Gerald David OBE Award for Innovation in Business Radio

Providing Customer Value Requires Innovation in all Areas of Activity

All healthy markets grow and change to best address the current needs of the customers. Business Radio, is no exception.

Achieving business success is no longer just a matter of providing ever-better products. Customers want the full range of value-add services to be included in their suppliers’ offering. Customers still want the best value for money in their products, of course. But they also must have the best accompanying services that support solution requirement capture, delivery, installation, pre and post-sale support and long-term maintenance.

All products, processes and back-up arrangements that change to meet the evolving needs of the customer require innovative approaches on the part of the supplier to meet the new demands or value will be lost. Furthermore, in the effort to recover from shortfalls, costs can quickly spiral out of control.

The FCS is fully aware of all this. That is why the Gerald David Award for Innovation has had its scope expanded to include all facets of solution-provision in the industry. The FCS believes the industry will remain strong as long as it innovates to address the achievement of customer value.

The 2019 Competition is Now Open

Every BR member of the FCS is automatically entitled to take part in the Gerald David Award competition.

We are delighted to announce that this year, the Gerald David Award is supported by Land Mobile magazine who will provide additional package of benefits to the winner. These are described in the invitation. The FCS believes that promotion of your innovation (and thereby your company) is a vital component of success in today’s market. The support of Land Mobile Magazine is therefore a significant benefit.

Click on the invitation document icon (left) to download your invitation and response form for the 2019 Gerald David OBE Award competition.

This invitation explains how to enter the competition the benefits for the winner and all other participants and much more information. This document is also a form that participants are asked to fill in and return. All the BR member has to do is return the completed form to [email protected]. The entries on the form are then judged by the panel of judges and the winner identified. The award ceremony will be conducted at the BR Gala Dinner on the 14th of November at Chateau Impney.

Reminders of the 2018 Competition

 

In 2018 the entries were extremely strong, the shortlist (in order of receipt) for this year’s Gerald David (OBE) Award for Innovation in Business Radio was:

  • ICOM (UK) with their Icom LTE Radio System solution [more]
  • Motorola Solutions Ltd with their MOTOTRBO™ Link solution [more]
  • GlobalView Systems Ltd with their RETAIN Solution [more]

The 2018 Winner was… GlobalView Systems Ltd

The Gerald David (OBE) Award for Innovation in Business Radio remains the only award in the UK for innovation in Business Radio and so winning is a very substantial mark of achievement.

About Business Radio in the UK

The United Kingdom relies heavily on Business Radio services to deliver essential services of general interest to everyone, including the correct functioning of Critical National Infrastructure. It is safe to say that without Business Radio, the UK would have difficulty putting food in the shops, keeping warm or staying safe. In short, BR has a significant input into many vital services and plays a major role in keeping our society going.

Business Radio is often wrongly characterised as old-fashioned and unchanging. Nothing could be further from the truth. BR is actually ahead of the curve in many ways. The Internet of Things which, in business radio terms is widely deployed as telemetry has been in place and operating successfully for decades. White Space Shared Spectrum, is only a form of what is for us every-day shared spectrum management and very high grade radio communications that other services are still struggling (and mostly failing) to achieve, is simply “what we do”. But our industry is not complacent. New and exciting innovations are constantly being introduced. The integration of the IP world into Business Radio offers the potential for all manner of new and exciting solutions for our customers.

The industry is moving along a path that will revolutionise the whole sector. Even for those who have no plans to change from their existing operations, the impact overall in terms of additional facilities will be beneficial. The level of innovation within the industry is extremely high. This is fortunate as without that innovation to solve difficult technical problems, the industry could become a victim of its own success. As the business grows and develops, so the problems we encounter and will encounter in the future will grow too.

It was for that reason that Gerald David OBE instigated the Award. He correctly foresaw that very high levels of innovation would be essential to keep the industry surging forward. The FCS is proud to maintain his legacy and keep this very important award growing from strength to strength.

If you have any queries about the award, please contact [email protected] or call the FCS Team on: 020 7186 5432.

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