Midlands start-up in race to be named top UK tech trailblazer
High Temperature Materials Systems (HTMS) Limited has seen off strong competition from a raft of tech startups to be named Midlands Tech Innovator as part of KPMG’s bid to crown the UK’s most exciting tech businesses.
The Royal Leamington Spa-based company, which is a scale-up that is working to revolutionise the high-temperature composite materials market through innovation, will now progress to the national UK Tech Innovator final in London in June after coming out on top following a successful pitch alongside the best tech offerings in the region.
UK Tech Innovator, now in its 13th year, aims to find the best and brightest tech scale-ups that are lighting up the UK.
The competition gives a platform for entrepreneurs to showcase their businesses and collectively champion the future of tech.
Danilo Di Salvo, CEO at HTMS, said: “I'm delighted to have won the regional heat. This achievement reflects a tremendous amount of hard work in growing HTMS and delivering high temperature composites for our customers.
“I'd like to thank KPMG, the judges, and the other outstanding businesses involved. I'm bringing your positive energy into the final in June!"
The competition, which has been running since 2013, has celebrated some of the UK’s best pure technology and tech-enabled including What3Words, VividQ and HiiROC who have all been crowned previous winners.
2022 winner HiiROC took it a step further by winning the global final at Web Summit.
Regional winners progress to the national final, with the overall UK champion then advancing to the world stage at the KPMG Global Tech Innovator Competition later in the year, where an international panel of judges will select the Global champion.
Andy Bostock, Birmingham office senior partner at KPMG UK, said: "HTMS represents exactly the kind of ambitious, deep-tech innovation we're championing across the Midlands.
“This year's regional heat showcased real quality and maturity in the region’s tech landscape, so Danilo and the team should be very proud of this win. We wish them all the best as they take on the national competition in June."
Last year, Midlands-based Inicio AI beat hundreds of aspiring UK tech firms to win with its use of artificial intelligence to improve how organisations assess customer affordability, initially for those in financial difficulty but now expanding into wealth management.
Pictured from left to right: Rachel Curtis from Innovator Inicio AI (last year’s KPMG UK Tech Innovator), Danilo Di Salvo from HTMS and Stuart Pilgrim from KPMG
