Royal congratulations

Smart metering technology specialist Sentec was this week congratulated by Her Majesty the Queen at a reception for Queen's Award winners at Buckingham Palace, following its Queen's Award for Enterprise success. Sentec received the prestigious award in the International Trade category for exceptional overseas earnings.

The Cambridge-based company was represented by chief executive officer, Dr Mark England, and technology developer Harshul Mehta. The Sentec representatives were greeted by Her Majesty at the reception on 19 July.

Sentec received the award in recognition of its exceptional growth over the last three years, during which time the company more than trebled its overseas earnings to £4.3m.

Dr Mark England commented: "We were honoured to meet the Queen at this very special occasion. Winning the Queen's Award for Enterprise is a testament to all the hard work the whole team at Sentec has put into growing the company and sustaining its reputation for excellence worldwide. We are proud to see the effort and world class level of expertise that we have put into creating commercially successful projects recognised in this way."

Sentec's growth was achieved by implementing a successful market strategy that involves licensing selected partners and providing them with support during product development and continuing consultancy services. As a result, Sentec technology is now included in almost half (approximately five million) of the smart electricity meters currently installed in the USA and in 7.7 million meters in total. Sentec is also continuing its commitment to the advancement of smart metering closer to home, with a licensing agreement with OnStream, a National Grid company, to bring Sentec's flagship Mobius current sensor technology to the UK smart electric meter market.