Liquid Instruments CEO Daniel Shaddock Receives 2021 ACT Chief Minister’s Pearcey Entrepreneur Award

The Pearcey Foundation today announced Daniel Shaddock, founder and CEO of Liquid Instruments as this year’s recipient of the ACT Chief Minister’s Pearcey Entrepreneur Award. The award was presented by Andrew Barr, ACT Chief Minister at the Annual ACT Pearcey Round Table (held virtually this year).

“The Liquid Instruments team has created Moku:Go, which is a lab in a backpack. It's revolutionised STEM education around the world. It enables universities to provide quality physics and engineering education to students remotely. Congratulations Daniel, you're a worthy winner,” said the Chief Minister, Andrew Barr in presenting the award to Prof. Shaddock.

Prof. Shaddock’s main area of expertise is precision measurements using laser interferometry. He founded Liquid Instruments in 2014, with its first product Moku:Lab sold internationally, which was soon followed by two variants of the technology designed to address specific scientific and manufacturing sectors. The company has experienced significant year-on-year revenue growth and has attracted over US$10 million of venture capital from the USA, Australia and Singapore. He is also a Professor of Physics at the Australian National University. Before joining the ANU, Prof. Shaddock was a Director’s Fellow at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory where he worked on the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna mission. He led Australia’s involvement in the GRACE Follow-on satellite mission to track the Earth’s water movement, and was part of the team that detected gravitational waves with the Advanced LIGO project.

“Not only has Daniel had an outstanding career as an academic and a researcher, he has also proven that he is both an innovator and a business leader by establishing an international company that is home to over forty engineers,” said Brand Hoff, ACT Chair, Pearcey Foundation.

About Liquid Instruments

Founded by Prof. Shaddock along with a team of experimental physicists and engineers, Liquid Instruments has invented and brought to market a new breed of flexible all-in-one electronic devices for test and measurement. 

These novel tools combine reconfigurable hardware, advanced digital signal processing, and a revolutionary user interface to improve workflow and productivity in experiments and laboratories. Using Liquid Instruments technology, scientists and engineers are able to seamlessly acquire data, run measurements and control their experiments. 

This approach is very different from the traditional test and measurement technology offered by the industry leaders and is expected to bring about significant change to the sector as a result.

The Pearcey Foundation would like to acknowledge the ongoing support of the ACT Government and the Chief Minister Andrew Barr for sponsoring and participating in this prestigious ICT award.

For more information about previous ACT Pearcey Entrepreneur Award winners, go to https://pearcey.org.au/act. 

Other State Awards

New South Wales Awards: There is currently a call for nominations for the NSW Pearcey Entrepreneur Award, with a virtual event scheduled for 14 October with David Thodey AO as keynote speaker. This award recognises a NSW person in mid-career, who is already a successful tech entrepreneur, and who has the potential to succeed further. The criteria are centred on taking a risk, making a difference and being an inspiration. Nominations can be completed at https://forms.gle/QQv4UUUDBZKfXsk97.

Queensland Awards: Nominations have just closed for the QLD awards, which are generously sponsored by ICEMEDIA and TechnologyOne. The awards event is scheduled for Tuesday, 5 October in Brisbane. Tickets for the event are available on TryBooking: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing?embed&eid=803115

South Australia Awards: A shortlist of five candidates has been selected for the 2021 Award by this year’s judging panel – which comprises previous award recipients Geoff Rohrsheim (2018), Tony Clark (2019) and Michelle Perugini (2020) plus two experienced mentors of entrepreneurs in SA, Mark Ledson, SA Office of the Chief Entrepreneur and Mike Richards, Polaris Business and Innovation Centre, City of Salisbury. The date for the announcement and presentation of the award is still to be confirmed. Major recent news from last year’s award recipient, CEO and co-founder at Presagen, Michelle Perugini. She is relocating to the USA next month to expand her business after signing a sole global distribution agreement with FujiFILMS Irvine Scientific for Life Whisperer, the fertility arm of Presagen. See more at https://www.lifewhisperer.com/fisi-announcement.

Tasmania Awards: Nominations are currently open for the TAS awards. These awards are an important way to help Tasmania entrepreneurs, organisations and businesses become nationally recognised. The nomination form and submission details can be found at https://pearcey.org.au/assets/Forms/Pearcey-State-Nomination-Form.pdf.

Victorian Awards: Bronwyn Le Grice, CEO and managing director of ANDHealth, was named as the 2021 Victorian Pearcey Entrepreneur Award recipient. https://prwire.com.au/pr/98622/digital-health-leader-bronwyn-le-grice-named-as-2021-victorian-pearcey-entrepreneur-of-the-year 

Western Australia Awards: this year’s Pearcey WA Entrepreneur of the Year is Charlie Gunningham, Managing Editor, The Property Tribune and Startup News; and Founder & Principal of Damburst. He has spent more than 20 years in the Perth technology and startup sector, firstly as a founder himself, through to exit, and more recently as a writer, advisor and investor. He now works in an advisory capacity for multiple tech and other businesses, is managing editor of Startup News and co-host of the Startup West podcast. Gunningham was presented with his award at the 30th INCITE Awards, the longest running ICT Awards program in WA.

National Pearcey Awards

The 2021 Pearcey Medal, Hall of Fame and National Entrepreneur of the Year Awards are scheduled to be held at an event in Tasmania on Friday 12 November 2021. Finalists for the National Entrepreneur of the Year Awards comprise each of the 2021 State award recipients. More details on the event are still to be confirmed. See further https://pearcey.org.au/national-awards.

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About the Pearcey Foundation

The Pearcey Foundation 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

Twitter: @Pearcey_org #PearceyAwards

LinkedIn: Pearcey Foundation #PearceyAwards