Australia’s top innovations celebrated at national AIIA iAwards 2016
Announcement posted by iAwards 02 Sep 2016
Melbourne, Victoria – 2 September 2016 – The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) has today announced the national winners of the 2016 iAwards, Australia’s leading awards program for recognising and rewarding Australian innovation.
Yesterday, Australia’s preeminent innovators and best home-grown ideas were on show at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Finalists from each state and territory iAwards competed for national category and cross-category awards, with winners announced and celebrated at the AIIA iAwards Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony.
This year, more than 600 entries were received from government, startups, corporates and students. Entrants competed in five base award categories across Business Services, Community Services, Consumer, Industrial & Primary Services, and Public Sector & Government as well as Student Categories and Cross Categories.
Additional awards were presented to the winners of Innovation of the Year, AIIA Accelerator and Pitchfest!.
“The AIIA’s iAwards has a proud history as Australia’s leading national innovation awards program, attracting entries from all sectors of the economy including public, private, not-for-profit and students,” said Rob Fitzpatrick, CEO, AIIA. “Last year’s entry numbers set a record high and this year, and we have seen the entry numbers double again. This is true testament to the broadening scope of Australian innovation, which provides solutions to social problems; problems that matter. The AIIA would like to congratulate the winners and merit recipients of this year’s national iAwards, and thank all those who dedicated a day to innovation by participating in the 2016 iAwards national program.”
The AIIA believes the iAwards program is a critical platform to demonstrate the impact that its members and the broader technology sector are driving to improve Australia’s social and economic prosperity. The impact of the technology sector that AIIA represents is more crucial to Australia’s future than ever before.
The Hon. Phillip Dalidakis MLC, Minister for Small Business, Innovation and Trade, said, “It’s a great honour for Victoria, Australia's undisputed IT and tech capital, to host the 22nd iAwards. Congratulations to all entrants and especially iAwards winners as we are proud many of you will be representing us on the world stage at the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance awards in December."
The 2016 iAwards winners and merit recipients are:
Special Recognition:
2016 iAwards’ prizes also include $25,000 to Pitchfest! winner DoseMe towards travel to an international pitch competition or business development program of their choice. Switch Automation, winner of the AIIA Accelerator Award for Switch Smart Hub, will receive $50,000 to go towards business development.
Victorian Government is the host partner for the national iAwards. This year’s national program sponsors are CSIRO’s Data61, Informed Solutions, Pym’s Technology Lawyers and SAP.
What industry leaders are saying about innovation in Australia:
“Public institutions everywhere are looking for innovative ways to provide a new level of services, become data driven and enable the government workforce by converting to digital tools. These tools are connecting government departments to each other, to businesses, and to citizens. Australia continues to punch far above its weight in public sector innovation. Our partnership with governments at all levels in this country influences our work globally.” – Isabella Groegor-Cechowicz, Senior Vice President and Global General Manager, SAP Global Public Services
“The calibre of this year’s iAwards finalists are testament to an accelerating innovation ecosystem where research, government, industry and startups come together to build a supportive environment, allowing us to be creative, bold and to move faster. Innovation happens when people share ideas, data and expertise and then focus relentlessly on having economic, societal or environmental impact with these insights. To compete on a global scale, we need to invest in growing our innovation capability by nurturing stronger collaboration networks and encouraging local talent to be ambitious in creating impactful work that has the potential to change the world we live in.” – Adrian Turner, CEO, CSIRO’s Data61
“Innovation is about adapting, improving and remaining relevant to the changing social, economic and business landscape. It is about benefitting from the opportunity to change rather than being overtaken or overwhelmed by change. Moreover, innovation can create social value and improve the lives of people, at the same time as support business growth, create employment opportunities and improve the nation’s economic prosperity. Innovation is what drives and helps ICT and Digital be more useful, better serve its customers and help Australia compete for exports in a global marketplace. The iAwards recognise the creativity, initiative, ambitions, hard work and amazing successes of the best Australian ICT and Digital innovators in government and industry.” – Elizabeth Vega, Global Chief Executive Officer, Informed Solutions
“Innovation to me means significant positive change. It advocates the advancement of new ideas and processes that disrupt convention, improve efficiency and benefit clients and industry.” – Michael Pym, CEO, Pym’s Technology Lawyers
About AIIA’s iAwards
AIIA’s iAwards honours both companies at the cutting edge of technology innovation as well as leading professionals across the Digital Economy. Most importantly, the iAwards recognises the achievements of home-grown Australian innovators. http://www.iawards.com.au/
The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) is Australia’s peak representative body and advocacy group for those in the digital ecosystem.
