Controlant awarded the President of Iceland’s Export Award in 2021 

Controlant awarded the President of Iceland’s Export Award in 2021 

Today, 30 November, Controlant was awarded the President of Iceland’s Export Award in 2021. Gísli Herjólfsson, the Chief Executive Officer of the Controlant, accepted the award at a small ceremony in Bessastaðir.   

Controlant’s software and hardware ensure the quality of fragile goods in transport and reduce waste. Controlant provides pharmaceutical manufactures, food producers and logistics providers important real-time information on temperature, humidity and location, information which can be obtained by using an online data logger.  Controlant’s customers include pharmaceutical companies, food companies and shipping and logistics companies around the world. However, customers from pharmaceutical industries constitute the largest group, with their biggest role today being to monitor the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and ensuring thereby that the vaccines, in co-operation with many of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, are transported in a safe way to the countries of the world.  

Controlant’s operations have reached close to 200 countries 

Monitoring round the clock promotes the possibility of intervening and preventing damage to valuable goods, thus preventing waste. Things have progressed well, and the successful distribution of the Pfizer vaccine has attracted much attention within the pharmaceutical industry, with 99.998% of the vaccines transported safely to their destination. Controlant has already monitored around 2 billion vaccine doses that have been transported to close to 200 countries. 

Investment in technical development has resulted in rapid growth for the Company. The number of employees has multiplied in a short period of time. At the end of 2019, roughly 50 people were employed with the Company; however, the number of employees will have reached 350 at the end of 2021. The vast majority are based in Iceland, but the Company also operates in the United States, Ireland, Britain, the Netherlands, Poland, Germany and Switzerland. The annual turnover in 2019 reached close to ISK 400 million. It may be assumed that the turnover for 2021 will reach between ISK 7 and 8 billion. 

Controlant has gained worldwide recognition for its participation in the enormous project and derived challenges of COVID-19. The Company will be embarking on continuing development in overseas markets in the near future, and the opportunities are widespread, for instance within the food sector. 

About the Export Award

The purpose of awarding the Export Award is to draw attention to the economic importance of the foreign currency acquisition and international business and to honour those who have been particularly successful in selling and marketing Icelandic products and services abroad. The award takes account of growth in export value, the share of exports in total sales, the marketing in emerging markets and more.  

First awarded in 1989, the Export Award is now awarded for the 33rd time. Companies which have been awarded the Export Award over the years include Marel, Nox Medical, the Blue Lagoon, Trefjar and deCODE genetics, who was the winner in 2020.

This time, the Allocation Committee was composed of the following members: Örnólfur Thorsson, the Office of the President of Iceland; Gylfi Magnússon, the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at the University of Iceland; Katrín Olga Jóhannesdóttir, the Iceland Chamber of Commerce; Þórunn Sveinbjörnsdóttir, the Icelandic Confederation of Labour; and Hildur Árnadóttir, Business Iceland. Business Iceland is responsible for the preparation and execution of the award.