Intel, Dell on Irish list for 2010 European Business Awards

Ten Irish firms, including three technology companies, have been selected to represent the country in the next stage of the 2010 European Business Awards.

The chosen Irish firms are: Alternatives, Aviva Health Insurance Ireland, Dell, Intel Ireland, Kingspan Group, Musgrave Group, Paypal Europe Services, Sicon Ltd - SISK Group, The Taxback Group and Unicare Pharmacy.

The awards, sponsored by HSBC, feature eight categories: Business of the Year Award, RSM International Entrepreneur of the Year Award; Business Innovation of the Year Award; HSBC Growth Strategy of the Year Award; Award for Customer Focus; Award for Corporate Sustainability; Environmental Awareness Award; and Employer of the Year Award.

The 10 Irish companies will now face a second wave of judging by a panel of experts including representatives from Diageo, Deutsche Telekom and the Telegraph Media Group.

The panel will evaluate the entries and select the top-scoring companies to become the Ruban d’Honneur recipients in each category. These winners will be announced on 29 July and will then go on to give face-to-face presentations to judges in a bid to win one of the eight categories.

Last year, Irish company Freeflow was the overall winner of the 2009 Ruban d’Honneur European Business Award in the category of the Information and Communication Technology Effectiveness.
Entries are of a high calibre

“These awards provide a great platform to recognise how businesses have excelled despite the financial uncertainty of the past two years. Entries this year have been of a particularly high calibre, highlighting Irish businesses' impressive ability to innovate and generate financial growth despite economic challenges – regardless of sector or size,” said Alan Duffy, HSBC head of corporate banking, Ireland.

“I believe that the 10 we have chosen are indicative of Ireland’s business strengths and confident that they will provide very tough competition for the other European entries,” he added.

According to Adrian Tripp, chief executive of the European Business Awards, the quality of applicants to the awards is rising each year, as are the number of entrants.

“These organisations who have achieved country representative status truly are the best of the best,” he said.

The winners of the European Business Awards will be honoured at a gala awards presentation at The Westin Hotel in Paris, on 16 November before an audience of more than 400 of Europe's top politicians, business leaders and media.