2026 Pearcey Entrepreneur Award presentation

At the beginning of this year, the Chief Minister, Andrew Barr, challenged the Pearcey Foundation Members and Friends to research ideas that address how smart cities technology can help connect Canberrans in the city. Specifically, the challenge was: Our city centre is rapidly changing. How can our city centre become more connected, inclusive, safe, and efficient using IoT, data analytics, or citizen engagement tools and reflect the changing nature of cities in the post-COVID era?

After a workshop earlier in the year, facilitated by collaborators AI CoLab, the ACT Chapter of the Pearcey Foundation has developed a response to that challenge and will present it to the Chief Minister on 29 September.

The presentation of the response to the Chief Minister's challenge will follow a presentation by Peter Swanton, PhD candidate at ANU, on cultural astronomy and night-sky story telling of Indigenous people - a fascinating topic area that surfaced during our work to respond to the challenge.

Then, the Chief Minister, Andrew Barr, will present the 2026 ACT Chief Minister's Pearcey Entrepreneur Award.

At the conclusion of the event, the Immediate Past Chair of the Pearcey Foundation, Wayne Fitzsimmons, will tell us about wht the Pearcey Foundation has in plan for 2027 nationally.

Doors open at 4:30pm Please join us by 5:00pm.

5:00pm | Welcome & Introductory Comments - Dr Tim Turner.
5:05pm | Presentation on Indigenous Astronomy and the Night Sky - Peter Swanton
5:35pm | Presentation on the response to the Chief Minister's Challenge - Dr Tim Turner
5:45pm | ACT Chief Minister, Andrew Barr, presents the 2026 ACT Chief Minister's Pearcey Entrepreneur Award.
6:00pm | Presentation on Pearcey Foundation agenda for 2027 - Wayne Fitzsimmons, Immediate Past Chair, Pearcey Foundation
6:10pm | End of formalities; networking snacks and non-alcoholic beverages.
7:00pm | Close.