10 December 2021
The winners of the 2021 MediWales Innovation Awards were recently announced at the sixteenth annual awards ceremony at Mercure Holland House Hotel in Cardiff. GX Group sponsored the Industry Judges Award, won by Virustatic Shield Ltd – a company set up to launch the patented Virustatic Shield face covering.
The Virustatic Shield project was part of an NHS national trial to evaluate the potential of reusable face masks in place of single-use products, the drivers for its development were cost, waste, environmental impact and supply shortage.
GX Group’s managing director Mark Helmich said; “We were delighted to see Virustatic Shield win the Industry Judges Award. Face masks are going to play an important role in managing the spread of COVID and its variants, so finding a more cost effective, reusable alternative is absolutely necessary.”
“These Awards are a fantastic opportunity to showcase some of the exciting innovations that are being developed in this sector by our community, and it feels especially relevant in such challenging times,” added Mark. “The work that GX Group does centres around transforming brilliant ideas into commercial reality, The MediWales Innovation Awards are a celebration of exactly this.”
The ceremony was back ‘in person’ this year after a one-year break and around 400 guests attended representing the Welsh NHS, and industry and academia from across the UK. It was held in partnership with the Life Sciences Hub Wales and supported by Health and Care Research Wales and Welsh Government. As in previous years, the Awards were also sponsored by Development Bank of Wales. The reception was sponsored by Healthy.io and the Swansea University Medical School Health Technology Centre.