HUW EDWARDS (pictured) took a break from his BBC schedule to sing the praises of his Carmarthenshire homeland and present the Technology Wales 2003 awards at the Celtic Manor convention centre.

He has been able to view the exponential growth of technology first-hand as a result of spending 20 years in news gathering organisations.

"One of my first jobs at the BBC was to paste newspaper headlines on to strips which would be pulled manually along in front of a camera.

"Sometimes viewers would see the producer's thumb come into shot."

He joked that HTV was still using this kind of technology.

"Twenty years later we have John Simpson opening a lap-top on the bonnet of a Land Rover in Northern Iraq and conducting an interview for live transmission.

"We've come an awful long way and although I accept that we still make mistakes, the amount of news gathering we were able to do during the last Iraq war - by virtue of today's technology - was exceptional."

Top prize of the Technol-ogy Wales awards evening, for best use of technology in government, was contested by Newport city council and Cardiff county council.

On this occasion the black and amber team was successful. The winning entry was based on the control room-based CCTV network which is now protecting Newport's schools.

Prior to its introduction, schools in the area were suffering vandalism to the tune of £100,000 per year.

There was more success for Gwent in the technology entrepreneur of the year award. This was taken by Sceptre Communications of Monmouth.

The company was featured in Business Argus earlier this year.

Led by Gwent-born lawyer Leon Rizzi, the company is constituted as a joint-venture with Moscow-based OKB Mei Telecom. It was created to commercialise the technology the Russians pioneered for their space programme.

Sceptre is currently marketing a communications application of LED technology which includes a "last-mile" broadband solution which is far cheaper and more reliable than rival microwave solutions.

The product has proved 100 per cent reliable for air traffic control at Moscow International Airport despite atrocious weather.

Earlier in the day 1,800 visitors had poured into the convention centre to attend a number of free seminars and browse the stands of 65 exhibitors arranged over two floors.

Speakers included Bill Edwards from the office of the government's e-envoy, Simon Gibson, chief executive of Wesley Clover Corporation, and Professor Dylan Jones-Evans of Bangor University.

Simon Gibson took a rousing burst of applause when he suggested the government should take a reality check over its funding operations.

He invited the WDA and its Assembly parent to take observers' posts in Wesley Clover companies to witness the frustrations when funding doesn't come through.

He also berated the R&D tax credit system for being too difficult for SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) to access.

Mr Gibson called on Welsh SMEs to "make some noise, get involved and change the situation".

Speaking the following morning, Technology Wales organiser Trish Howard said: "My impression of the day is that it went really well.

"I've already had a lot of emails from clients saying they thought it was great event and that they were able to do a lot of business.

"My office is full of bouquets of flowers, so I'm feeling pretty good right now.

"Huw Edwards was very funny and I thought he did a superb job, but unfortunately had to leave as soon as we'd finished the show as he's working for the BBC in London today on the Trooping of the Colour."

Ms Howard said that 78 per cent of next year's exhibition space has already been sold and a number of companies have come forward to agree 2004 sponsorships.

"Celtic Manor has been fantastic and all the staff did a superb job - they contributed as much to the success of the day as anyone."

She said that having Sir Terry speak was almost as much of a surprise to her as it was to the awards ceremony guests.

"I had been trying to arrange something for a year with Sir Terry without success. Then at lunchtime I was told that he was coming.

"We had to alter all the schedules, but it was worth it because he's a fantastic speaker and an inspiring person to be around.

"As he said himself, the technology industry is his industry, and as he is also Wales' most prominent entrepreneur you could not get a more appropriate speaker." Ms Howard is now taking two weeks off to recover and think about her plans for Technology Wales 2004.