Meet the judges for the 2023 InnovationAus Awards program


James Riley
Editorial Director

With the final deadline for nominations to the InnovationAus 2023 Awards for Excellence fast approaching, let me introduce you all to the 35 industry and research luminaries who have agreed to sit on judging panels at this years awards.

Nominations for the 15 categories close at midnight on Monday June 19. Don’t waste any more time. Get your entries in. This is a six-month program of activities, and finalists will get the opportunity to have their company’s innovative product or service profiled in these pages.

The judging process culminates in the InnovationAus Awards for Excellence 2023 black-tie extravaganza on November 1 – this year being held at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney – as the night of nights for our community of super-smart entrepreneurs and innovators.

It is a great pleasure to announce the 2023 judges. All of these judges are outstanding, leaders in their various fields – from VC and finance to research and academia, to startups and corporates. We are very grateful for their involvement.

We have tried to engage with a broad mix of people, and to bring leaders from all over Australia for these national awards.

In alphabetical order, here is the list of 2023 judges:

  • Rob Antulov, Executive Director at Jacanda Capital, Technology Corporate Advisor at TIME Advisory and General Partner at 3eep Ventures
  • Chris Baxter, Managing Director, Patent and Trade Mark Attorney, Baxter IP
  • Ryan Black, Head of Policy and Research, Tech Council
  • Dr Amanda Caples, Victoria’s Lead Scientist and Director of Breakthrough Victoria
  • Natalie Chapman, Managing Director and Co-founder, GeMaker
  • David Chuter, former CEO and Managing Director, Innovative Manufacturing CRC
  • Emma Coath, Managing Director, Rocket Seeder
  • Leigh Dayton, Consultant Science and Innovation
  • Sam Elsom, Co-founder and CEO, Sea Forest Ltd
  • Megan Fisher, CEO and Director, EnergyLab
  • Bronwyn Fox, Chief Scientist, CSIRO
  • Andrew Fox-Smith, President – International, Enovis
  • Nick Gonios, Founder, circulist
  • Caitlin Green, CEO, KINSHIP Digital
  • Prof. Thomas Hajdu, Director of The Sia Furler Institute; Chair of Creative Technologies, Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics at the University of Adelaide
  • Alex Harrington, Industry Advisory Board Member for University of Technology Sydney, CEO and Founder of Noegenesis and SheEO Activator for SheEO
  • Andrew Horsley, Co-founder and CTO, Quantum Brilliance
  • Murray Hurps, Director of Entrepreneurship at UTS, Managing Director of Startup Muster
  • Prof. Sanjay Jha, Chief Scientist and Director Research, UNSW Institute for Cybersecurity
  • Raelene Knowles, COO, Interactive Games and Entertainment Association
  • Bronwyn Le Grice, Co-founder, CEO and Managing Director, ANDHealth
  • Paul Levins, Co-founder, EverCase, Inc
  • David Masters, Head of Global Policy and Regulatory Affairs, Atlassian
  • Bettina McMahon, Chair of the Australian Institute of Digital Health and CEO at HealthDirect
  • Prof. Caroline McMillen AO, Chief Scientist for South Australia
  • Ian Opperman, NSW Government Chief Data Scientist and Industry Professor at UTS
  • Prof. Nigel Phair, Practise, Department of Software Systems and Cybersecurity, Monash University
  • David Sandell, Co-founder and CEO, CI-ISAC
  • William Scheer, Founder and CEO, Reason Group
  • Julia Spicer, Queensland Chief Entrepreneur
  • Matt Tett, Managing Director at Enex TestLab, Co-chair at Australian Women in Security Network (AWSN)
  • Duco van Breemen, CEO, Haymarket HQ
  • Prof. Joanna Weaver, Director, Tech Policy Design Centre (ANU)
  • Marina Yastreboff, National Convener and President of Australian Society for Computers & Law, Senior Technology and Commercial Lawyer at Western Sydney University
  • Liming Zhu, Research Director, Software and Computational Systems, Data61, CSIRO

“These outstanding judges come from all parts of the country and from all parts of the ecosystem. There is an incredible breadth of experience among them and we are very proud that such an amazing, high-calibre group have made themselves available to participate in these awards,” said InnovationAus.com Publisher Corrie McLeod.

“We love seeing smart Australians do well. And the InnovationAus Awards are a great way that we can use our publishing platform to put a spotlight on the people and the businesses that are doing amazing things,” she said.

“On a personal note, it is such a pleasure to welcome Sea Forest CEO Sam Elsom to the judges panel. Sam shared the top prize – the Australian Hero Award – with Q-CTRL chief executive Michael Biercuk in 2021.”

You can find a full list of the categories for the 2023 awards here. We would encourage as many entrepreneurs and researchers and companies as possible to enter these awards, and to join us for the best night of networking of the year at the Hordern Pavilion.

And a reminder that these awards are judged at arm’s length from the editorial team at InnovationAus.com. Last year I did not find out the winners until the awards were announced on the night.

Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.

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