by business editor Trevor Sturgess

An award-winning mine clearance firm is to use its prize money to create a UK property "risk" map and help Cambodian people affected by war.

BACTEC International, based in Medway City Estate, Rochester, was chosen by HSBC as one of southern England's two most innovative and forward-thinking companies. It shared the Business Thinking prize with Original BTC, Oxford.

The company, which has recently cleared mines from the Falklands and is now working in Iraq and Cambodia, has won up to £100,000 and can draw up to £1.5 million in loan finance.

The result was announced at Hampton Court Palace. Company chairman Guy Lucas, a former Royal Engineer, was delighted with the accolade.

He said some of the money would go towards an interactive risk map that would identify any dangers that might affect homes or offices. "It would be for businesses or people investing in property to see if there is a threat in the area, whether it's been used by the Ministry of Defence, or whether it's been bombed," he said. "We have a lot of information on where the airfields were, where the munition factories were, where bombing took place."

The firm is also working in Cambodian villages that were mined and helping the local people become more independent. BACTEC will pay for water capture systems, and pigs, ducks and chickens.

Yvonne Bear, HSBC's regional commercial director for the South said: "BACTEC International and Original BTC are truly "thinking" businesses, with an innovative approach and a compelling business case. The winners are a great example of companies in the South that are looking beyond domestic markets to develop their business, and we urge other companies in the region to consider the opportunities that may lie overseas for them." BACTEC now goes through to a national final in Hong Kong.