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Co-operative awards security firms for their Big Ideas
22 Jun 10
The winners of The Co-operative Group’s first ever security innovation event – The Big Idea – have been named in an awards ceremony, which also raised £10,000 for charity.
The Big Idea event challenged the security industry to come up with innovations to meet The Co-operative’s business needs in safety, security and business loss across the Group’s family of businesses.
More than 150 submissions were received from universities, security manufacturers and IT systems organisations across the UK.
The shortlist was whittled down to 32 suppliers, who had to pitch their “Big Idea” during a two-day ‘Dragon’s Den’ style presentation to a panel of senior Co-operative managers.
Implementable solutions
The winners, whose solutions were identified as being activities The Co-operative could implement, were Loktec, for its “Flexi-Boot” ATM security solution. Loktec devised a system to tackle crime issues affecting the security of ATMs.
Nick Hewer, from the BBC’s Apprentice, presented the winners with their awards at a ceremony, the Big Idea Bash, held at The Co-operative Group headquarters in Manchester.
During the black tie event more than 240 guests enjoyed a champagne reception and a three-course meal with ingredients from the Truly Irresistible Co-operative range.
Charity benefits
An auction was also held, for items including a signed Geoff Hurst replica 1966 England shirt and a signed Pele shirt, which helped raise £10,000 for children’s charity, The Variety Club.
Richard Quinn, who heads the Food Retail Loss Prevention team, said: “What a tremendous event. The Co-operative Group called upon suppliers from across the country to take part in this industry-leading security innovation event, and to put forward their ‘Big Idea’ – and what a fantastic response we had.
“The event was a great success and there was a huge willingness to take up the challenge and The Co-operative will work with the each of winners to take forward their ‘Big Idea’.
“It not only identified solutions which The Co-operative Group could implement in its business, but the awards ceremony also helped raise £10,000 for children’s charity The Variety Club.”
