Worcestershire businesses fly the flag for the county globally

Worcestershire businesses have been praised for their innovation and achievements in a new report.

Selecting 50 innovative businesses, The Midlands Innovation Report, published by Mills and Reeve shone a light on those who are putting the region back on the map.

Worcestershire is one of the fastest-growing economies, and several businesses from across the county were highly praised within the report, published earlier in the Autumn.

Jessica Antley, Senior Project Manager of WINN at Worcestershire County Council said: ”This report is a clear indication of how businesses continue to put the Midlands as a region on the map in terms of Business and Innovation. It’s wonderful to see Worcestershire businesses, such as Airband and Wearable Link playing a big part in this progression. I’d like to congratulate all of the businesses mentioned for helping our county to prosper.”

Airband, highlighted in this report, is one of many businesses who continue to fly the flag for Worcestershire globally. The broadband service provider is currently the largest provider in South Africa and offers a market-leading wireless service to rural regions. The rural areas they are working on in the UK are rural Devon, the South West and Wales.

The firm has won multiple awards and when interviewed by WINN, spoke how their success has enabled investment in the development of an innovative ‘fibre to the premises solution’, ensuring higher broadband speed with minimum disruption.

Fibre to the premises (FTTP) is a pure fibre connection from the exchange, into your business. The connection offers higher broadband speeds to specific premises in areas that have been specifically enabled to use it..

Redmond Peel, the owner of Airband, said: "The great thing about what we do is that people appreciate broadband. It's like bringing water to the desert.”

This bespoke fibre solution, designed specifically for rural and hard-to-reach areas, has huge consumer benefits and far-reaching economic implications for the rural business landscape.

A further £16m investment will expand its network to an additional 50,000 premises in England by 2021.

Another concept funded by WINN and mentioned in the report was Worcestershire based Wearable Link.

Making hazardous environments a safer place to work, the company specialises in wireless ‘genius’ technology; using location based information to help improve the safety, productivity and compliance of workers on U.K. construction sites.

Having been awarded a contract with Betaden - one of the UK’s first 5G testbeds, Wearable hope to introduce their concept to professional surfers, families and vulnerable adults.