Nine UK and Irish companies, including ICL and Hewlett Packard Laboratories, have been shortlisted for the 1996 European Information Technology prize for innovation in IT.

The three winning companies - chosen from 25 nominees, shortlisted from 29 European countries - will win 200,000 euros each.

European Commission president Jacques Santer will present the prizes at a ceremony on 26 November.

The entries will be assessed by a jury chaired by Karlheinz Kaske, the former CEO of Siemens. The jury will look for the nominee that demonstrates creativity and good business sense in using IT to generate growth and employment.

In the UK, the nominees are: 3D image software company 3D Scanners, security product manufacturer Advanced Technology, Omnigo developer Hewlett Packard Laboratories, monitoring specialist Intelligent Applications, signal analysis company Snell & Wilcox, and taxi dispatch software vendor Spectronics Micro Systems.

The Irish contenders are OS tool manufacturer Expert Edge Computer Systems, Internet software developer ICL Information Technology Centre, and training product specialist Web Educational Support Tools.

The ceremony forms part of the European IT Conference 1996, the IT expert event which takes place in Brussels from 25 to 27 November.