CBI Nominet Trust Awards 2012
Hao2.eu and 3DNovations named Most Innovative Business for using virtual worlds to create employment and training opportunities.
In 2012, Hao2.eu and its 3DNovations initiative won the Most Innovative Business category at the Nominet Internet Awards.
The award recognised the use of online three dimensional virtual environments to provide autistic people with access to employment, training and business opportunities.
In its contemporary announcement of the winners, Nominet described 3DNovations as an initiative giving people with autistic spectrum conditions access to these opportunities through the internet within a three dimensional virtual world.
The recognition came relatively early in the development of the technology. Hao2.eu had begun researching applications of collaborative virtual world technology around 2010, exploring how shared digital environments could provide alternatives to conventional approaches to learning, work and public services.
The ceremony was attended in person by some of our staff, and virtually by others. The virtual building was a replica of the Saatchi Gallery, which we made an exterior of, in addition to an interior replica of the awards hall.
Recognition among leading UK internet projects
The Nominet Internet Awards were established to recognise UK projects demonstrating how the internet could create economic and social benefit.
The 2012 awards covered areas including innovative business, online education, internet safety, accessibility and public participation.
Other winners that year included AVERT for online HIV and AIDS education, CBBC Horrible Histories for internet safety work and the Raspberry Pi Foundation, which received the Outstanding Contribution to the UK Internet award.
This placed Hao2.eu and 3DNovations within a wider group of initiatives being recognised for practical and socially useful applications of internet technology.
Nominet’s then Chief Executive Lesley Cowley described the winners collectively as examples of UK online innovation that could contribute to a more accessible, inclusive and safe internet.
International showcase
Winning projects were not recognised solely through the UK awards ceremony.
Nominet announced that the 2012 winners would be showcased at the United Nations Internet Governance Forum in Baku, Azerbaijan, later that year, helping to share examples of UK internet practice internationally.
For a small social technology company, this gave 3DNovations early international visibility and placed its approach to accessible virtual environments within a much broader discussion about the social potential of the internet.
The Nominet award represents an important early point in the development history of 3DNovations.
It provided external recognition that virtual world technology could have practical value beyond entertainment.
In 2012, the award specifically recognised an approach in which internet technology was being applied to employment, training and business opportunities for autistic people.
Many of the themes visible in 3DNovations’ later work were therefore already present at this stage: accessibility, remote collaboration, digital skills, employment, virtual environments and technology developed around the requirements of its users.
About the Nominet Internet Awards
The Nominet Internet Awards were an annual UK competition recognising individuals and organisations using the internet to generate positive economic or social outcomes.
Nominet described the awards as celebrating projects contributing to a more secure, open, accessible and diverse internet. Winners were promoted within the UK and internationally as examples of good practice.
Historical note
The award was received by Hao2.eu Ltd for the 3DNovations initiative.
This predates the incorporation of the present 3DNovations Limited in Scotland. The technology, brand, research and personnel associated with the original 3DNovations initiative form part of the development history of the present business.