A medical research translation expert, a digital health accelerator chief executive and the CEO of an entrepreneurship school are our finalists in the Innovation Leadership category of the 2023 InnovationAus Awards for Excellence.
This category honours the individuals who have shown outstanding leadership of teams in guiding the successful development of a product or service or driven a successful commercial research outcome.
These are leaders who are driven by the big picture end goal of a project, but who are also across the minutiae of detail. They are mentors to high performing individuals and have demonstrated an ability to get individuals and teams working together in building maximum commercial value or social impact.
In short, these Innovation Leadership award finalists are already legends within their own organisations and broader community and deserve further recognition across the ecosystem.
The winners will be announced at a black-tie gala dinner at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney on the evening of November 1 – the biggest networking event of the year for tech and innovation. You can book a table or a single seat here.
So here we are. Our outstanding Innovation Leadership finalists are:
Dr Sarah Jones – chief executive officer, Sydney School of Entrepreneurship
Bronwyn Le Grice – chief executive officer and managing director, ANDHealth
Professor Sharath Sriram – Professor and director Discovery to Device at RMIT University and President-elect at Science and Technology Australia
Each of these finalists more than meet the requirements of this category, and each is a recognised leader in their field.
Dr Sarah Jones has been the CEO and driving force behind the Sydney School of Entrepreneurship (SSE) over the past four years.
Blending professional and industry expertise with critical pedagogy in her daily work practice, Sarah believes in the power and importance of connectedness with and between people, place, technology, and systems in delivering learning outcomes.
When Sarah joined SSE in February 2019, the business required a substantial strategic reimagining. With changed market conditions, demand/supply challenges, and a business model exuding existential pressure, the company required a courageous leader to steer it to a new existence.
Recognising the magnitude of that critical juncture, Sarah undertook a rigorous audit and competitive analysis of the business, an unparalleled research and analysis of the Australian innovation ecosystem, including universities, incubators, and industry (which was then picked up by the universities).
Digital health accelerator ANDHealth’s CEO and managing director Bronwyn Le Grice is a strong believer that the commercialisation of digital health technologies offers Australia a significant economic opportunity, leveraging our international strengths in health and medical research alongside emerging capabilities in technology.
Over the past six years, Bronwyn’s leadership has cemented ANDHealth as a leading innovator and service provider within the digital health industry.
From a blank sheet of paper, she has created Australia’s most successful health technology commercialisation program, ANDHealth+, and built a commercialisation engine room.
ANDHealth now manages a $19.75m dedicated digital health non-dilutive investment program and co-manages a further $50m as the digital and connected health partner of Australia’s largest healthcare venture firm, Brandon Capital.
Since 2017, companies selected to participate in ANDHealth’s programs have raised more than $161 million (both dilutive and non-dilutive) and delivered 1003 commercial pilots or clinical studies.
Professor Sharath Sriram is director of Discovery to Device at RMIT University, and is the president-elect of Science and Technology Australia, the nation’s peak body in science – representing 115,000 scientists and technologists.
Sharath is a Sriram is a research translation leader, as a connector between academia and industry.
These activities go beyond his core research programs. He has worked with the sector in demystifying working with universities, while working within the university system to improve processes with understanding of industry value propositions.
Sharath was awarded the 2016 3M Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Emerging Leader in Science, and was also named amongst Australia’s Most Innovative Engineers by Engineers Australia (alongside many ATSE Fellows).
He has been awarded 37 Fellowships and awards, including a NMI Prize for measurement excellence, a Rotary International Young Achiever Award, a Victoria Fellowship, and an ARC Australian Post-Doctoral Fellowship.
The InnovationAus 2023 Awards for Excellence are proudly supported by Investment NSW, AusIndustry, Australian Computer Society, Technology Council of Australia, Agile Digital, CSIRO, TechnologyOne, IP Australia, METS Ignited and Q-CTRL.
Protecting your great ideas with intellectual property (IP) rights can lead to lasting benefits for your growing business. IP refers to creations of the mind, such as a brand, logo, invention, design or artistic work. Head to the IP Australia website to find out more about IP, and how it might help your business.
You can reserve your seat or book your table here.
Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.