Neueda scoops top prize at Digital DNA Awards in St Anne’s Cathedral

Neueda lifted the Overall Company of the Year title at the Digital DNA Awards held last night in St Anne’s Cathedral.

The Belfast firm took the Best Large Tech Company award at the glittering ceremony hosted by presenter Zoe Salmon and comedian Andrew Ryan and attended by over 400 tech and business people.

The Digital DNA Awards recognise the achievements of the individuals, projects and companies in the Northern Ireland business, technology and IT sectors.

Neueda has been on an impressive growth trajectory over the last few years and counts a raft of blue chip names among its clients. 

Meanwhile, Patrick McAliskey from Novosco, a Belfast IT managed service company, took the title of Business Personality of the Year while Aaron Gibson, the founder of mobile app Hurree, has been been named Young Person of the Year.

Entrepreneur of the Year went to Nuala Murphy from Moment Health, Startup of the Year to Modius for its Neurovalens device and Developer of the Year to Mark O’Neill from Cayan. 

Louise Smyth from principle sponsors MCS Group said:

“MCS Group are proud sponsors of the DNA Awards for the third year now. In that time we have seen Belfast emerge as a Digital hub, with a vibrant start up scene, more traditional companies changing their digital offerings and a growing FDI appetite. 

“The Digital DNA awards celebrate our diverse range of talent in Northern Ireland across the digital scene, from E–commerce to Fintech, Media and Digital & Creative. Right here in Belfast we have local companies winning highly innovative international projects and the DNA awards amplify our strong message that Northern Ireland is building a world class, highly skilled and Agile Talent pool.” 

Simon Bailie, Digital DNA’s Commercial Director, said the awards drew a record number of entries and the standard was stronger than ever.

“The judges had a difficult time choosing the winners because the quality was so high. That is reflected in the list of finalists, one which shows the tech industry in Northern Ireland has never been in such good health.

 “Many of these companies and individuals are operating on a global basis and there is little doubt they are world class. These awards are celebrating the best in Northern Ireland but each and every one of them could compete with the best in the world.”

Ellvena Graham, one of the judges, said:

“The quality of entrants was so high we had to extend the shortlist from three to six and it was particularly exciting to see smaller companies coming through who have begun to scale up and become big players, adding a breadth of high value jobs to the Northern Irish economy. We were also really pleased to see so many fantastic male and female entrepreneurs.” 

The awards evening returned to St Anne’s Cathedral for the second year running in 2018. Last year, it was one of the first events to be held in the 119-year-old landmark building.

MCS Group were the principal sponsor, while major sponsors include PwC, Flint Studios, esri Ireland and Barclay’s Eagle Labs.

A full list of the winners and runners up can be found below:

 Overall Company of the Year

Winner - Neueda

Best Large Tech Company

Winner – Neueda

Runner-up – Kainos

E-Commerce Project of the Year

Winner - Eyekiller / Wave and Wake

Highly Commended – Total Hockey

App of the year

Winner – Big Motive-BBC Pandemic

Highly Commended – Danske Bank/Danske Life 

Entrepreneur of the year

Winner – Nuala Murphy, Moment Health

Highly Commended – Mark Dowds, Trov

Best Digital Marketing Campaign

Winner – Digital 24, Babocush

Highly Commended – Spar NI, 12 days of Christmas

Best Small Tech Company

Winner – Salt DNA

Highly Commended - Zymplify

Digital Project of the Year

Winner – Allstate, Uber Technologies

Runner-up – Dawson Andrews/The Dumbest Chatbot

Developer of the Year

Winner – Mark O’Neill, Cayan

Runner-up – Colin Young, Dawson Andrews

Start-up of the Year

Winner – Modius

Highly Commended – Hurree

Young Person of the Year

Winner – Aaron Gibson, Hurree

Highly Commended – Adam Flanagan, Future Summits

Business Personality of the Year

Winner - Patrick McAliskey

Highly Commended – Naomh McElhatton, SMARTNI