TECHNOLOGY has change all our lives – at home and at work.

In today's preview of the Echo-South Coast Business Awards we focus on the Best use of Technology Category.

This award will be presented to a business whose use of technology has created success through the

innovative application of a new idea, product, method or process.

The judges are looking for:

• How the business has used technology to stand out from its’ competitors.

• Demonstration of a creative and different way of working to keep the business fresh and responsive

to changing customer needs.

• How the business has exceeded the expectations of its’ customers through use of technology.

Last year's award was carried off by a drone hawk.

The mechanical bird was used to scare away real birds from the runway helped at Southampton Airport .

The robo hawk, controlled from the ground by a robo hawk, keeps runways safer, by preventing bird strikes, and reduces flight delays.

The drone was given the night off to attend the awards ceremony and joined the airport team on stage when they posed for photos.

Dan Townsend, airside operations manager at the airport, told the Echo that teamwork had been the secret of their awards success.

“This is a good team delivering a great project,” he said after recieving the award.

Closing date for nominations will be June 3

The winners will be announced at a gala awards ceremony at St Mary’s Stadium on July 11, which will be compered by public speaking guru Jeremy Edwards.

The keynote speaker on the night will be Jez Rose, broadcaster, award-winning author and honeybee farmer, whose reputation as a business speaker and broadcaster is built on his ability to explore complicated topics in an accessible way with tremendous honesty, clarity, warmth and humour.

Over the next few weeks we will be profiling each category. In the mean time for more details about the awards visit dailyecho.co.uk/business.