Former Innovation minister Wyatt Roy, one of the primary architects of the Turnbull government’s signature National Innovation and Science Agenda (NISA), will deliver the keynote address at the InnovationAus Awards for Excellence gala dinner on November 1.
At age 20, Mr Roy became the youngest person ever elected to federal parliament, and at 25 became the youngest minister in the history of the Commonwealth when he was handed the Innovation portfolio.
Wyatt Roy is very well known to the national startup community. His early work on the NISA resulted in a step-change in the way startup companies were viewed by policymakers in Australia. The NISA included 24 specific policy initiatives across nine separate government departments.
His early work through initiatives like the Policy Hack helped to drive a new appetite for mainstream industry policy discussion, and momentum for support for the startup sector that was picked up by state governments.
While Malcolm Turnbull’s government de-emphasised the public campaigns after the 2016 election – in which Mr Roy lost his seat after an unusual preference swap – the NISA policies were already starting to leave their mark.
Most notably, changes to the tax treatment of certain venture funds led to a huge increase in the amount of venture capital in Australia.
In his post-politics life, Mr Roy became managing director in Australia for Afiniti, a multi-billion dollar US AI company for six years, responsible for growing the company in this country, and has been an executive director of the Tech Council of Australia.
Most recently, he is a senior advisor at global consultants McKinsey & Co and is a strategic adviser at SunDrive – one of the most exciting deep tech startup companies in Australia building super-efficient lower cost solar cells.
The InnovationAus Awards for Excellence is the biggest awards night of the year for technology, research translation and startup systems. This year’s homage to the rock-and-roll nature of our community, the black-tie networking gala brings together 450-plus people at the famed Hordern Pavilion in Sydney.
Tickets are available in singles or as tables. The evening starts with a VIP get-together of all our finalists with the Award patrons – business legend David Thodey and Australia’s chief scientist Dr Cathy Foley – and is followed by an after party right across the road in the Entertainment Quarter.
The InnovationAus 2023 Awards for Excellence are proudly supported by Investment NSW, AusIndustry, Australian Computer Society, Technology Council of Australia, CSIRO, Agile Digital, TechnologyOne, IP Australia, METS Ignited and Q-CTRL.
Now in its third year, the hotly contested InnovationAus Awards for Excellence celebrates the translation of Australian ideas and research into commercial success and social impact.
Buy a table, bring the team along, don a black tie, and celebrate Australia’s innovation at its best!
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.
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