The final deadline to enter the InnovationAus 2021 Awards for Excellence is almost upon us. We want to hear from Australia’s best entrepreneurs, innovators, researchers and commercialisation heroes by Monday 2 August.
These awards are not just a one-day celebration. Our aim is to shine the spotlight on deserving talent through a six-month program, giving companies the opportunity to showcase products and services through editorial profiles, podcasts, videos, events and social media.
The InnovationAus 2021 Awards for Excellence are designed to give life to the prodigious Australian innovation that’s often overlooked and underappreciated. With 12 categories to choose from, heroes who are building the future industries will be duly celebrated.
The black-tie gala event on Thursday 18 November will be a Commercial Discovery – a commercial disco we are calling it – celebrating the companies and individuals who have turned ideas into great successes.
It brings together our unique industry to galvanise ideas and ambition, and to acknowledge collective achievements.
“The response we’ve had so far to these inaugural Awards has been absolutely amazing,” InnovationAus publisher Corrie McLeod said.
“There are so many interesting companies and people we want to recognise and share with the rest of the industry.”
“It can often be hard to see just how important the work is that people are doing, so it’s essential to have platforms like this to recognise and to honour the outstanding work being carried out in this country.
You can find out more about our incredibly well-credentialed judging panel for these awards.
The 12 categories for the InnovationAus 2021 Awards for Excellence are:
ADVANCED MANUFACTURING
This broad category will include entries across the spectrum of other industries – from Australian designed-and-built satellites, to mineral processing, food products and everything in between. We hope this category also attracts successful pivots of IP during COVID-19 to meet supply chain shortages.
CYBERSECURITY
Since the launch of the first Australian Government Cybersecurity Strategy in 2016, the local cyber ecosystem has built steadily. From a handful of companies five years ago, there are now hundreds of Australian cyber companies – many based on deep-tech research in everything from cryptography to Artificial Intelligence.
FOOD AND AGRITECH
Value-added food production and AgriTech have been a focus of innovation investment in this country. This is in both food processing as well as production and range from high-tech sensor devices and farm-based robotics and automation to the at-scale production of plant-based meat and other protein products.
MEDTECH AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
The pandemic has put a huge spotlight on biotechs through the detailed mainstream discussion about vaccines and vaccine manufacturing. Australians are good at this stuff. Our research community is exceptional, and the commercialisation of that research is strong.
MINING EQUIPMENT, TECHNOLOGY AND SERVICES (METS)
The technology that supports the mining sector in Australia is highly advanced; whether it’s remote operation of highly-automated operations – including autonomous robotics – or the software systems that drive those operations. Australia has an incredible technology track record that we want to highlight.
ENERGY AND RENEWABLES
This category seeks to reward ambition and innovation in the renewable energy sector. Commercial research in this area is fast growing and holds tremendous promise for the nation. From hydrogen extraction technologies and solar cell improvements to the management software systems.
SPACE AND REMOTE AUTOMATION
The space sector was a lonely place to be in up until recently – now it is a hotbed of activity. From launch companies to companies with ambitions for global satellite constellations, the Award goes to our most ambitious entrepreneurs. We include remote automation in this category because there is so much cross-over.
DEFENCE INDUSTRY
The defence sector has been a stand-out in collaborations of partners – of researchers, private SMEs and multinational corporations, covering the full, vast array of technologies consumed by the defence community. This award seeks to highlight the best, most valuable collaborations between research and industry.
RESEARCH TRANSLATION
Recognising an innovative product or service that has found institution-based IP, created a team around it, and successfully taken it to commercial realm. There are boundless examples here, from plant-based meat production to mineral processing, and space initiatives.
INNOVATIONAUS WILDCARD AWARD
If you have an outstanding product/service/piece of IP that deserves recognition but does not strictly meet the criteria of the other Award categories then this is for you. The InnovationAus Wildcard Award celebrates individuals and organisations whose innovation is unique and has made an impact in spaces such as the creative industries, FinTech, AI and machine learning, smart cities, emergency and instant response and edge computing; or for technology that has applications across verticals and has or will contribute significantly to industry and community.
PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD
Our judges select a final panel of the most ambitious and most outstanding entries to the InnovationAus Awards for Excellence – and allow our readers to vote on their choice for the most outstanding Australian innovation of the year.
AUSTRALIAN HERO AWARD
This award recognises the individual (or leaders of a company) whose ambition and drive has resulted in a game-changing innovation, and a fabulous commercial success. These are the heroes that we must celebrate in this Australian future we are creating.
Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.