The Pearcey State Entrepreneur Awards recognise outstanding achievers in ICT within each Australian State and Territory who have:
The Pearcey Foundation embraces all aspects of the ICT industry from traditional Information Science to the latest technological advances in social networking, multimedia, games, Internet technologies and artificial intelligence - the very broadest spectrum of the Australian innovative sector.
Nominations are welcome at any time.
The awardees are selected by state-based judging committees.
Each year, one of the awardees is selected for the Pearcey National
Entrepreneur Award.
The Pearcey Foundation announced Leigh Jasper, the co-founder and former CEO of Aconex, co-founder and co-CEO of Firmable, co-founder and chair of SecondQuarter Ventures and chair of Glitch Capital, as the recipient of the 2026 Pearcey Victorian Entrepreneur Award. The award was presented at a dinner in Melbourne by Professor Ed Hovy, executive director of Melbourne Connect.
The 2026 NSW Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year Award joint recipients are Pieter Danhieux and Fatemah Beydoun, co-founders of Secure Code Warrior. The award was presented at a special Pearcey Foundation event in Sydney on 22 October by Laura O'Reilly OAM, who received the award in 2021.
Dr Padma Gadiyar, founder and CEO of Smilo.ai, received the 2026 Queensland Pearcey ICT Entrepreneur Award. The award was presented to Dr Gadiyar by the Hon. Steve Minnikin MP, Queensland's Minister for Customer Service and Open Data and Minister for Small and Family Business at a gala dinner held in Brisbane on Tuesday 6 October 2026.
Rachel Gately and Michael Gately, co-founders of Trellis Data, are the joint recipients of the 2026 ACT Chief Minister’s Pearcey Entrepreneur Award. The award was presented by the ACT Chief Minister, Andrew Barr at a small event on 29 September 2026.
Professor Girish Dwivedi received the 2026 WA Pearcey Entrepreneur Award for AI-driven cardiac diagnostics and advancing Western Australia’s medtech ecosystem. The Award was presented at the 35th Incite Awards in Perth on 17th July 2026.
The 2025 SA Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year Award recipient is Tim Stollznow. Tim is founder and CEO of MyVenue, specialising in point-of-sale solutions for major sports and entertainment venues across Australia and North America.
Roxane Bandini-Maeder, CEO and co-founder of climate tech startup Geoneon, was awarded the 2025 Tasmania Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year at the Enterprize Tasmania Demo Day in Hobart.
Dr Clarissa Yates, biotechnology innovator and co-founder and CEO of Ketim Technologies was awarded 2025 Queensland Pearcey ICT Entrepreneur Award at a gala dinner held in Brisbane on 23 October 2025.
The 2025 NSW Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year Award recipient is "robot nerd turned drone lover turned CEO/cofounder" (in his words) Rory San Miguel. The award was presented at a special Pearcey Foundation event on Tuesday 14 October in Sydney by Emma Weston, the 2023 NSW award recipient.
Professor Lachlan Blackhall, Founding Professor of the Battery Storage and Grid Integration Program at the Australian National University and previously co-founder of Reposit Power, is the recipient of the 2025 ACT Chief Minister's Pearcey Award. The award was presented by ACT Chief Minister, Andrew Barr at the 2025 Pearcey Round Table in Canberra on Thursday, 2 October 2025.
The 2025 Victorian Pearcey Entrepreneur Award presented to Sam Kroonenburg, co-founder and CEO of A Cloud Guru, co-founder and co-CEO of Cuttable. Award was presented at a special dinner in Melbourne, by Professor Eduard Hovy, Executive Director of Melbourne Connect at the University of Melbourne. This was the flagship event of the Melbourne Connect Innovation Week.
.jpg)
