TEES TECH AWARDS 2025

SPONSORED BY APPLIED INTEGRATION

Labman Automation project managers Joy Plowman and Matthew Watson( right) received the Tech Business of the Year award from Josh Lofthouse of category sponsor Applied Integration.

WINNER

Astonished! That was the reaction of project managers from Labman Automation, with the Stokesley-based firm planning to expand to 300 staff on the back of a memorable double.

Having picked up the Tech For Good title, staff from Labman were already having a good night.

But when named winner of the Business of the Year title, project managers Matthew Watson and Joy Plowman could barely believe it.

Joy told Tees Business:“ We were not expecting this! We’ re astonished – to be nominated against such incredible companies and then to win Business of the Year is such an honour.”

Matthew added:“ We’ re just two of 170 people who work at Labman and we look forward to giving them the good news.

“ What they’ ve done over the years – and some have been there for 30 – has contributed towards us winning two awards.”

A global leader in lab automation, design and manufacturing advanced robotic systems, Labman’ s solutions improve efficiency, precision and scalability across pharmaceuticals, healthcare and manufacturing, enabling significant breakthroughs in research and development.

But the firm believes what truly sets it apart is its focus on cuttingedge innovation – such as developing the world’ s first fully automated IVF cryostorage lab and AI-driven drug discovery systems.

Such solutions streamline processes and accelerate progress – and earlier in the evening earned Labman the Tech For Good prize.

When asked about Labman, Joy told the 300-strong audience:“ Come to us with a problem and we’ ll find a solution. We do everything from mechanical and electrical to software and management – we do a bit of everything.” And Joy revealed expansion is now on the cards. She said:“ We have a‘ work hard, play hard’ attitude that keeps us all driven, motivated and determined.“ One of our key values is to strive for excellence alongside being in it together and having fun.“ We strive to be the best we can through the really hard and dedicated work of our 170 members of staff.

“ Now we hope to grow that to 300, which will allow us to develop even more and help more people, which is what we’ re really passionate about.”

SPONSOR’ S MESSAGE

Josh Lofthouse, Applied Integration: We wanted to sponsor the awards in general to mark our 20th anniversary and we chose to sponsor this category because we felt it really illustrates what it means to be a business on Teesside. The finalists were all really good – they’ re all great in their own fields but Labman are making amazing strides forward, not only for the tech industry but for the area as a whole.

FINALISTS

COLEWOOD DIGITAL

A leading, full-service digital marketing agency based in Stockton, Colewood Digital delivers PPC, SEO, social media, email marketing, website development and media services. With 25 years of experience, the agency is a Google Premier Partner( top 1 %) and holds ISO 27001 accreditation.

Over the past year, Colewood has achieved 20 %-plus revenue growth, launched a successful website build service and introduced a media service, as well as now managing monthly ad spend for more than 150 clients.

And with a 4.9 / 5 Trustpilot rating, a graduate scheme nurturing local talent and a commitment to innovation, Colewood is on course to reach its goals of becoming a nationally recognised leader, strengthening partnerships and driving greater success for clients.

TANGLEWOOD GAMES

Founded in 2017, Hartlepool-based Tanglewood is a leading Unreal Engine engineering studio, contributing to major titles and providing expert engineering, technical art support, platform porting and performance optimisation for top gaming companies.

The firm’ s expertise has earned it coveted accreditation in the Unreal Engine Service Partner Programme since 2022 and, despite industry-wide challenges, the firm has kept expanding, hiring new talent and working on several international projects.

It’ s a company that prioritises fairness, transparency and industry growth, operating an open salary policy and supporting local initiatives. And buoyed by recent success in Los Angeles, it is expanding into new markets to further support game studios worldwide.

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