Safety at sea specialist Ocean Signal was presented with its King’s Award for Enterprise by The Lady Colgrain, His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Kent, at a special celebration at the company’s headquarters in Margate this week.
Receiving the award in front of invited guests, founding members and employees, Managing Director James Hewitt paid tribute to the vision and commitment of the entire Ocean Signal team, whilst looking forward to a new chapter of success and continued product development.
Ocean Signal earned the 2026 King’s Award in the Innovation category for the industry-first rescueME PLB3 AIS Personal Locator Beacon, a single unit combining the global search and rescue alerting power of a PLB, with the local tracking precision of an AIS Man Overboard (MOB) device.
In his speech, James Hewitt said: “Today is a day of enormous pride for all of us at Ocean Signal. Receiving a King’s Award for Innovation is one of the highest recognitions a UK business can achieve, and it is a tremendous honour for our company. While the award bears the name of Ocean Signal, it truly belongs to every person in this room and to every member of our team who has contributed their talent, dedication, and passion to our success.
“It is your vision, commitment, and belief in what we do that has enabled us to develop products that save lives and make a genuine difference to people around the world. Every success we have achieved has been built on the strength of our people.
“To our engineering team, thank you for your innovation, creativity, and technical excellence. You continuously push boundaries, solve complex challenges, and turn ambitious ideas into world-class products.
“This award is not simply recognition of what we have achieved so far. It is a reminder of what we are capable of achieving together in the future. It celebrates our culture of innovation, our commitment to excellence, and our determination to continue developing products that make a real difference.”
In developing the PLB3, Ocean Signal’s engineers pushed the boundaries of miniaturised components, adopting even smaller technologies typically reserved for advanced mobile devices. At the same time, they rigorously tested battery capacity to ensure the unit could meet – and exceed – operational requirements without increasing bulk.
With the integration of Near Field Communication (NFC) to allow smartphone interaction, the result is a user-friendly device that goes beyond compliance, delivering multiple life-saving technologies in a remarkably compact form.
The Lady Colgrain, who was joined by Deputy Lieutenant Mr Clive Stevens, Deputy Clerk Ms Jo Holmes and Ms Nichola Bruno, from The King’s Awards Office, spoke directly about the impressive technology and her pride in Ocean Signal as a Kent-based company.
In addressing the assembled guests, she said: “As His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Kent, I am particularly proud that our county is home to a company which has established such an impressive international reputation from its base here in Margate. Bringing together different rescue technologies within one compact device, and becoming the first in the world to do so, is a quite remarkable achievement.
“More importantly, behind all the technology is a very simple purpose. When somebody finds themselves in genuine difficulty, whether at sea or in a remote location, being found quickly can make all the difference.
“Knowing that something conceived, developed and produced by the team here in Margate can help rescuers locate somebody in distress – and potentially help save their life – must bring an enormous sense of pride.
“Achievements such as this do not happen by chance. They require imagination and technical expertise, certainly, but also persistence, teamwork and a willingness continually to ask whether something can be done better.
“Today gives us the opportunity to bring that recognition home to Margate and, importantly, to celebrate it with the wider Ocean Signal team.”
Also in attendance on the day were special guests Alan Wrigley and James Flynn, who along with Chief Technical Officer Simon Nolan, Stefan Kennedy, Wayne Card, Nick Gadd and Adrian Mason, founded Ocean Signal in 2008.
Visit www.oceansignal.com for more information.
