Ace Aquatec in the running for Queen's Award

Managing director Nathan Pyne-Carter said the company, which recently relocated from Dingwall to Dundee, applied for the award last year and has now been informed that it has made the shortlist in the Innovation section.

He said: “It’s nice to be on the list. We applied last year some time. It’s at the point now where the accountants put in all the financials and things to back up what was put on the initial application.”

Criteria for the Innovation award are strict.

To apply, a company must:

• have an innovation that hasn’t been sold before
• have had its innovation available on the market for at least two years
• have recovered all the investments made in its innovation or show that the innovation will recover its full costs in future
• show outstanding commercial success as a result of innovation over two years - or continuous commercial success over five years

Pyne-Carter said Ace Aquatec's application was based on the company's record of innovation, rather than a single product.

Winning organisations will be notified in March 2018, and the winners will be officially announced in the London Gazette and on the UK government’s GOV.UK website on April 21.

Buckingham Palace reception

Winners are invited to a reception at Buckingham Palace, hosted by the Queen; are presented the award at their company by a Lord-Lieutenant; are able to fly the Queen’s Award flag at their main office, and use the emblem on marketing materials; and are given a Grant of Appointment and a commemorative crystal bowl.

The awards are valid for five years.

Ace Aquatec also supplies electric nets for fish farms to deter predators which may suffer from natural deafness and therefore wouldn't be put off by acoustic seal scarers. It has also recently developed an electric fish, which looks like a dead salmon and lies at the bottom of a net cage. A seal gets an electric shock when it tries to grab the 'mort'.

Ace Aquatec won the NOK 100,000 (£10,000) Innovation Award at Norway’s Aqua Nor trade show in Trondheim in August. The company, which was short-listed along with two Norwegian innovators, was given the award for its in-line fish stunner, which knocks out fish just metres from the holding pen, allowing more humane slaughter and less potential damage to the product.

“It is believed that the system has the potential to transform welfare and efficiencies in aquaculture and mariculture worldwide for fish and crustaceans,” the Aqua Nor jury said.