Lord Lieutenant Presents King's Award for Innovation to Gateshead's Palintest
Team Valley water testing firm honoured for Kemio, the cutting edge platform now used in more than 30 countries
Gateshead water testing company Palintest has formally received The King’s Award for Enterprise, the UK’s highest business honour, at a ceremony at its Team Valley headquarters.
His Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Tyne and Wear, Lucy Winskell OBE, presented the award to Ian Crosby, Technical and Marketing Director, on Thursday 22 October. Staff and guests gathered on the manufacturing floor to watch, after John Robinson , Clerk to the Lieutenancy, read the Royal Warrant.
Palintest won the award in the Innovation category in May for Kemio, a world-leading water testing platform designed, patented and manufactured in Gateshead. Before the presentation, the Lord Lieutenant toured the site and met the teams behind it.
Ian Crosby said: “Having the Lord Lieutenant here to present the award in person, with the whole team around us, made it a day none of us will forget. Kemio was imagined, engineered and built right here on Team Valley. This award belongs to every person in this building who helped turn a good idea into something that protects water quality all over the world.”
Kemio launched in 2019 after three years of research and development. It uses electrochemical sensors to measure disinfectants and heavy metals, giving results in 60 seconds without reagents, glassware or specialist training.
Customers in more than 30 countries now rely on it. Multiple UK water companies use Kemio, including Northumbrian Water, and Canadian public health authorities use it to detect lead in school drinking water. It monitored hospital wastewater in China during the pandemic and is used at food production sites in the UK, on naval vessels in Australia and at desalination plants in Qatar.
Kevin McDermott, R&D Manager at Palintest, led the development of Kemio. The team had to solve some tough engineering problems, including an IP67 sealed electrical interface and an automated system that aligns the sensor and delivers the sample consistently every time.
“Kemio is a Gateshead success story, developed entirely in the North East and now trusted worldwide,” he said.
Lucy Winskell OBE, Lord Lieutenant of Tyne and Wear, said: “Palintest is a brilliant example of the world class innovation happening in our region. It was a pleasure to meet the people behind Kemio and to see first hand how a product made in Gateshead is helping keep water safe across the globe. I offer my warmest congratulations to everyone at Palintest.”
Palintest has traded from its Gateshead site since 1975 and employs 128 people there. The King’s Award is the company’s second royal honour, following a Queen’s Award for International Trade in 2013. Palintest will carry the King’s Award emblem for the next five years.