frustration
of underperforming technology
and poor service.
It also delivers the power of the internet
to any organisation that needs it.
The company’s managed hosting, colocation,
cloud hosting and network services
provide solutions for all types and
sizes of businesses, and has been recognised
as best of breed with a slew of
awards.

Its headquarters in Southampton
forms the heart of its European business
and demonstrates the company’s
commitment to growing the Solent area
as a technology business hub.

SOUTHAMPTON SOLENT UNIVERSITY

SOUTHAMPTON Solent University
became a university in July 2005.
Incorporated as an independent higher
education institution in 1989, the university's
origins can be traced back to a
School of Art founded in 1856.
It is a dynamic and distinctive new
university, which now has 19,000 students
and a range of innovative courses.

It was the founding champion of the
original Business Solent’s predecessor,
Business Southampton, in 2006 and has
been committed to its aims ever since. It
has played a role in marketing the city,
shaping and co-ordinating the Titanic
centenary as well as commissioning
vital research that showed the potential
for the Solent region as a creative industry
hub. It also continues to provide the
Warsash Maritime Academy, the world’s
premier maritime education centre.