Steve Cliffe, CEO and President of Ultraleap, has been given the Special Excellence Award from the University of Nottingham. The award is in recognition of Steve’s dedication, creativity and leadership throughout his career and for his contribution to advances in technology.

Steve studied Electrical Engineering at the University, completing his degree in 1985. Since then, he’s held a number of senior roles at leading companies including Plessey Semiconductors, ProVision and Dialog Semiconductor. He joined Bristol-based Ultraleap seven years ago as CEO of a small start-up and led it to be a global company with more than 150 employees and £64 million in investment.

Keen to give back and support causes close to his heart, Steve is also a Board Member for Bristol-based company Gapsquare, a leading software for fair pay, gender pay gap, ethnicity pay and equal pay analytics.

On receiving the award, Steve said: “It’s a real honour to be presented with this award. I look back at my time at the University of Nottingham fondly and recognise its influence and impact on my life – both professionally and personally. The University has a long-held vision around discovery and enterprise, combined with health and wellbeing. Those values have remained with me throughout my career.”

Other previous award and accolades include the GoTech Awards where Steve won Tech Entrepreneur of the Year 2018 and the WCIT Awards where he collected the Judges Award for Innovation in 2016. Steve has also been shortlisted for the UK Tech Awards – Tech CEO of the Year 2020.

In 2018, Her Majesty The Queen granted Ultraleap the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the Innovation category. It’s the highest national accolade that recognised Ultraleap’s unique haptic technology and its commitment to continued innovation.

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