Tech-loving SME? You could get your hands on £40,000

The DTI and InterForum have today launched the sixth annual Ecommerce Awards for UK businesses – with prize money of £40,000 up for grabs for tech's top dog.

The awards are now open for nominations and are looking for SMEs with the most innovative use of technology to transform their businesses. There are prizes for regional and national ecommerce categories with over £200,000 to be won in total.

Among the categories are e-business start-up and e-trading on a regional level and best rural e-business and community and advanced supply chain integration national innovation awards.

The awards are open to companies with less than 250 employees across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland with regional winners been picked for each of 12 local areas. The winners will then go on for a shot at the overall national winner in their category. Each regional winner can expect to pick up £2,000 with the each national category or national innovation award winner picking up £8,000.

But the awards aren't about being high-tech, Phil Flaxton, CEO of InterForum, said today at the awards' launch: "The judges... will be looking for a clear demonstration how a small or medium-sized enterprise has implemented technology in their business processes. It's not about technology; it's about how it's embedded."

The awards have been running for six years and have been reflecting the changing use of technology in Britain. When the awards started in 1999, 'best use of the fax' was a category – now the regional awards also feature best use of broadband and best use of teleworking.

Speaking at the launch, Stephen Timms, ecommerce minister, said that he was keen to see more UK firms embrace the full potential of technology.

"The challenge for us in government is to help more businesses to understand how to exploit ICT," he said adding that technology is key to helping the UK "bridge the productivity gap".

As well as attracting over £2m in funding over the years, the number of tech-savvy entrants has gone up year by year – from 236 in its inaugural year to nearly 3,000 at last count.

For more details, to nominate your company or a tech high achiever you know, go to www.ecommerce-awards.co.uk. The closing date for entries is the 30 July. The regional winners will be announced in September, with the overall winners unveiled on 6 October.