On Thursday 20 October, the prestigious Wales Tech Awards were held at the Mercure Cardiff Holland House Hotel in the heart of the Welsh capital. The awards are a an opportunity to recognise the businesses and people who are shifting the needle in technology across the Welsh Tech sector and is a highlight of the Tech calendar in Wales. NearMeNow had been shortlisted in the ‘Tech for Good’ category with their CEO, Victoria Mann had been shortlisted in the ‘Best Tech Leader’ category.
Rob Basini, FSB’s Development Manager was there in person to support and congratulate the team, and Victoria in particular, who took home the award for Best Tech Leader across Wales in an extremely strong category. Victoria dedicated her award win to all female leaders and commented:
“Whilst the number of female CEOs in the FTSE 100 businesses has almost tripled in the last decade to 39.1% from 12.5%, we still have some way to go. Research shows that us girls are far better at understanding unsatisfied demands that in turn create massive market opportunities; the VZTA Smart Towns platform is no exception.
"As the first smart towns ecosystem of its kind globally, being recognised by the Wales Tech Awards has already boosted our ever-growing network of advocates and we’re looking to work with even more like-minded partners and investors who are just as enthusiastic about towns, data and tech as we are.”
FSB members, NearMeNow launched their VZTA Smart Towns Ecosystem on 17 October at the Parc & Dare Theatre, Treorchy. Their brand new Smart Towns product creates micro economies for smart digital towns through an ecosystem as a service based approach.
Described by place-leading experts as being the most financially inclusive option for town digital transformation, the VZTA platform allows Local Authorities to generate a digital ecosystem for any town, village or cluster of businesses with a couple of clicks of a mouse; creating a one-stop-shop for residents, visitors or tourists to interact with businesses at home or when visiting new places.
VZTA strengthens the physical presence of bricks and mortar businesses both on the high street and in the community; bringing communities of businesses together in one digital place to facilitate communication with the organisations that support them; frees up resources within Local Authority town teams and provides software to BIDs, Chambers and reputable local organisations to enable destinations to manage the pace of their Smart Town transformation.
The entire platform is underpinned with a “no town left behind” approach to ensure that the small businesses that exist within our post-industrial, coastal and rural destinations have the tools they need to fight back against online giants.
For more information on VZTA please visit vztasmarttowns