Firms feature among UK's most innovative

ASV and Magma Global, both in Portchester, were highlighted due to their outstanding achievements.

Since 2013 Innovate UK has given £1m of funding to help ASV develop autonomous marine vessels and technology for commercial, scientific and military clients. In just six years, employee numbers have grown from five to 70.

Since 2011 Magma Global has won awards worth £490,000 to develop prototypes for its oil and gas composite pipe technology, and more recently £1.76m in Energy Catalyst funding. The firm has expanded from 50 staff in 2013 to more than 200 worldwide.

Innovate UK chief executive Ruth McKernan said: ‘ASV and Magma Global are just two of the outstanding examples of the innovative companies we have worked with. We look forward to working with many more, helping Hampshire’s economy grow and create jobs.’

Charles Tavner, from Magma Global, said: ‘Magma has worked with Innovate UK since our inception in 2010, to aid rapid development of our high performance carbon fibre composite m-pipe product for the oil and gas industry, and to help grow the UK economy from our Portsmouth manufacturing base.’

Since 2007 Innovate UK has invested about £1.8bn in innovation, which has been more than matched by the private sector – returning up to £13.1bn to the economy. It has supported innovation in 7,600 organisations, creating 55,000 new jobs.