The Pet Industry Federation (PIF) has named sustainable cat litter brand Huskaloo as the winner of its first Innovation of the Year Award.
The award was made at this week’s Business of Pets conference at Cranfield Management Development Centre, where Huskaloo fought off competition from a finalist pool of 10 innovative products and services, all of whom had to deliver a presentation about their innovation to those attending the event.
Huskaloo, from supplier Tailor-Grace, is an eco-friendly cat litter made from coconut husks, a by-product of the coconut industry. Dog access solution CompanionPass and HayPigs Pig n’ Mix treats range for small animals came in joint second place.
Managing director Tracey-Louise Voss said: “Of course we are delighted to have won the first ever PIF Innovation of the Year award 2023, and a big shout out to all the finalists as they were all excellent.
“To anyone thinking about attending this event who may ask themselves ‘I cannot afford two days out of my business’, I would answer ‘ you cannot afford not to!’. This event was full of engaging and valuable information a great network event. Well done to Nigel and the whole team at PIF – here’s to next year!”
The Business of Pets conference was a new event aimed at pet businesses that wanted to find out about the types of finance and investment available, and to learn about a range of issues such as Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) strategies, intellectual property, legal pitfalls when running a company and the trends to look out for in the UK pet industry.
The conference was supported by MHA, with Mark Lumsdon-Taylor, MHA Partner, co-chairing the event, with PIF chief executive Nigel Baker.
Baker said: “The finalists delivered fantastic presentations to persuade conference attendees that their product/service was the most innovative. The knowledge, passion and creativity shone through from each of the finalists and many had clearly worked hard to ensure their innovation had strong sustainable credentials which were central to its values.
“The presentations provided an excellent backdrop and context for the brilliant talks which followed over the two days and covered the different types of funding options, intellectual property, pet industry data insights and innovations in the UK. The industry clearly welcomed this unique event and we look forward to delivering something similar in the future.”
