Did You Know that the World’s First Computer to Play Music was Designed and Built in Australia?
Announcement posted by Pearcey Foundation 18 Sep 2017
2017 NSW Tech Entrepreneur of the Year Award Winner to be announced in October
The Pearcey Foundation is presenting its annual NSW Tech Entrepreneur of the Year Awards on Tuesday 24 October at an event to be held at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.
The Awards, run in cooperation with the NSW Branch of ACS, will be presented by David Thodey, Chairman of Jobs for NSW, and the CSIRO. In addition to revealing this year’s NSW Tech Entrepreneur of the Year, the event will also feature a pitching competition for NSW University Students and Researchers and presentations from the NSW finalists in the Young ICT Explorers competition.
Celebrating Innovation and Achievement
Did you know that the world’s first computer to play music was designed and built here in Australia? Thanks to the early work of Dr Trevor Pearcey, digital transformation began in Australia way back in 1949. CSIRAC was Australia’s first computer, and just the fourth in the world when it ran its first program in November 1949.
CSIRAC did more than just play music: it assisted in the design of some of Australia’s early high-rise buildings, played a key role in the Snowy Mountains hydro-electric scheme, and improved the reliability of weather forecasting.
Amazingly, CSIRAC is the oldest and only intact first-generation computer surviving anywhere in the world. If you want to see it, CSIRAC is on permanent display at Melbourne Museum in Victoria.
“It’s incredible to think that we were already at the forefront of the ICT industry back in the late 1940s, thanks to the pioneering work of people like Dr Pearcey,” said Dr Philip McCrea, NSW Chair of the Pearcey Foundation.
“Our role at the Pearcey Foundation is to ensure that we continue to recognise these ICT pioneers in our industry, celebrate their achievements, and support and encourage to greater things in ICT. The Pearcey State Entrepreneur Awards are a great way for us to do this.”
McCrea has also put out an urgent plea to industry supporters to get behind the Foundation:
“We are a non-profit organisation, operating largely thanks to the work of volunteers in our industry. We run on the smell of an oily rag, so we really need the Australian ICT sector to support us financially and sponsor award events like our upcoming one in Sydney in October.”
Sponsorship enquiries can be made by going to www.pearcey.org.au/sponsorship, and McCrea has also set up a gofundme page for individual donations to support the NSW event.
The NSW Awards have been presented annually since 1999, and previous winners have included Matt Barrie (2006) who subsequently went on to establish Freelancer.com, and Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar (2008) from Atlassian, which recently recorded annual revenue for 2017 of US$619.9m.
Nominations are still open for this year’s NSW State Award, as well as for QLD, SA and TAS. For more information on the nomination criteria and to make a submission, go to www.pearcey.org.au/state-nominations.
Event Details
The 2017 Pearcey NSW Tech Entrepreneur of the Year Award
Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
Tuesday 24th October 2017
5.00pm registration for 5.30pm start, 8.15pm finish including canapes and networking
Registration for the event is via the ACS website at http://bit.ly/2vNSRM1.
Other State Awards
A number of other State Awards have already been announced:
ACT: the joint winners were Mark Riley, co-founder and CTO of ContentKeeper and Phillip Williamson, co-founder and Chief Innovator at Intelledox.
VIC: the winners were husband and wife team Collis and Cyan Ta'eed, co-founders, owners and managers of Envato, a major global marketplace for creative assets and creative people based in Melbourne.
WA: WA’s inaugural Pearcey State Award was presented to ICT startup mentor and leader Matthew Macfarlane.
About the Pearcey Foundation
The Pearcey Foundation Inc. is a non-profit organisation established in 1998 to raise the profile of the Australian Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry and profession. It was created in the memory of one of the greatest pioneers of the Australian ICT industry, Dr Trevor Pearcey. By celebrating the heroes in our industry, past present and future, the Foundation is looking to attract and encourage young Australians into this most exciting of global high technology sectors of our nation.
