TechSparkUK's SPARKies awards celebrate 'the best in west' in the world of technology, engineering, and digital creativity.

This year, judges had to whittle down over 220 nominations for the fourteen categories. The judges said candidates had to show a number of traits including 'digital creativity,' 'big ideas,' and 'ingenuity'.

Open Bionics made the shortlist for two of the categories and is in with a chance to win the 'Best Startup' award and the 'From Chips to...' award (a category that celebrates innovative uses of hardware).

Open Bionics founder, Joel Gibbard, was also shortlisted for the 'Founder / Entrepreneur of the Year' award. Check out the competition here: The Shortlist.

Rumour has it the awards ceremony will be hosted by Bath's leading comedian, Tom Craine.

It has been a good year for Open Bionics. The business has won a number of awards and grants and is currently in the running to win $500,000 from Intel's Make It Wearable competition.

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