MELBOURNE – Friday 9 August 2013 – The National 2013 iAwards winners were announced last night at the iAwards Presentation Ceremony and Gala Dinner held at Crown Melbourne. The evening was attended by Senator, the Hon Kate Lundy, Minister Assisting for Innovation and Industry, Minister Assisting for the Digital Economy and Craig Ondarchie, Victorian Government Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier along with hundreds of guests from across the ICT industry, the wider business community, government and the education sector. The 2013 iAwards was an impressive showcase of innovations in ICT and highlighted the many ways in which ICT is delivering innovation and can help to drive productivity and economic growth.
The iAwards is Australia’s premier technology awards program, focused on recognising the contributions that ICT make across all sectors of the Australian and global economies. The program provides a pathway for ICT professionals and students to achieve international recognition, with the journey for iAwards winners beginning each year with success at a local State or Territory level.
This year’s winners included CSIRO, GS1 Australia and the Australian Good & Grocery Council, Geomatic Technologies and Sydney Trains, the Department of Tourism, Major Events, Small Business and the Commonwealth Games (Qld), Organic Response, UnityHealth and Xero.
iAwards Chair Russell Yardley noted, “It’s always rewarding to see the far reaching impact which the use of innovative technology has on our economy. ICT can lead to improvements in productivity and can also have a tangible impact on society in areas as vast as health, education, mining and the environment.”
He added, “This year’s iAwards program again uncovered some exceptional innovations in the application of ICT across many different industry areas and showcased the true value of ICT to our nation. We congratulate every nominee, state and national winner for participating in this year’s program and wish them well for the future.” In addition to the announcement of the national 2013 iAwards winners, the evening saw Dr Alex Zelinsky BSc, Phd (ACT) awarded the Pearcey Medal and the induction of two new ICT luminaries into the Pearcey Hall of Fame - Robert Elz BA, LLB (Thailand) and Prof Rod Tucker BEng, PhD (Vic).
In support of the continuing development of the program, the 2014 iAwards will include a new award, presented in conjunction with Hills Holdings - the Hills Young Australian ICT Innovator of the Year iAward. Mr Yardley said of the new award, “By coming together to support these wonderful awards the three host organisations ACS, AIIA and the Pearcey Foundation are striving to engage industry, government and academia, to celebrate the incredible value that the ICT industry offers and to motivate our young people to aspire to follow careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.”
As the only truly international ICT awards program in Australia, company winners of the 2013 iAwards now have the opportunity to compete with businesses from across the Asia Pacific region at the 2013 Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards. Each year APICTA recognises the best in innovation from across the Asia Pacific ICT community. Past winners have gone on to international business success, secured funding, formed new partnerships and realised significant business growth as a result of their expanded horizons. APICTA Representative and Hong Kong Computer Society Vice President, Stephen Lau, attended the evening to show the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance’s endorsement of the 2013 iAwards program. The 2013 APICTAs will be held in Hong Kong from 24 – 27 November, 2013.
