IT WAS a happy return to the stage for Technology Business of the Year PureNet.

Chief executive Paul Gibson said the company had won a title at The Press Business of the Year Awards ten years earlier.

“It’s a great pleasure to be up here ten years later. We got New Business of the Year then; we’ve got 60 people working for us now.

“It’s been an incredible journey,” adding that it was very difficult to work in the field of innovation.

PureNet has launched a new product, PureClarity, which it uses in the ecommerce sector.

The awards judges said that PureNet had shown the greatest degree of innovation in the category, having developed technology in artificial intelligence that was at the cutting edge.

They said PureNet had been extremely successful in using artificial intelligence with several high-profile companies.

In addition the judges were impressed with PureNet’s commitment to the local community, and with the fact it had embraced an apprenticeship scheme and was helping to train the next generation of technology experts.