Congratulations to the winners of the WA Innovator of the Year (WAIOTY) 2023 awards!
From a device that treats chronic ear infections at home to autonomous solar cleaning robotics, this year’s awards continues to showcase the wide variety of innovative products being developed right here in Western Australia.
This year, the program has seen an increased prize pool of $220,000 to be shared across the 5 categories, with the overall WA Innovator of the Year winner awarded $100,000 as well as the opportunity for a full-time PhD student to assist in the further research and development of their innovation.
Meet the winners of the 2023 WA Innovator of the Year:
- Overall Winner: Portable PPB Pty Ltd has been announced as this year’s WA Innovator of the Year for their work on detectORE, an in-field low-level gold detector.
- Rio Tinto Emerging Innovation Category winner: Earflo, for their medical device which treats chronic ear infections for children at home
- Rio Tinto Growth Innovation Category winner: Leisure Technologies Pty Ltd for developing WiTi, a wireless towing and anti-theft system for towable RVs
- Wesfarmers Wellbeing Platinum Award winner: Inspiring Holdings Pty Ltd for their revolutionary Novel Universal Space System, which applies effective spacer capacity to inhalation drug delivery services for people with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
- Woodside Energy Platinum Award for Energy Innovation winner: Innovative Energy Solutions for the Autonomous Solar Cleaning Robot which effectively cleans solar panels in remote and harsh environments.
- Business News ‘Great for the State’ Platinum Award winner: Reliis for the development of a new liquid drug formulation to treat agitated delirium.
This year’s finalists also got to partake in a range of training and development workshops to help grow their innovation and take it to the next level, including seminars on IP rights, equity incentives, grant writing, a one-on-one mentoring session, and a professional video and photo shoot.
Finalists Virex Pharma and Reliis were also awarded a scholarship to attend a program with the Centre of Entrepreneurial Research and Innovation (CERI).
The 2023 Innovator of the Year program is proudly sponsored by:
- Primary Sponsor: Rio Tinto
- Platinum Award Sponsors: Business News, Wesfarmers, Woodside Energy
- Gold Sponsors: Griffith Hack, Nexia Australia Amplify Program, Wrays, CERI, Biodesign Australia
- Silver Sponsors: PWC, Murfett Legal and Moore Australia
WAIOTY is funded through the State Government's New Industries Fund, which supports and promotes job creation and economic diversification in Western Australia.
Find out more about the program and our winners at the WA Innovator of the Year webpage.
