Australia 3.0 leverages the collective wisdom of an invitation only grouping of some of Australia's leading Technology and Innovation
thinkers and most experienced professionals to develop insight into the pivotal issues that will impact Australia's ability to succeed in
the global digital economy.
A three month long dialogue focussed around the opportunities, threats and systemic barriers for Australia's digital economic future culminates in the endorsement of a series of targeted communiqués by a plenary gathering of over 300 of Australia's most eminent IT industry leaders.
On Thursday 8th August 2013 the ACS, AIIA and the Pearcey Foundation conducted a full day program on four key areas:
Outcomes agreed as part of the 2013 iAwards program all focussed on lifting national productivity through innovative application of technology. The Australia 3.0 2013 communiqué has been developed, refined and formally endorsed through the Australia 3.0 process online and offline culminating in endorsement and formal launch at a plenary forum operating as part of the 2013 iAwards ceremonies held at Crown Casino, Melbourne on August 8th.
See 2013 Australia 3.0 Communique.
2013 iAwards Gala Event
The 2013 iAwards gala dinner was held on Thursday 8th August at Crown Palladium in Melbourne through the collaboration of the Pearcey Foundation, The ACS and the AIIA. Over 750 ICT professionals celebrated the success of many individuals and organisations undertaking innovative use of technology and applying in industry, government and academia. Senator The Hon Kate Lundy, Minister Assisting for the Digital Economy, presented the awards. For full details see www.iawards.com.au
2013 Pearcey Medal and Hall of Fame Awards
A highlight of the iAwards' evening's celebrations was the acknowledgment of three outstanding individuals who have made significant contribution to the Australian ICT sector. The winner of the 2013 Pearcey Medal was Dr Alex Zelinsky and Dr Rod Tucker and Mr Robert Elz were elevated to the prestigious Pearcey Hall of Fame'. Senator, the Hon. Kate Lundy, Minister Assisting for the Digital Economy acknowledged, when presenting these awards, the continued contribution of the ICT sector to the national economy as exemplified by these three outstanding individuals. Full details on their backgrounds are shown in the Awards section.
2013 Benson Entrepreneur Award
The individual State Pearcey Award winners who qualified for the 2013 national Benson Entrepreneur of the year Award are summarised below.
The winner of the 2013 Benson Entrepreneur Award was Mr Lenni Mayo from Victoria. In presenting the award, Dr Bronwyn Harch, CSIRO Chief of Computational Informatics commented that any one of the seven finalists were worthy of the Benson Entrepreneur Award as they were all fine exemplars of Australia's best and brightest 'running a risk, making a difference and inspiring others'.
Three Pearcey Foundation State Awards for young entrepreneurs were presented as part of the four state iAwards functions held so far during June 2013. These winners will join earlier winners from the other states as finalists in the Tony Benson Award for young ICT Entrepreneur of the Year to be presented by CSIRO at the national iAwards gala event in Melbourne on 8th August 2013 in Melbourne. The distinguishing characteristic of these champions is that they have 'run a risk, made a difference and inspired others'.
Andrew Jesset Queensland Andrew founded his own company back in 2005 to commercialise the world's most advanced dragline monitoring system for the mining industry domestically and internationally. He is acknowledged as a pioneer in the development of the Universal Dig and Dump dragline technology. As CEO he leads the team at one of the world's most successful ICT SME's in the global mining industry - Mineware. Originally from New Zealand, Andrew is a first class honours Engineering Graduate from the University of Queensland where he also completed his MBA in 1994. Andrew was also the recipient of the prestigious Clunies Ross Award in 2010.
Dr Alex Grant South Australia Alex Grant has had a distinguished career since graduating with First Class Honours from the University of South Australia in May 1993 as an Electrical Engineer. He, by the way, completed his PhD from the same august institution in December 1997 focussed on Communications and Information Theory - you can't get more mainstream in ICT than that!! Alex now heads up the Institute for Telecommunications Research (ITR) - a research body that is globally recognised as a centre of excellence in research, education, and technology development for wireless communications with fixed, mobile, satellite and terrestrial applications. He has also sustained a long contribution at both the highest of academic levels and cutting edge applied research and is a multi-award winning member of the Board of Governors of the IEEE Information Theory Society. Currently he is leading groups of theoretical information theorists, applied researchers and engineers, building field prototypes across some of the most advanced technology areas. He also co-founded with Dr Paul Alexander and Dr Lars Rasmussen, Cohda Wireless, a successful Adelaide based early stage WiFi wireless vendor pioneering collision avoidance systems for automobiles in the global marketplace.
Leni Mayo Victoria Leni graduated with BSc (Hons 1985) from Melbourne University and his early career was as a freelance software engineer. In the early 1990s he moved to San Francisco and worked with new emerging web technologies. In 1997 he returned to Melbourne, to start his own company in Australia and intentionally not in the US. From there Leni has started and grown a string of successful startups including:
Many of Leni's companies are run out of his Collingwood offices, all sharing the same facilities and Leni's passion.
