The iAwards, the Australian ICT industry’s premier annual awards program and industry event, was held this evening in the Grand Harbour Ballroom, Star City, Sydney.
Hosted by MC James O’Loghlin of the ABC ‘New Inventors’ program, the 2006 iAwards awards showcased an array of outstanding, innovative and thought-provoking ICT products and services.
Presented by AIIA, the Australian Financial Review, the CSIRO ICT Centre and MIS Australia, the iAwards embrace the entrepreneurial spirit of the Australian ICT industry and encourage its growth and development by providing international recognition for Australia’s leading ICT innovations.
As Rob Durie, Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), Australia’s peak industry body for the ICT industry, commented, “The high calibre of this year’s winners and finalists reflects the breadth of entrepreneurial spirit within the Australian ICT industry and its impact on the nation’s economy and productivity.”
According to a report published in March, the Australian Bureau of Statistics report that in 2002–03, the ICT industry accounted for $36.2 billion or 4.6 per cent of GDP, 13.8 per cent of total investment by government and industry, and made a greater contribution to the economy than the agriculture, forestry and fishing, defence and education industries.
In recognition of the impact that ICT has on the Australian economy, the iAwards celebrated the ‘latest and greatest’ Australian-developed ICT products and services that either are, or are destined to, make an impact on a wide range of Australian industries.
The 2006 iAwards winners were:
Inspiration (iAward for overall ICT excellence):
Wotif.com for Wotif.com - Innovating the accommodation industry
For suppliers and the tourism industry, Wotif.com is an Internet distribution channel where room rates, allocations, types and property descriptions can be readily updated by simply logging into the Wotif.com supplier site. Once updated, this information is instantly available to the public. Suppliers are also provided with facilities to view their property’s performance statistics, booking history and the guest list of customers that are due to check in to their property.
Local Industry:
Seeing Machines for the fD - Objective Glaucoma Diagnosis
Innovative Commercial Software Award:
Codarra Advanced Systems Pty Ltd for the Electrical Loads Analysis (ELA) Software
The Tony Benson CSIRO Award for Individual Excellence in ICT:
Craig Winkler, Chief Executive Officer, MYOB
Community:
SRA Information Technology for the EnviroSys
iAward category winners
Agriculture & Primary Industries:
SRA Information Technology for the EnviroSys
Applications & Infrastructure Tools:
Amethon Solutions Pty Ltd for the MMS analytics for mobile network
Communications Applications:
Momentum Technologies Group for the m-View: Live Mobile Video Streaming
Communications Applications Merit Award:
PIVoD Technologies for the PIVoD SimPhonE
Education & Training:
EdAlive for the Words Rock!-literacy education program
Education & Training Merit Award:
Australasian CRC for Interaction Design (ACID) for the Digital Songlines - Virtual Heritage Project
E-Government & Services:
Change Corporation for the DCD central screening unit MS
Financial Applications:
Dialect Solutions Group for the Dialect Amex B2B Purchase Card Payments System
Financial Applications Merit Award:
B-free Pty Ltd for the Online Financial Software
General Applications:
Mallesons Stephen Jaques for the PRACTICEDGE® electronic file solution
Healthcare:
MEDTAMIC for the MD Analyse Clinical Information System
Healthcare Merit Award:
Resonance Health Limited for the FerriScan: The MRI Iron Overload test
Industrial Applications:
Codarra Advanced Systems Pty Ltd for the Electrical Loads Analysis (ELA) Software
Industrial Applications Merit Award:
CSC Australia for the Wireless Product Identification System (WIPI)
Media & Entertainment:
PIVoD Technologies for the PIVoD Media Platform
Research & Development:
Seeing Machines for the fD - Objective Glaucoma Diagnosis
Security:
Secure Systems Limited for the Silicon Data Vault with Gate-Keeper®
Tourism & Hospitality:
Wotif.com for the Wotif.com - Innovating the accommodation industry
Secondary Student Project:
Holly Jungwirth-Brown - Red Tears Flash animation
Laura Tan - Believe Flash animation
Tertiary Student Project:
Griffith University for KENG - ADASS
In many instances, winning an iAward provides the springboard for Australian companies to launch new business innovations on the world stage.
Each of the iAwards winners announced this evening will go on to represent Australia at the Asia-Pacific ICT Awards (APICTA) which will be held in Macau in October 2006.
AIIA would like to acknowledge 2006 iAwards partners CSIRO ICT Centre, Australian Financial Review and MIS magazine.
Other supporters include Category Partners, National ICT Australia, the Australian Computer Society, Cliftons, IBM, Innovation and Business Skills Australia, Microsoft, the Welsh Development Agency and Big Mouth Marketing Communications; online media partner ZDnet, and partners Accenture and I-Nex Corporation and Mr Alan Baxter, Chairman of Fujitsu Limited, who led the judging panel featuring prominent judges from Australia’s ICT industry, government, academia and aligned industries.