Frost and Sullivan honoured industry leaders for their exceptional performance at its 2006 Industrial Excellence Awards Banquet. The annual awards ceremony was held in London on Thursday evening.

Over 30 awards were bestowed across the industrial automation and electronics, energy and power supply systems and environment and building technologies sectors. The award categories include leadership, innovation and excellence in product development and technology, outstanding strategy leadership in growth, competitiveness, business development, product line and sales. Awards for overall market leadership and for the most promising emerging companies were also presented at the banquet.

Mr. John Raspin, Practice Director at Frost and Sullivan for Energy and Environment, and Mr. Iain Jawad, Practice Director for Automation and Electronics, welcomed the banquet attendees. "One of Frost and Sullivan’s main aims is to acknowledge outstanding industry achievements and demonstration of best practices by presenting awards to top companies in regional and global markets," said Mr. Raspin. "Our industry experts recognise the diligence and innovation required to implement a successful business plan and excel in the increasingly competitive global marketplace."

Mr. Iain Jawad gave an overview of the market in Eastern Europe. "The Eastern European market is going to remain an important European manufacturing base – noted the director of Automation and Electronics -. However, unlike other emerging markets such as China, production is generally less driven by domestic demand. It can have greater opportunities from an absolute size of opportunity in comparison to other markets such as India, on an industry by industry basis."

Mr. Jawad's punctual analysis and forecast introduced the keynote speaker. Mr. Matthew Hill, leading coach, consultant and intercultural trainer for multi-national businesses delivered the keynote speech. While discussing the topic of 'Investing in Central Europe: Why Now', Mr. Hill noted, "the region offers multiple benefits ranging from an educated population fluent in major languages such as English, German and French, good tax incentives and, production costs that are often 40 per cent lower than in the west to easy geographical access to numerous economically promising markets together with a prospective 130 million person market."

However, warning of the perils of the 'invisible culture' of the region, Mr. Hill stressed that entrants needed to do their homework and be prepared for the challenges ahead. "Building trust, adapting your message to regional peculiarities, ensuring a smooth cultural translation from the western to the central and eastern worlds, and making the most of experienced personnel familiar with change will be essential in capitalising on growth opportunities in Central Europe."

Award recipients at the evening's banquet included Ceres Power, Kvaerner Power, MGE UPS Systems, Honeywell Security Deutschland, Novar GmbH, MGE UPS Systems, IST International Security Technology Oy, Sagem Dfense Scurit, ESAB, SEW Eurodrive GmbH and Co KG, Emerson Network Power, Aggreko and Grundfos.

The following is the complete list of honourees at the awards function:

Ceres Power - 2006 Excellence in Technology Award

Baxi Heating UK - 2006 Business Development Strategy Leadership Award

Kvaerner Power - 2006 Technology Leadership Award

MGE UPS Systems - 2006 Product Line Strategy Leadership Award

TAC a company of Schneider Electric -2006 Competitive Strategy Leadership Award

Honeywell Security Deutschland, Novar GmbH - 2006 German Intrusion Detection Market-Customer Choice Award

IST International Security Technology Oy - 2006 Product Innovation Award

Bosch Sicherheitssysteme GmbH - 2006 Competitive Strategy Leadership Award

Aquabio Limited - 2006 Pioneering Market Strategy Award

SPX Process Equipment Ltd. - 2006 Pioneering Market Strategy Award

ESAB - 2006 Competitive Strategy Leadership Award

Sagem Dfense Scurit - 2006 Global Excellence in Sales Strategy Award

SEW Eurodrive GmbH and Co KG - 2006 Business Development Strategy Leadership Award

Universal Instruments Corporation - 2006 Technology Innovation Award

FUJI MACHINE MFG. (EUROPE) GMBH - 2006 Product Innovation Award

Leica Geosystems AG - 2006 Market Leadership Award
Danfoss - 2006 Product Innovation Award

Emerson Network Power - Uninterruptible Power Supplies - 2006 Competitive Strategy Leadership of the Year Award

Newave SA - Uninterruptible Power Supplies - 2006 European Emerging Company of the Year Award

Socomec Sicon UPS - Uninterruptible Power Supplies - 2006 Product Innovation of the Year Award

AEG Power Supply Systems - a company of Saft Power Systems - Uninterruptible Power Supplies - 2006 Product Line Leadership of the Year Award

Aggreko - Energy - Growth Strategy Leadership of the Year Award

ESI Group - Digital Simulation Software - 2006 Technology Leadership of the Year Award

Fronius International GmbH - Welding - 2006 Technology of the Year Award

Schenck Process Group - Weighing and Feeding Technology - 2006 Product Line Leadership of the Year Award

CSi Industries BV- Industry Process Control - 2006 Product Innovation of the Year Award

CogniTens Ltd. - Dimensional Metrology - 2006 Technology Innovation of the Year Award

MGE UPS Systems - Uninterruptible Power Supplies - 2006 European Company of the Year Award

Honeywell Security - Building Technologies and Services - 2006 European Security Company of Year Award

ESAB - Welding - 2006 Company of the Year Award

Grundfos A/S - European Pumps - 2006 Company of the Year Award