Australian organisations at the forefront of innovation in technology, and some of the country’s best home-grown ideas have been recognised for their achievements in the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) 2016 iAwards.
The AIIA announced winners of the various awards on Thursday at its annual dinner and awards ceremony at Melbourne’s Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Perth-based Akumen developers, Optika Solutions, won the Innovation of the Year award for and will later this year travel to Chinese Taipei on an all-expenses-paid trip to compete in the international Asia Pacific ICT Awards (APICTA).
Other prizes in this year’s iAwards include $25,000 to Pitchfest! winner DoseMe towards travel to an international pitch competition or business development programme of their choice, while Switch Automation, winner of the AIIA Accelerator Award for Switch Smart Hub, received $50,000 to go towards business development.
{loadposition peter}The Victorian government is the host partner for the national iAwards and this year’s national programme sponsors are CSIRO’s Data61, Informed Solutions, Pym’s Technology Lawyers and SAP.
More than 600 entries were received from government, start-ups, corporates and students for categories ranging from business services, community services, consumer and primary services, and public sector and government, as well as student categories and “cross” categories.
AIIA chief executive Rob Fitzpatrick says this year’s awards had attracting entries from all sectors of the economy including public, private, not-for-profit and students.
“Last year’s entry numbers set a record high and this year, and we have seen the entry numbers double again.”
“This is true testament to the broadening scope of Australian innovation, which provides solutions to social problems; problems that matter. The AIIA would like to congratulate the winners and merit recipients of this year’s national iAwards, and thank all those who dedicated a day to innovation by participating in the 2016 iAwards national programme.”
Fitzpatrick says the AIIA believes the iAwards programme is a critical platform to demonstrate the impact that its members and the broader technology sector are driving to improve Australia’s social and economic prosperity.
“The impact of the technology sector that AIIA represents is more crucial to Australia’s future than ever before.”
The full list of the 2016 iAwards winners and merit recipients:
Special Recognition:
• Pitchfest! Award: DoseMe (pitch)
• AIIA Accelerator of the Year Award: Switch Automation (Switch Smart Hub)
• Innovation of the Year Award: Optika Solutions (Akumen)
• Victorian Government Inspiration of the Year Award: automed (automed)
Cross Categories:
• Big Data Innovation of the Year
o Winner: Optika Solutions Pty Ltd (Akumen)
o Merit: Santos (Predictive Analytics in Oil and Gas)
• Export of the Year
o Winner: StarRez (StarRez Housing, Conduct and Conference Software)
• Infrastructure & Platforms Innovation of the Year
o Winner: NEC Australia and NT Police (NeoFace Revea)l
o Merit: Symbio Networks (TollShield)
• Mobility Innovation of the Year
o Winner: automed (automed)
o Merit: Catholic Education Office – Darwin and SRA Information Technology (The Attendance Management Map Application AMMA)
• Research & Development Project of the Year
o Winner: La Trobe University - OTARC and Salesforce – (ASDetect)
o Merit: Metro South Health and AEHRC - CSIRO SNOMAN (Clinical Terminology Mapping Solution)
o Merit: OneGov, Department of Finance Services and Innovation – (OneGov Digital Gateway)
• Start-up of the Year
o Winner: AgriWebb (The AgriWebb NoteBook and SaleYard)
o Merit: Biteable (Biteable)
Categories:
• Business Services
o Winner: Symbio Networks (TollShield)
• Community Services
o Winner: Infoxchange, Google, REA Group and News Corp Australia (Ask Izzy: The A to Z of homeless help)
o Merit: DoseMe Pty. Ltd. (DoseMe)
o Merit: Sense-T (The AirRater App)
• Consumer
o Winner: University of South Australia (LiPo Indoor Positioning System using Visible Light)
o Merit: CHOICE (CluckAR App)
o Merit: Nuheara – IQbuds
• Industrial & Primary Industries
o Winner: automed (automed)
o Merit: AgriWebb (The AgriWebb NoteBook and SaleYard)
o Merit: Santos (Predictive Analytics in Oil and Gas)
• Public Sector & Government
o Winner: OneGov, Department of Finance Services and Innovation (OneGov Digital Gateway)
o Merit: CSIRO (Global Initiative for Honey Bee Health)
o Merit: Sense-T (Sensing Tourist Trave)l
• Junior Students
o Winner: Linden Park Primary School Leafy Sea Dragon National Park (Virtual World)
o Merit: Hamish Finlayson - Cathedral School of St Anne and St James – (Triple T ASD and Me)
• Senior Students
o Winner: Imogen Low - Brisbane Girls Grammar School (Elevator)
o Merit: Jalia, Angas, Tiff, Natalie, Lohana, Daeeun and Isabella - Australian Science and Mathematics School (Experience!)
• Undergraduate Tertiary Students
o Winner: Luiz Cavalieri, Daniel Schofield, Chiaki Iwamoto and Amandeep Singh - Academy of Information Technology (AITendance)
o Merit: K Osborn, M Jones, C Snook, J Sardi et al - Murdoch University ¬– (Radiology Assistant Simulator)
o Merit: M Carriedo, A Harrison, K Saleh, S Alanazi et al - Murdoch University students (FlexiBrains)