Five Sussex companies were invited to Buckingham Palace to celebrate their success in The Queen's Awards for Enterprise 2002.

The awards are won by companies demonstrating business excellence in international trade, innovation and sustainable development.

Burgess Hill-based SEOS Displays and AJ Walter Aviation of Partridge Green, West Sussex, were honoured for international trade, along with Scientific Consultancy of Mayfield, East Sussex, which did not attend.

Architectural Plants of Nuthurst, near Horsham, West Sussex and the Vacuum and Exhaust Management Division of BOC Edwards, part of the BOC Group, and Elekta Oncology, both Crawley based, won awards for innovation.

Lyn Draper, secretary to the managing director of AJ Walter Aviation said: "It was a wonderful occasion. Every company was allowed to take three members of staff and I was one of the lucky ones. The Queen shook the hand of everyone there, which must have been well over 400 people."

SEOS Displays, which is a world leader in the field of visual display for flight and vehicle training simulators, picked up its fourth Queen's Award. It had won previously in 1995 for export and in 1998 for export and technology.

It employs about 180 people worldwide and manufactures visual display systems for aircraft and other simulators. It was founded in 1984 in the garage of co-founder Owen Wynn's Sussex home. Its main market last year was North America, followed by Europe.

Export marketing for North America is handled through an office in Florida, where Mr Wynn is now based, while the other co-founder Stephen Elmer runs the operation in the UK and Europe.

Architectural Plants achieved its award for pioneering new techniques in growing and marketing a range of garden plants, which emphasises their strong shapes, textures and year-round contribution to the garden.

The vacuum and exhaust management division of industrial gases company BOC was named as an innovation award winner for developing a vacuum pump used in the semiconductor industry, while Elekta Oncology Systems won its innovation award for its development of the Precise Table, designed for radiotherapy patients.

The table plays a key role in delivering precise doses using digital controls allowing greater accuracy.

Alan Johnson, the minister for employment relations, industry and the regions, who attended the event, said: "I am conscious of the immense effort and dedication involved in achieving the sustained business success required to put a company in the running for this accolade.

"Whether resulting from impressive growth in earnings from overseas trade, turning bright ideas into popular products, or a healthy business performance based on sustainable development, they all represent excellence."