Having worked in several different sectors of PR I think I'm justified in saying I've paid my dues. From dancing with a rapping cow all day in a field, to nights in the office late enough to justify ordering breakfast… I've been there; written the pitch. But working on more taxing campaigns just makes it all the sweeter when such great projects comes along. Cue Cisco's BIG Awards.

When we began work on the British Innovation Gateway (BIG) campaign - Cisco's legacy piece as the Official Network Infrastructure Supporter of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games - we were clear on one point: we wanted to use Cisco's position as an industry leader to inspire, discover and nurture tech talent in the UK.

We live in a time of extraordinary technological advancement and outstanding innovation. But there have been grumbles about how few of the big ticket ideas come from the UK compared to our American pals across the pond. We're a clever bunch, and Britain's technology legacy is rich - the phone, the television, the WORLD WIDE WEB - but there seems to be a limit sometimes to the level we push ourselves to achieve. Tweetdeck, yes; Twitter, no. So what do we do to bridge this gap?

We set out to find the unsung heroes of the UK tech scene by launching a five year awards programme which tied into the wider BIG campaign. The Cisco team was clear on one point when we began planning the Cisco BIG Awards: a cash prize alone was not enough. Feedback from SMEs over the years indicated that money is all well and good, but without expert advice, mentoring and resources it will only carry you so far. So Cisco lined up some tremendous partners to help make the Cisco BIG Awards as beneficial to the winner as possible - Bird & Bird, DNX and even us here at Octopus will join Cisco to deliver legal, PR, digital and industry mentoring, in addition to the cash prize.

The level of entry - as clichéd as it may sound - was exceptional. This was compounded by Dragons' Den style presentations by the six finalists last night at Cisco House. There were some real 'oh I wish I'd thought of that' moments and the judging panel - which included our very own Octopus MD, Jon Lonsdale - had a hard task it must be said, but in the end three really stood out.

The winner in particular is AMAZING. Snap Fashion allows users to search for clothing items via a visual search engine - simply take a photograph of something you've seen or an item you own and the app will scan more than 110 UK fashion retailers to find a match. Impressive stuff.  Runners up included Digital Shadows, a clever cyber protection tool, and Six3, a very slick video messaging service.

It's been a pleasure to work on this campaign and to meet all the entrants - and we're excited to start working with Snap Fashion very soon! With more projects like this, with more corporate buy in and support, I'm sure the UK will be back on top of the tech map in no time.

By @KeBeveridge

Last night, the Octopus team proudly joined client Cisco to launch the British Innovation Gateway (BIG) Awards 2012, an open innovation competition to discover and reward the finest examples of the UK's most innovative start-up digital businesses and SMEs.

We were joined by the great and good of the UK's tech, creative and digital industries, as well as Cisco's global CTO, Padmasree Warrior (@Padmasree), who has over 1.4m followers on Twitter. Puts my 204 to shame :(.

The awards, which run from 1 February - September 2012, form the latest stage in Cisco's BIG initiative (www.CiscoBIG.co.uk), a significant five year investment of cash, technology and human resources, which aims to develop Britain's innovation eco-system and create an environment in which start-up digital businesses and their ideas can flourish.

Open to individuals, groups of individuals and legal entities in the UK, applicants can enter their technology concept or prototype into one of five categories, including 'Future Cities' and 'Internet of Things'. The overall winner will receive a total prize package of $200k, made up of cash, mentoring, digital marketing, public relations and legal services.

As a business, we are thrilled to be an official partner of the Awards - alongside JP Morgan, Bird & Bird and DNX - as innovation and technology are at the heart of so much of what we do at Octopus.  Members of our team will sit on the judging panel, and we can't wait to see some of the amazing and creative concepts that the entrants come up with. We're also excited at the opportunity to work with the winners, who will receive extensive PR support and a dedicated PR Programme as part of their prize.

For more information on the BIG Awards, please go to www.theBIGAwards.co.uk.  Entries close on 31 March 2012.

Laura