By James Brocket
The Investor All Stars Awards, established by GP Bullhound, is now in its 21st year and has grown to become the primary celebratory event in the technology market calendar. We have been proud sponsors of the event for many many years and the whole team at Calibre One has immensely enjoyed our association with the awards and with its organisers at GP Bullhound.
It strikes me, as the All Stars comes of age, that it is an interesting analogue for the European technology industry itself. Born the year after the tech bubble burst, we were all wondering at the time if there was still a technology industry to celebrate. Nonetheless, we went along and witnessed the first tentative steps taken by Hugh, Manish and Per to create “The Oscars of the Tech World”.
From uncertain beginnings and a challenging childhood and early teenage years where an events company took over the management of All Stars, the team at GP Bullhound then decided to take it back in house and give it the love and attention it deserved. Since GP Bullhound took the organisation back in-house the All Stars has gone from strength-to-strength, with the excellent Jade Williams and team organising something that confidently gets a little better every year. Thank you to them, and to the whole team at GPB, for creating such a great event.
Of course, it also doesn’t hurt that now, 21 years on, we really do have a technology industry worth celebrating…….