Good news! The deadline for entries for the 2025 InnovationAus Awards for Excellence has been extended to midnight on Wednesday July 2 to give our best entrepreneurs and innovators time to put the final touches on their submissions.
Even better news! InnovationAus has secured the support of an outstanding cast of industry, science and business leaders to sit on our esteemed panel of judges. It is an amazing group.
The InnovationAus Awards for Excellence is Australia’s premier program for recognising local talent and outstanding companies. This year’s black-tie gala dinner will be held at the magnificent Sydney Town Hall on Thursday, November 27. You can find out more about the awards here. Or you can submit your entry here.
Our judging panel includes some of the most respected minds in Australia’s innovation ecosystem – including returning judges and former Award winners themselves.
From CEOs and deep tech founders to commercialisation experts and award-winning innovators – they know what excellence looks like because they’ve built it themselves.
Each of the entries across all 10 categories will be judged against five key criteria: Commercial success, Translation of intellectual property: impact, non-R&D innovation and applied technologies.
Entering the InnovationAus Awards provides a significant opportunity to be recognised for your innovative product or service, and to be featured alongside some of the biggest and most promising tech companies and personalities in the country.
Finalists will be featured in profile feature articles published by InnovationAus.com over the next four months, with each also receiving a complimentary ticket to the black-tie gala dinner. So make sure you enter!
And here they are: In alphabetical order, meet the judges:
- John Arkwright, Managing Director, Arkwright Technologies
- Lauren Barber, Founder and CEO, NeedleCalm
- Adrian Beer, Managing Director, Australian Innovation eXchange
- Andrew Collins, Co-founder, Nansen Digital Forensic Services
- Mark Croudace, CEO and Chief Commercial Officer, MGA Thermal
- Natalie Chapman, Managing Director, gemaker
- Karen Dewey, CEO, Lumi Media
- Kersti Eesmaa, Managing Director, WorkPath Australia, Vertical Scope Group
- Sam Elsom, CEO and Co-Founder, Sea Forest Ltd
- Roy Green AM, Emeritus Professor and Special Innovation Advisor, University of Technology Sydney
- Alison Howe, CEO, National Institute of Strategic Resilience
- James Isbell, Managing Partner, Second Sphere
- David Klineberg, Chief Operating Officer, VueMotion
- Dr Sue Keay, Director, UNSW AI Institute
- Kacey Lam-Evans, Government Affairs and Media Director, DroneShield
- Michael Loewy, Co-Founder, Tide Foundation / Board Advisor, Children’s Medical Research Institute
- Mark Luo, CEO & Co-Founder, Quantum Brilliance
- Sarah Moran, Co-founder, Girl Geek Academy
- Paul Millett, COO, InvertiGro
- Dr Sarah Jones FRSN, GAICD, Principal Consultant and Executive Advisor, Quantum Link Consulting and Advisory
- Dr Marlene Kanga AO, Director, Rux Energy
- Frank Yao, Managing Director and CEO, Innofocus Photonics Technology
- Cameron van den Dungen, CEO, Sleeptite Pty Ltd
- Chris Shaw, CEO and Co-founder, Advanced Navigation
- Arthur Shih, CEO, Humanetix
- The Hon. Gabrielle Upton, Non-executive Director, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience
- Adrian Jones, Co-Founder, BlockTexx Pty Ltd
- Grant O’Hara, Owner, Voltin
- Graham Ross, Co-Founder, BlockTexx Pty Ltd
- Tim York, CEO, v2food
- Matt Wilcox, Founder & CEO, FIFTH DOMAIN
This year’s award categories include AI Technology, Australian Hero, Defence and Dual-Use Technology, Energy and Renewables, Food and Agritech, GovTech: Project, Product or Service, Health Tech, Software Innovation and the Translation Hero Award.
The People’s Choice Award will also return in 2025, giving the InnovationAus audience the opportunity to vote for the most outstanding Australian innovation of the year.
The winners will be announced at the InnovationAus Awards for Excellence 2025 gala dinner at Sydney Town Hall on 27 November – a night to celebrate the people and companies changing the game across Australian industry, research and technology.
Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.