Star Dundee has been named Business of the Year at the Scottish Business Honours.

Star Dundee, a space technology spin-out of Dundee University, has won the Business of the Year award at the Scottish Business Honours 2014. The inaugural awards by the Scottish Chamber of Commerce recognised the company at a ceremony in Edinburgh.

The company was founded in 2002 by Steve Parkes, director of the university’s Space Technology Centre. It manufactures spacecraft electronics and landing guidance systems, with clients including a range of national and international space agencies such as Nasa, European space agency Esa and Japanese space agency Jaxa.

One of its technologies, SpaceWire, which connects on-board computing systems with each other, is to be used in a 2015 joint Esa and Jaxa space mission to explore the planet Mercury.

John MacKenzie, head of Knowledge Exchange at Dundee University, said: “Steve and the company have long been a role model for us in the commercialisation of research at the university but now they have moved beyond that peer group. They are a role model and inspiration for businesses across the country, delivering growth and employment. It is quite literally rocket science, but the success has not come overnight. They have built the company up piece by piece over the last 12 years and are now enjoying the fruits of that hard work. Everyone benefits. The university has equity in the company, it provides employment for graduates, and Steve and his team are still heavily involved in space technology research.”