Altech Netstar wins TT100 Award

In an awards ceremony in Johannesburg last week, Altech Netstar was awarded the 2007 Technology Top 100 (TT100) Minister’s Award for Overall Excellence. “This celebration of excellence is also a celebration of truly South African innovation,” said the Minister of Science and Technology, Mosibudi Mangena, of the overall awards.

Altech Netstar is the overall winner in the 2007 Technology Top 100 (TT100) awards.

According to Professor Roy Marcus, Chairman of the Technology Top 100 and The Da Vinci Institute for Technology Management, the honour was a result of the company’s ingenuity and success in the systemic management of technology, innovation and people.

The winners were announced during an innovative musical awards ceremony held on 21 February 2008, where 81 enterprises qualified to carry the 2007 TT100 brand, signifying that they use technology to outperform their peers and achieve success.

“The Technology Top 100 Awards are recognised as the premier business excellence awards in South Africa,” said the Minister of Science and Technology, Mosibudi Mangena. “This celebration of excellence is also a celebration of truly South African innovation.”

“What distinguishes TT100 winners and qualifiers is their management of technology, innovation and people, as well as their use of systems thinking, to create successful, sustainable businesses,” said Marcus.

“They demonstrate the ability to effectively manage the human-technology interface, and use technology and innovation to reach the marketplace first. They also ensure that innovation is not a top-down process, but a corporate-wide commitment.”

Winners in the Established Companies categories were:

• DebTech, for Excellence in the Management of Research;

• Altech Netstar, for Excellence in the Management of Technology;

• Advanced Technologies and Engineering Co. (ATE), for Excellence in the Management of Innovation

• Accsys, for Excellence in the Management of People,

• Allied Technologies (Altech), for Excellence in the Management of Technology, Innovation and People; and

• PFK Electronics, for Excellence in the Management of Systems

Winners in the Emerging Companies categories were:

• Water Angel Operations and I-Slices Innovations, joint winners for Excellence in the Management of Technology;

• Altis Biologics, for Excellence in the Management of Systems; and

• Hot Platinum, for Excellence in the Management of Innovation.

The 2007 TT100 winners all demonstrate South African ingenuity, and have managed to break into fiercely competitive markets.The TT100 adjudication process involves an initial broad-based scanning of applicants to ensure they meet basic criteria. This is followed by an information-gathering phase, including an intensive three-hour interview of company executives by selected adjudicators. Qualifiers, finalists and winners are then identified during an adjudication workshop.

“A key element of the adjudication process is an attempt to extract ‘the story behind the story’,” said Marcus. “We attempt to explore the unique factors within organisations that set them apart from their competitors.”

The 2008 TT100 Awards programme will see a number of significant changes. For the first time, qualifiers will benefit from the opportunity to attend four TT100 Innovation Master Classes, offering facilitated interaction with executives of the TT100 winning companies. The focus will be on take-home lessons, ensuring value for attendees.

In addition, TT100 is moving towards refining its sustainability index, so that by February 2009 index numbers will be published for all TT100 Qualifiers. TT100 will also offer a knowledge management consulting service to its entrants.

More than ever, companies will have to demonstrate systems thinking in their management of technology, innovation and people.

TT100 gives organisations the opportunity to benchmark themselves against their peers, and applicants gain a valuable, expert third-party appraisal of their efforts in using and developing technology. Applications for the 2008 TT100 Awards open on 1 April 2008 (and that’s not meant to be a joke!).

TT100 was launched in 1990, initially under the auspices of The Engineering Association. From 2003 it has been part of the Da Vinci group of companies.

TT100 is sponsored by, and run with official mandate from, the Department of Science and Technology. Eskom is a primary private sponsor, while the JSE AltX, Da Vinci Holdings, TBM Communications and the SAAE are key partners.

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