West Midlands utility Severn Trent is backing the region's manufacturing innovators by becoming the latest sponsor of our Tech Awards.

The Coventry-headquartered firm is sponsoring the Innovation in Manufacturing category which will celebrate those firms and business pioneers who are breaking new tech and digital ground in this sector.

Judging took place last week with component specialist C. Brandauer & Co and car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover shortlisted for the Innovation in Manufacturing Award - one of 12 to be handed out at a ceremony next month.

The West Midlands Tech Awards are run by BirminghamLive and CoventryLive and will celebrate individuals, companies and organisations leading the way in digital and technology.

Severn Trent serves more than eight million people across the Midlands, North and Mid Wales, providing customers with almost two billion litres of water every day and removing 2.7 billion litres of waste water through enough pipes to go round the world three-and-a-half times.

Its investment plans including spending more than £6 billion on its network between 2015 and 2020 which will include its biggest-ever scheme, called the Birmingham Resilience Project, to provide a long-term back up water supply for the city.

Bob Stear, deputy chief engineer at Severn Trent, said: "We're delighted to sponsor the West Midlands Tech Awards.

"As a business, we're always looking for innovation and to see what's out there when it comes to technology.

"We want to know whether there's anything that already exists, or which could exist in the near future, to help us to manage the thousands of kilometres of water pipes that we own and operate and help us to deliver wonderful water to our customers."

The inaugural West Midlands Tech Awards takes place on Thursday December 13 at the ICC in Birmingham with high street bank NatWest as headline sponsor.

We received entries from individuals, investors, corporations and SMEs from across the region, showcasing the strength of the tech and digital sector here.

If you have any questions or would like more information about the awards please contact Kate Evans on 0121 234 5025 or kate.evans@reachplc.com or Paige Jackson on 0121 234 5054 or paige.jackson@reachplc.com.

To discuss sponsorship opportunities, please contact Hayley Pearce on 0121 234 5785 or hayley.pearce@reachplc.com.

For updates on the awards please follow our Twitter account @birmingham_live and the hashtag #wmtech18.