Applications open today (29 April 2016) for the Western Australia Innovator of the Year Awards 2016. The awards are an initiative of the Department of Commerce of the Government of Western Australia.
To be eligible, applicants must be based in Australia, be developing the innovation within Western Australia, be the legal or authorised owner of the idea / innovation, and be able to clearly define the market need or problem it solves.
There are five award categories:
The Mitsubish Corporation WA Innovator of the Year Award will provide a prize of AUD$75,000 to the winner for developing “an outstanding innovative product, technology, process or service that clearly demonstrates an economic, social or environmental benefit to Western Australia”.
A prize of AUD$25,000 will be given to the winner of the Mitsubishi Corporation Emerging Innovation Category (pre-revenue) Applicants will “have developed their innovation from an original concept and have some form of intellectual property (IP) protection or rapid route to market. Applicants must clearly demonstrate how the innovation has an economic, social or environmental benefit to Western Australia. This category is for applicants that have not generated revenue from the innovation”.
The Mitsubishi Corporation Growth Category (post-revenue) will also have a prize value of AUD$25,000 and the winner must “already have an existing innovation and have some form of IP protection or [be] relying on a rapid route to market strategy. Applicants must clearly demonstrate how the innovation has an economic, social or environmental benefit to Western Australia. This category is for applicants that have generated revenue from the innovation”.
The Woodside Oil and Gas Encouragement Award provides AUD$10,000 to an applicant that has developed an outstanding innovative product, technology, process or service that is relevant to the Oil and Gas industry.
The final prize category is the Perth Convention Bureau 2016 WA Innovator of the Year Travel Award of AUD$5,000. To win this award, the successful applicant must “research an international conference affiliated with their field of expertise that has the potential to be staged in Western Australia” and “present a brief case as to why the conference should be hosted in Western Australia and the benefits it will bring to their business and the State”.
The top 16 semi-finalists will be announced on 5 July 2016. The top 8 finalists will be announced on 26 July 2016. And the awards ceremony will take place on Wednesday, 2 November 2016.
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