Winners of the Franco-British Trade & Investment Awards 2025

The British Embassy in Paris and the Franco-British Chamber are pleased to announce the winners of the fifth Franco-British Trade & Investment Awards. These businesses demonstrated excellence in innovation, sustainability and growth on both sides of the Channel.

Artificial Intelligence Award – AQEMIA

Aqemia is a French PharmaTech company focused on advancing preclinical drug discovery, with its most advanced programs in oncology.

Why did they win for this category?

The Jury was impressed by the innovative use of AI to accelerate essential medical research in both France and the UK:

• Aqemia’s platform combines physics-based prediction with generative AI to design truly novel molecules at scale. Unlike others, they do not don’t rely on past experimental data to train their algorithms.
• This generative AI-first approach enables AQEMIA to build a scalable pipeline of programs, shortening early discovery timelines and reducing R&D risk. As a result, AQEMIA has built a robust pipeline across oncology, immunology, neurology, and cardiology, with its most mature programs in oncology.
• AQEMIA champions safe and responsible of AI by maintaining rigorous internal review processes for model validation, including benchmarking against experimental data, to ensure predictions are reliable and translatable. Ethical considerations are also built into project selection, with a focus on addressing areas of highest unmet medical need and avoiding targets with limited clinical relevance.
• AQEMIA’s expansion into the UK has marked a major step in its evolution as a global leader in biotech and TechBio. The London team operates as a fully integrated part of AQEMIA, with cross-office collaboration a priority. The company’s AI-driven workflows allow seamless sharing of projects and results between Paris and London, ensuring that expertise and discoveries are rapidly translated into new drug programs across both side of the Channel.
• Combined with their deep roots in France, this dual presence positions AQEMIA as a European leader capable of accelerating global R&D efforts through its physics-AI platform.

Franco-British Partnerships Award – Boccard

Why did they win for this category?

Boccard is a global plant and process solutions leader, specialised in the delivery of high integrity mechanical components, fluid processes, and pressurised systems for the nuclear market.

The Jury felt that Boccard delivered a clear, positive, and enduring contribution to strengthening the UK–France economic relationship:

• Boccard has a 108-year heritage with over 60 years working in the nuclear sector in France and over 10 years in the UK. Currently, they employ over 180 staff in the UK which will continue to grow to over 250 in the coming months. Their growth ambitions are aligned to the renaissance of the global nuclear industry and the importance this sector brings both to the UK and French government.
• Despite issues faced as a result of Hinkley Point C’s industrial strategy change and the creation of MEH delivery alliance, Boccard continued to invest in the UK as a standalone company and opened a new UK factory in Broughton in 2017.
• This was recently followed by an expansion program in 2024 leading to the opening of their Deeside Factory, one of the largest fully digital pipe and support manufacturing facilities in the UK. The new facility will create over 250 permanent positions as well as providing a major boost to the local region, which takes in Cheshire and Flintshire by developing local skills and the region’s talent pool. This facility promotes French industrial excellence, British industrialisation and essential supply chain development.

SME of the Year Award – Denroy

Denroy is a UK-based innovator in the design and manufacture of engineered polymer components and solutions, supplying high-performance thermoplastics to leading aerospace companies including Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier and Spirit, as well as French defence primes Thales and MBDA.

Why did they win for this category?

The Jury was impressed by the impact this SME is having on such an important sector for the UK and France:

• With the increase in defence spending and the launch of the UK’s industrial strategy in June, Denroy recognised a clear opportunity to support the UK’s ambition to double investment in advanced manufacturing and expanded their activities into France.
• With over 20 engineers in mechanical design and R&T, Denroy invests heavily in innovation and works closely with customers to remain at the forefront of polymer technology, actively contributing to the resilience and innovation of the aerospace sector in both the UK and France.
• Denroy’s participation in the Aero Excellence™ program, developed by GIFAS, set out a clear signal of their intent to integrate deeply into the French aerospace ecosystem. As the first company globally to achieve Silver status, they have demonstrated not only their capability but their alignment with the operational, environmental, and cybersecurity standards expected by French primes and their supply chains.
• Denroy’s legacy of continuous improvement, evidenced by their SC21 Gold status for over eight years and performance metrics of 99.5% on-time delivery and 99.9% quality, positions them as a reliable and high-performing supplier across Europe.
   

Sustainability Award – BW Ideol

BW Ideol is a France-based leader in floating offshore wind founded in 2010.

Why did they win for this category?

The Jury felt this company was pioneer in its field, introducing vital innovations that advance sustainable energy in both the UK and Fance:

• BW Ideol has developed a competitive and innovative floating foundation solution – the Damping Pool® – designed to deliver clean energy in all marine environments. This technology is among the very few concepts worldwide to have been successfully validated at full scale in harsh offshore conditions, with two demonstrators operating since 2018 in Japan and France.
• BW Ideol is co-developer of the Buchan Offshore Wind Project in Scotland and signed an exclusive agreement with the Port of Ardersier to establish a large-scale production facility for concrete floaters, which create up to 1,300 direct and 3,900 indirect jobs.
• The company has also developed the first French offshore wind turbine, the Floatgen project, which generated 70 direct jobs during construction in Saint-Nazaire, placed €20M in orders with French suppliers, and achieved 80% local Tier 1 sourcing.
• Across both geographies, BW Ideol embeds sustainability by aligning industrial development with decarbonization goals. Both the Scottish and French facilities will benefit from shared learning curves, optimizing production processes and further minimizing environmental impacts. Their concrete-based foundations reduce lifecycle emissions by 30% compared to steel designs while strengthening local supply chains and regional resilience.