Andrzej won the award for his work with player types. This involved developing a questionnaire on player profiles, which was validated by researchers in the academic world.

Nominations for this award included An Coppens, founder and CEO of Gamification Nation; Yukai Chou of Octalysis Group; Kevin Werbach of Wharton Business School; and Pete Jenkins of Gamification Plus.

An Coppens says, "It was great to see Andrzej win the Contribution to the Industry award. Andrzej only joined us in August this year - because of the fast growth that Gamification Nation is enjoying.

"As Andrzej's employer, I'm delighted that he's scooped this award, and mega-proud. I've been using Andrzej's profiles for years. They've served my clients extremely well, and I'm sure they'll continue to do so."

Gamification Nation is a leading provider of employee and learner-engagement solutions through gamification. It has worked with several well-known brands to achieve improved motivation and engagement.

Its core philosophy is to provide solutions that appeal to clients' employees through extensive user research, inclusive design for both gender and various age groups (if applicable), and player profiles.

At the Gamification World Congress (GWC) in Madrid, An Coppens presented her methodology of testing for the gender and age inclusiveness of game designs. Andrzej Marczewski gave a presentation about the purposeful use of play in business.

GWC, in its fifth edition, is currently one of the largest worldwide conferences covering digital engagement and is seen as the “must-attend” event for gamification professionals. Conference attendees, drawn from around the world, heard a selection of top international speakers and companies talking about the latest methodologies, projects, and trends to boost engagement with learners and society through games.

According to the international eLearning think tank The Company of Thought, the gamification industry is experiencing continued growth in EMEA and Asia Pacific. Market Watch estimates that the global gamification market is set to grow from US$1.65bn in 2015 to US$11.10bn by 2020, at a CAGR of 46.3%.

Commenting on the current growth in the gamification industry, An Coppens says, "As a company, we're experiencing this growth first hand.”

She adds, "Gamification Nation has almost doubled its annual turnover each year since it was founded, in 2012. In the current quarter, we've already booked as much work as we had in the whole of our previous year (August 2015 to July 2016). After Brexit eradicated most of our pipeline in June, it's great to see our efforts change our own game."