Beacons of light in the darkest of years

When we opened this year’s Economic Innovator Awards for entries back in March, we were concerned we might not be able to recreate the positive impact achieved in 2018 and 2019 — let alone the memorable glitz of last year’s finale dinner at the Postal Museum. The nation was in lockdown, the economy was clearly beginning to suffer the damage that was eventually confirmed in the Chancellor’s Spending Review last week, and we had already adopted ‘Innovator’ in the name of the Awards in place of ‘Disruptor’, because the advancing coronavirus was the nastiest disruptor the world had seen for decades. How many struggling entrepreneurs would even find time to fill in our form?

But we need not have worried. Entries arrived in a growing stream, almost 150 of them (a record) from every corner of the UK and every business sector. As ever, the pattern reflected the times: in 2018, it was fintech to the fore; in 2019, green tech was in fashion; in 2020, for obvious reasons, healthcare and pandemic responses predominated. What so many had in common was optimism, resilience, a willingness to adapt to sudden change, and a strong sense of social purpose beyond profit. For our regional panels of judges — quizzing shortlisted entrants via Zoom, rather than over convivial lunches as we might have preferred — the process became a tonic in itself, a reminder that there really can be a brilliant era of technological advance and new-business growth on the other side of the pandemic.

As for the Awards ceremony, it too had to move online. But we made a spectacular show nevertheless, with The Spectator’s chairman Andrew Neil welcoming an international audience, paying tribute to our sponsor the private bank Julius Baer, and congratulating our winners. Joining me in person on stage at Landing Forty Two — the sky-high City venue where we originally hoped to host a gala dinner — were Priya Lakhani, founder of 2019’s overall award-winner Century Tech, who presented a new Award for Social Impact; and David Durlacher, chief executive of Julius Baer for the UK, who announced the overall 2020 winner.