A wide-ranging selection of tech companies, from drone software to med-tech have today been announced among the winners of the inaugural North-South Business Cooperation Awards, a €500,000 programme launched by the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation to celebrate cross-border entrepreneurship on the island of Ireland.

The Awards, which culminated in a high-profile ceremony at Castle Leslie Estate, Co. Monaghan, saw a total of nine entrepreneurs and entrepreneur businesses in partnership, recognised for their outstanding achievements in building businesses that bridge communities in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The Awards attracted a large volume of entries from across the island, with businesses demonstrating genuine cross-border collaboration and trade. Eligible companies were required to show a meaningful presence in both jurisdictions while also meeting minimum thresholds for turnover and employment. The result was a highly competitive field that showcased the strength and diversity of entrepreneurship operating across the island of Ireland.

North-South Business Cooperation Awards

A total of €500,000 in cash prizes was awarded: one Gold Award of €150,000, two Silver Awards of €100,000 each, and six Bronze Awards of €25,000 each.

Partnering with Galway-based chocolatier, Grá Chocolates, Northern Irish tech platform needi took home a Silver Award. The female-founded service, created by co-founders Steph Scholes and Louise Doyle to connect businesses with local, independent vendors using AI technology and human curation, was set up in Armagh in 2020. Renewable energy solutions firm Acel Energy also received a Silver Award. The Monaghan-based company designs and implements solar tech, battery-storage and demand-management systems for commercial clients, often under co-ownership or Power Purchase Agreement models.

Among the Bronze Award winners, med-tech companies saw huge success through cross-border partnered entries, with fertility clinics OvaScan Fertility Ultrasound (Dublin) and New Beginnings Scan (Strabane), which each combine advanced ultrasound technology with specialist expertise, taking home prizes through a joint entry. Súil Pharma, a Galway med-tech company developing novel therapies specialising in vision and hearing diseases, and Medinect Ophtho, a Belfast service provider delivering high-quality pre-clinic services, also joined forces to each take home a Bronze Award. Rounding off the joint entries, Subterranean Software, specialising in drone and embedded systems for constrained environments, and Good Friday Robotics, which develops advanced drone robotics for hazardous environments, were each also awarded a Bronze prize.

Other Bronze winners in tech included Cotter Agritech, which develops precision livestock health tools, enabling selective treatment of livestock to reduce chemical usage and improve sustainability, and Arcus Cleaning Systems, an industrial hygiene and automated cleaning solution provider.

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, creator and owner of the easy family of brands - including easyJet.com, easyHotel.com and many others (see www.easy.com and www.easyHistory.info), and founder and president of the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation (see stelios.foundation and stelios.ie) - personally presented the awards and met the finalists at the ceremony.

Speaking at an event announcing the winners, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, said: "This is a proud day for entrepreneurship on the island of Ireland. The winners we honour today show that when determination, innovation and creativity meet, borders become bridges. These entrepreneurs are not only building successful businesses - they are proving that collaboration across communities leads to prosperity for all. They are creating jobs, delivering services and setting an example for the next generation of entrepreneurs. I hope that their success today will encourage even more entrepreneurs to think ambitiously, work collaboratively, and see the entire isl...