Join the conversation
One of the great things about the iAwards is that they get people talking about Digital Innovation.
Take advantage of the hype by joining the conversation on Twitter, liking iAwards on Facebook, staying in touch with LinkedIn or following iAwards on Pinterest.
@theiAwards / #iAwards/ #DedicateADay
Media contacts
Biana Chamlet/Gloria Lee
Espresso Communications on behalf of iAwards
Phone: +61 2 8016 2200
Email: iawards@espressocomms.com.au
Yesterday, Australia’s preeminent innovators and best home-grown ideas were on show at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Finalists from each state and territory iAwards competed for national category and cross-category awards, with winners announced and celebrated at the AIIA iAwards Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony.
This year, more than 600 entries were received from government, startups, corporates and students. Entrants competed in five base award categories across Business Services, Community Services, Consumer, Industrial & Primary Services, and Public Sector & Government as well as Student Categories and Cross Categories.
Additional awards were presented to the winners of Innovation of the Year, AIIA Accelerator and Pitchfest!.
“The AIIA’s iAwards has a proud history as Australia’s leading national innovation awards program, attracting entries from all sectors of the economy including public, private, not-for-profit and students,” said Rob Fitzpatrick, CEO, AIIA. “Last year’s entry numbers set a record high and this year, and we have seen the entry numbers double again. This is true testament to the broadening scope of Australian innovation, which provides solutions to social problems; problems that matter. The AIIA would like to congratulate the winners and merit recipients of this year’s national iAwards, and thank all those who dedicated a day to innovation by participating in the 2016 iAwards national program.”
The AIIA believes the iAwards program is a critical platform to demonstrate the impact that its members and the broader technology sector are driving to improve Australia’s social and economic prosperity. The impact of the technology sector that AIIA represents is more crucial to Australia’s future than ever before.
The Hon. Phillip Dalidakis MLC, Minister for Small Business, Innovation and Trade, said, “It’s a great honour for Victoria, Australia's undisputed IT and tech capital, to host the 22nd iAwards. Congratulations to all entrants and especially iAwards winners as we are proud many of you will be representing us on the world stage at the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance awards in December."
The 2016 iAwards winners and merit recipients are:
Special Recognition:
- Pitchfest! Award: DoseMe PTY. LTD. – DoseMe
- AIIA Accelerator of the Year Award: Switch Automation – Switch Smart Hub
- Innovation of the Year Award: Optika Solutions Pty Ltd – Akumen
- Victorian Government Inspiration of the Year Award: automed – automed
- Big Data Innovation of the Year
- Winner: Optika Solutions Pty Ltd – Akumen
- Merit: Santos – Predictive Analytics in Oil and Gas
- Export of the Year
- Winner: StarRez – StarRez Housing, Conduct and Conference Software
- Infrastructure & Platforms Innovation of the Year
- Winner: NEC Australia and NT Police – NeoFace Reveal
- Merit: Symbio Networks – TollShield
- Mobility Innovation of the Year
- Winner: automed – automed
- Merit: Catholic Education Office – Darwin and SRA Information Technology – The Attendance Management Map Application (AMMA)
- Research & Development Project of the Year
- Winner: La Trobe University - OTARC and Salesforce – ASDetect
- Merit: Metro South Health and AEHRC - CSIRO – SNOMAN – Clinical Terminology Mapping Solution
- Merit: OneGov, Department of Finance Services and Innovation – OneGov Digital Gateway
- Startup of the Year
- Winner: AgriWebb – The AgriWebb NoteBook and SaleYard
- Merit: Biteable – Biteable
- Business Services
- Winner: Symbio Networks – TollShield
- Community Services
- Winner: Infoxchange, Google, REA Group and News Corp Australia – Ask Izzy: The A to Z of homeless help
- Merit: DoseMe PTY. LTD. – DoseMe
- Merit: Sense-T – The AirRater App
- Consumer
- Winner: University of South Australia – LiPo – Indoor Positioning System using Visible Light
- Merit: CHOICE – CluckAR App
- Merit: Nuheara – IQbuds
- Industrial & Primary Industries
- Winner: automed – automed
- Merit: AgriWebb – The AgriWebb NoteBook and SaleYard
- Merit: Santos – Predictive Analytics in Oil and Gas
- Public Sector & Government
- Winner: OneGov, Department of Finance Services and Innovation – OneGov Digital Gateway
- Merit: CSIRO – Global Initiative for Honey Bee Health
- Merit: Sense-T – Sensing Tourist Travel
- Junior Students
- Winner: Linden Park Primary School – Leafy Sea Dragon National Park (Virtual World)
- Merit: Hamish Finlayson - Cathedral School of St Anne and St James – Triple T – ASD and Me
- Senior Students
- Winner: Imogen Low - Brisbane Girls Grammar School – Elevator
- Merit: Jalia, Angas, Tiff, Natalie, Lohana, Daeeun and Isabella - Australian Science and Mathematics School – Experience!
