Palintest Ltd, the Gateshead-based water testing and analysis specialist, has won the King’s Award for Enterprise in the Innovation category — the UK’s highest business honour — for its Kemio water testing platform, built and patented entirely at the company’s Team Valley headquarters. 

Employing 128 people in Gateshead, Palintest has manufactured electrochemical measurement technology in the region since the early 2000s. Kemio, launched in 2019, is the product of three years of in-house R&D and is now used in more than 30 countries — from food production sites across the UK to naval vessels in Australia and desalination plants in Qatar. 

Managing Director Georgina Perkins said: “Winning the King’s Award for Enterprise is a real honour. R&D and the wider Palintest Team have worked hard to achieve this standard, it’s well-recognised, and it carries genuine prestige. It tells customers and partners around the world that Kemio is a proven British innovation. We’ll carry that with pride.” 

Engineered in Gateshead, Deployed Globally

Kemio eliminates the complexity of traditional water testing methods — delivering results in 60 seconds without reagents, glassware, or specialist training. It is used by a UK water utility supplying 3.8 million people, by public health authorities in Canada detecting lead in school drinking water, and was deployed in China to monitor hospital wastewater during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

R&D Manager Kevin McDermott, who led the development programme, said: “Kemio is a Gateshead success story—developed entirely in the North East and now trusted worldwide in safety‑critical applications. Above all, it stands as a major achievement for Palintest’s engineering and scientific teams, whose skill, dedication, and collaboration made it possible.” 

Strong Commercial Returns

Since launch, Kemio has driven significant revenue and turnover growth for Palintest, supported an expanding workforce, and extended the company’s reach into more than 30 countries. The platform’s consumables model generates strong recurring margins, funding continued innovation and sensor development. 

The King’s Award carries a five-year charter mark and follows Palintest’s Queen’s Award for International Trade in 2013. The company is part of Halma Plc and has traded from its Gateshead site since 1975. 

The project involved substantial technical challenges, from designing an IP67‑sealed electrical interface to developing the automated sensor alignment and sample delivery system.