SBG Wins Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation
SBG Sports Software UK Limited, developer of real-time analysis systems for elite sports, can today reveal that it has been honoured with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation, for its specialist motorsport race strategy and management software, RaceWatch.
Widely used by teams and race organisers in Formula 1 and other series around the world, RaceWatch is an integrated race strategy system, which aggregates video, audio and data analysis in real-time. As well as being a powerful live system, RaceWatch is particularly renowned for its post-event analysis tools. All data, video, audio and every display, can be recreated exactly as it was at any point in the session, meaning that every decision can be analysed based on the exact information available at the time. Such detailed review of communications has often played a significant role in the refinement of procedures of the Mercedes team which have made it such a successful trackside operation.
Andrew Shovlin, Chief Race Engineer of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team comments as follows on SBG RaceWatch: “The combination of powerful data analysis, intelligent prediction and clear visualisations, all fully synchronised with video and audio, has made RaceWatch an invaluable part of our racing operations. It brings together so much statistical data over a race weekend and gives us important information at every stage. RaceWatch takes a lot of the stress and guesswork out of managing qualifying and the race, and provides great tools for analysing our performance against competitors live, so we can feed key information to our drivers while they are out on track.”
Since the early stages of the product’s development SBG has worked closely with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport supporting the team through six Formula 1 World Championship wins. In recent years Renault, Alfa Romeo, Haas and Williams F1 teams have also become valued customers, as well as many teams in Formula E and the World Endurance Championship. RaceWatch has assisted Porsche Motorsport, Audi Sport and Toyota Motorsport to win the world famous Le Mans 24-hour race and the World Endurance Championship, as well as Audi winning the Formula E championship.
RaceWatch is also a powerful race management and incident review system and has been used by the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) to run races safely and officiate with consistency in Formula 1, Formula E and World Endurance Championship races.
“It is a huge honour to receive the Queen’s Award for Enterprise,” SBG Sports Software Founder and CEO Gareth Griffith comments. “This is a most welcome recognition of our commitment to supporting technological innovation in the UK and of our contribution to the elite sports sector.
“The use of data for performance analysis is growing rapidly in other sports with elite organisations increasingly looking to Formula 1 for guidance. Over the last two years SBG has established strong positions in several other sports including Premier League football, Six Nations rugby and with many other federations and teams around the world. Building on that success SBG has also begun to develop similar applications outside sport.”
Griffith has earned two previous Queen’s Awards: in 1995, the Queen’s Award for Export Achievement with TV and Film special effects software developer Parallax Software Limited; and in 2005, the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation for Television news maps with Curious Software Company. Veterans of both companies are key members of the SBG team.
Greg Clark, UK Business Secretary said: “These prestigious awards help shine a light on all that is great about UK business today. I am extremely impressed to see such a wealth of talent and innovation from across the UK being recognised today by Her Majesty The Queen. These awards recognise the innovative products and services being provided by British businesses that are in demand across the world, as well as the sheer determination and hard work that comes with starting and running a business. Many of these winners are small businesses – the backbone of our economy – and we are backing them to grow, increase their productivity and create more jobs and opportunity across the UK through our modern Industrial Strategy.”
SBG Sports Software, founded in 2008, with offices in London and Manchester, is one of 61 organisations nationally to be recognised with a prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation. It will be presented with the award by the Lord-Lieutenant, The Queen’s local representative, at its headquarters in London and celebrate the accolade later in the summer during a Royal reception for Queen’s Awards winners.
Now in its 53rd year, the Queen’s Award for Enterprise scheme is highly competitive, rewarding businesses for outstanding achievements in International Trade, Innovation, Sustainable Development and for promoting opportunity through social mobility. The Innovation category awards companies that go above and beyond in their area of expertise, and is designed for those offering a unique innovation, which has been available to the market for a minimum of two years. Winners of this category must also show outstanding commercial success over the past two years, or continuous commercial success over five years.