- Undergraduate Tertiary Students
- Winner: Luiz Cavalieri, Daniel Schofield, Chiaki Iwamoto and Amandeep Singh - Academy of Information Technology – AITendance
- Merit: K Osborn, M Jones, C Snook, J Sardi et al - Murdoch University – Radiology Assistant Simulator
- Merit: M Carriedo, A Harrison, K Saleh, S Alanazi et al - Murdoch University students – FlexiBrains
2016 iAwards’ prizes also include $25,000 to Pitchfest! winner DoseMe towards travel to an international pitch competition or business development program of their choice. Switch Automation, winner of the AIIA Accelerator Award for Switch Smart Hub, will receive $50,000 to go towards business development.
Victorian Government is the host partner for the national iAwards. This year’s national program sponsors are CSIRO’s Data61, Informed Solutions, Pym’s Technology Lawyers and SAP.
What industry leaders are saying about innovation in Australia:
“Public institutions everywhere are looking for innovative ways to provide a new level of services, become data driven and enable the government workforce by converting to digital tools. These tools are connecting government departments to each other, to businesses, and to citizens. Australia continues to punch far above its weight in public sector innovation. Our partnership with governments at all levels in this country influences our work globally.” – Isabella Groegor-Cechowicz, Senior Vice President and Global General Manager, SAP Global Public Services
“The calibre of this year’s iAwards finalists are testament to an accelerating innovation ecosystem where research, government, industry and startups come together to build a supportive environment, allowing us to be creative, bold and to move faster. Innovation happens when people share ideas, data and expertise and then focus relentlessly on having economic, societal or environmental impact with these insights. To compete on a global scale, we need to invest in growing our innovation capability by nurturing stronger collaboration networks and encouraging local talent to be ambitious in creating impactful work that has the potential to change the world we live in.” – Adrian Turner, CEO, CSIRO’s Data61
“Innovation is about adapting, improving and remaining relevant to the changing social, economic and business landscape. It is about benefitting from the opportunity to change rather than being overtaken or overwhelmed by change. Moreover, innovation can create social value and improve the lives of people, at the same time as support business growth, create employment opportunities and improve the nation’s economic prosperity. Innovation is what drives and helps ICT and Digital be more useful, better serve its customers and help Australia compete for exports in a global marketplace. The iAwards recognise the creativity, initiative, ambitions, hard work and amazing successes of the best Australian ICT and Digital innovators in government and industry.” – Elizabeth Vega, Global Chief Executive Officer, Informed Solutions
“Innovation to me means significant positive change. It advocates the advancement of new ideas and processes that disrupt convention, improve efficiency and benefit clients and industry.” – Michael Pym, CEO, Pym’s Technology Lawyers
-ENDS-
About AIIA’s iAwards
AIIA’s iAwards honours both companies at the cutting edge of technology innovation as well as leading professionals across the Digital Economy. Most importantly, the iAwards recognises the achievements of home-grown Australian innovators. http://www.iawards.com.au/
The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) is Australia’s peak representative body and advocacy group for those in the digital ecosystem.
Join the conversation
One of the great things about the iAwards is that they get people talking about Digital Innovation.
Take advantage of the hype by joining the conversation on Twitter, liking iAwards on Facebook, staying in touch with LinkedIn or following iAwards on Pinterest.
@theiAwards / #iAwards/ #DedicateADay
Media contacts
Biana Chamlet/Gloria Lee
Espresso Communications on behalf of iAwards
Phone: +61 2 8016 2200
Email: iawards@espressocomms.com.au