We are absolutely delighted to announce that we’ve won a Keele University Breaking the Mould Award.
At a fantastic awards evening last night, we were presented with the Collaboration of the Year award which was a total surprise. We were actually shortlisted for the same category in 2020 so to win was fantastic.
The awards celebrate the innovation-led organisations, businesses, not-for-profits and charities that have benefitted from the innovative support programmes at Keele University – which we have.
The event held at Keele’s Smart Innovation Centre is the first time it’s been held in person since the pandemic and was hosted by award winning broadcast journalist and presenter Krishnan Guru-Murphy.

“It’s a real pleasure to have been able to host the Breaking the Mould awards in person again this year after two years away. All of our award winners, and those who were shortlisted, are thoroughly deserving of recognition in this year’s awards for their inspiring work to improve and grow the region’s business prospects and economy.”
Professor Trevor McMillan OBE, Vice-Chancellor of Keele University
Surrounded by some fantastic businesses, finalists and winners, we heard some amazing stories of innovation and success, and enjoyed some fantastic entertainment with some gorgeous locally sourced food and drink.



We were up against some really strong competition in our category with the Caribbean Elective and the Centre for Alternative Technology both named as finalists.
Jonathan Lawton, our CEO and Founder said:
“I was absolutely thrilled that we were shortlisted so to have won is fantastic and I do I wish I’d prepared a speech now. I would like to say a massive thank you to the Keele community – everybody that we’ve met daily, whether it’s staff and students that provided expertise or the programmes that we’ve been through – without any of this, we wouldn’t be in the position that we’re in now.
Collaborating with Keele has just come so easily; in terms of the community we’ve got around us – it’s been immense. Thank you also to my team, as well as the Keele team – they’re all brilliant! I’d like to say a massive congratulations to all the finalists and other winners – it was great to be among them and I wish them all continued success in the future.”
Announcing the award, the event host Krishnan Guru-Murphy said:

“The judging panel felt the Hixon Group have fully embraced the ethos of Keele and its business support programmes committing to being part of Keele’s journey and its work with other businesses. During the first month of the 2020 lockdown Hixon Group worked with the Keele Gateway to produce a series of webinars to support businesses with a wide reaching scope of of topics including financial and health and wellbeing. This platform enabled Keele to continue to support local businesses.”
Krishnan Guru-Murphy – Event Host
The award we won – Collaboration of the Year, was sponsored by the Courtyard by Marriott on Keele University Science & Innovation Park and recognises the most productive Keele University Enterprise partnership by bringing together academia and enterprise to help face challenges including climate change, social inclusion, growing healthcare needs and rapid technological change.
The awards other categories and winners were:
- Health and Wellbeing Award – Project Vae
- Sustainability Award – TMT First
- Social Inclusion Award – YMCA Crewe
- Cultivating Talent Award – Concentric Solutions
- Leading Innovation – Apnea Tech Ltd
- Enterprising Student of the Year Award – Emily Goodwin (Legs PR Agency)
- Company of the Year Award – Biocomposites (winner) & Mondrem CIC (runner-up)



To find out more about the awards go to: https://www.keele.ac.uk/business/breakingthemould/