InnovationAus Awards 2024: Meet our outstanding finalists


James Riley
Editorial Director

What a pleasure it is to announce the 36 finalists across ten categories for the 2024 InnovationAus awards for Excellence, putting a spotlight on the best of Australia’s outstanding tech and innovation talent.

Now in its fourth year, the InnovationAus Awards for Excellence are the premier recognition program for deep tech pioneers, research innovators and technology startups. It is always a pleasure to unveil these finalists and to showcase their incredible products and services.

Every finalist in each category will be profiled on the InnovationAus.com website in the months leading up to the awards’ black-tie Gala Dinner on October 30 at The Venue in Sydney’s Alexandria where the winners will be announced.

The dinner itself is a celebration and brings together more than 500 people from across the broad sweep of the innovation ecosystem, from government policymakers to venture capitalists, corporate leaders, entrepreneurs and deep tech researchers.

The evening is a great mash-up of people and ideas and talent. You can reserve your seat – or book a table – by clicking here. The Gala Dinner will sell out, so please secure your place early.

We are proud to partner with the Australian Computer Society as Gold Partner, Investment NSW as our Host Partner, and the Technology Council of Australia as the sponsor of the Australian Hero award, the top award for the year selected as the best of the best from the winners of all the other categories.

In 2024 we have introduced for the first time the AI Industry Pioneer Award (which attracted the most nominations of any category), sponsored by the Department of Industry’s National Artificial Intelligence Centre.

Other category sponsors include Reason Group for the GovTech Project, Product or Service Award; Q-CTRL for the Defence, Dual-Use and Space category; TechnologyOne for the Software Innovation category; and the CSIRO ON Innovation Program for the coveted Translation Hero category.

Coming on board in 2024 as Commercialisation Partner is the federal intellectual property agency IP Australia.

“InnovationAus.com gets a privileged view of the deep-tech and innovation ecosystems through our reporting. It’s always a thrill to see incredible Australians doing incredible things,” said InnovationAus publisher Corrie McLeod.

“Keep an eye on the InnovationAus website in the coming weeks as we publish profiles of these amazing companies and individuals – they deserve to have a spotlight put on them, and we a very happy to provide it,” she said.

The 2024 Finalists are:

1.AI Industry Pioneer Award

  • DroneShield
  • SAPHI
  • Baymatob
  • MyLot
  • EncompaaS
  • Fivecast

2. Cybersecurity Award

  • Outcomex
  • Cyber Security Certification Australia (CSCAU)
  • Tide Foundation
  • Kaine Mathrick Tech

3. Defence, Dual-Use and Space Award

  • Fivecast
  • HB11 Energy
  • Equatorial Launch Australia
  • Diraq

4. Energy and Renewables Award

  • Innofocus Photonics Technology
  • Fleet Space Technologies
  • ClearVue Technologies
  • Green Gravity

5. Food and AgriTech Award

  • Edith Cowan University
  • Innofocus Photonics Technology
  • Refilled
  • Southern Ocean Subsea

6. GovTech Project, Product or Service

  • MyLot
  • NSW Smart Sensing Network
  • Jobs and Skills Australia
  • Payble Pty Ltd

7. Health Tech Award

  • Navbit
  • Artrya
  • Nuroflux
  • VueMotion

8. Manufacturing Innovation Award

  • Verbotics
  • SciDev Limited
  • Provectus Algae
  • BlockTexx

9. Software Innovation Award

  • Zepto
  • Nansen.io
  • Acusensus
  • See Me Please

10. Translation Hero Award

  • Artrya Limited
  • DroneShield
  • Rux Energy
  • Verbotics

The finalists for the leadership awards, including the Paul Shetler Disrupter of the Year Award and the Innovation Leadership Award will be announced in two weeks.

Voting for the People’s Choice Award will open on September 20 – once our readers have had a chance to look at the profiles of each of our finalists.

You can find out more about our categories and the criteria for judging by clicking here. And you can meet our 2024 judges by clicking here.

The InnovationAus 2024 Awards for Excellence are supported by: the Australian Computer Society, Investment NSW, Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Technology Council of Australia, TechnologyOne, National Artificial Intelligence Centre, CSIRO’s ON Innovation Program, Reason Group, Q-CTRL, University of New South Wales, and IP Australia.

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.

Are you looking for brand exposure in front Australia’s tech ecosystem? Purchase a table of 10 for the InnovationAus 2023 Awards for Excellence and have your logo displayed on screens across the venue and in the event program as a ‘Table Sponsor’.

You can find out more about the InnovationAus Awards for Excellence 2024 at our special event website. Or you can book your tickets through Humanitix.

Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.

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