Web: www.pearcey.org.au and on Twitter: @Pearcey_org
Media Contact:
Martin Aungle
Explore Communications
e: maungle@explorecomms.com.au
t: 02 4872 4981
m: 0415 917 381
The Awards, run in cooperation with the NSW Branch of ACS, will be presented by David Thodey, Chairman of Jobs for NSW, and the CSIRO. In addition to revealing this year’s NSW Tech Entrepreneur of the Year, the event will also feature a pitching competition for NSW University Students and Researchers and presentations from the NSW finalists in the Young ICT Explorers competition.
Celebrating Innovation and Achievement
Did you know that the world’s first computer to play music was designed and built here in Australia? Thanks to the early work of Dr Trevor Pearcey, digital transformation began in Australia way back in 1949. CSIRAC was Australia’s first computer, and just the fourth in the world when it ran its first program in November 1949.
CSIRAC did more than just play music: it assisted in the design of some of Australia’s early high-rise buildings, played a key role in the Snowy Mountains hydro-electric scheme, and improved the reliability of weather forecasting.
Amazingly, CSIRAC is the oldest and only intact first-generation computer surviving anywhere in the world. If you want to see it, CSIRAC is on permanent display at Melbourne Museum in Victoria.
“It’s incredible to think that we were already at the forefront of the ICT industry back in the late 1940s, thanks to the pioneering work of people like Dr Pearcey,” said Dr Philip McCrea, NSW Chair of the Pearcey Foundation.
“Our role at the Pearcey Foundation is to ensure that we continue to recognise these ICT pioneers in our industry, celebrate their achievements, and support and encourage to greater things in ICT. The Pearcey State Entrepreneur Awards are a great way for us to do this.”
McCrea has also put out an urgent plea to industry supporters to get behind the Foundation:
“We are a non-profit organisation, operating largely thanks to the work of volunteers in our industry. We run on the smell of an oily rag, so we really need the Australian ICT sector to support us financially and sponsor award events like our upcoming one in Sydney in October.”
Sponsorship enquiries can be made by going to www.pearcey.org.au/sponsorship, and McCrea has also set up a gofundme page for individual donations to support the NSW event.
The NSW Awards have been presented annually since 1999, and previous winners have included Matt Barrie (2006) who subsequently went on to establish Freelancer.com, and Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar (2008) from Atlassian, which recently recorded annual revenue for 2017 of US$619.9m.
Nominations are still open for this year’s NSW State Award, as well as for QLD, SA and TAS. For more information on the nomination criteria and to make a submission, go to www.pearcey.org.au/state-nominations.
Event Details
The 2017 Pearcey NSW Tech Entrepreneur of the Year Award
Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
Tuesday 24th October 2017
5.00pm registration for 5.30pm start, 8.15pm finish including canapes and networking
Registration for the event is via the ACS website at http://bit.ly/2vNSRM1.
Other State Awards
A number of other State Awards have already been announced:
ACT: the joint winners were Mark Riley, co-founder and CTO of ContentKeeper and Phillip Williamson, co-founder and Chief Innovator at Intelledox.
VIC: the winners were husband and wife team Collis and Cyan Ta'eed, co-founders, owners and managers of Envato, a major global marketplace for creative assets and creative people based in Melbourne.
WA: WA’s inaugural Pearcey State Award was presented to ICT startup mentor and leader Matthew Macfarlane.
About the Pearcey Foundation
The Pearcey Foundation Inc. is a non-profit organisation established in 1998 to raise the profile of the Australian Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry and profession. It was created in the memory of one of the greatest pioneers of the Australian ICT industry, Dr Trevor Pearcey. By celebrating the heroes in our industry, past present and future, the Foundation is looking to attract and encourage young Australians into this most exciting of global high technology sectors of our nation.
Web: www.pearcey.org.au and on Twitter: @Pearcey_org
Media Contact:
Martin Aungle
Explore Communications
e: maungle@explorecomms.com.au
t: 02 4872 4981
m: 0415 917 381