The Amora ballroom in Sydney buzzed with energy as nearly 200 guests gathered to honour Australia's most innovative tech companies at the 2023 Australian Technologies Competitions Finals and Awards night on the 28th of September.
As partners in the journey of innovation and organisers of the Australian Technologies Competitions (ATC), Scalare Partners were excited to witness the positive impact game-changing technologies will have on our world. The ATC finalists underscored Australia’s exceptional talent and ingenuity with incredible tech ranging from visionary glasses for the blind to smartphone validation of food and fibre content, to next-generation space suits and hypersonic space travel.
The event followed the recent Cleantech Awards held in Melbourne earlier in September which announced the ATC 2023 winners in Clean Energy and Sustainable Cities Communities & Transport as well as the Victorian Cleantech Alumni Company of the Year.
With close to 100 applications and 21 outstanding finalists across nine categories, the pressure was on when applicants were asked to do a live pitch to Judges as the final component of the competition, showcasing the founders' passion and business acumen.
The independent panel of esteemed judges entered into deep discussions tasked with selecting category winners across Advanced Manufacturing; Cyber Security & Critical Tech (Web 3.0); Fintech & Regtech; MedTech & Pharma; Social Impact; Space & Defence; and Water, Food & Agribusiness.
As the sun set, the atmosphere transformed into a lively celebration, uniting entrepreneurs, government leaders, investors, sponsors and partners for a night of industry recognition and dynamic networking.
Watch the evening's highlights:
The 2023 ATC Award Winners
At the heart of the ATC is a mission to advance and promote Australian companies leading the charge in technological development, driving international growth and positive, real-world change. It was fantastic to see ARIA Research's bionic visionary glasses take home the Medtech & Pharma Award as well as the overall Technology Company of the Year Award, and Scalare Partners' investee company Zondii and Founder Danielle Morton win the category award for Water, Food and Agribusiness.
Congratulations to the following exceptional innovators whose ground-breaking solutions not only wowed the judges but also set the stage for progress in Australian tech.
Overall Winner – 2023 Australian Technology Company of the Year Award Winner: Aria Research
ARIA delivers a sense of vision via sound to people who are blind. The world-first non-invasive bionic vision system enables life-changing agency and independence for 338 Million people living with blindness and low vision.
Medtech & Pharma Award Winner: Aria Research
Advanced Manufacturing Award Winner: Verbotics
Verbotics makes software to automatically program welding robots directly from 3D design drawings. It revolutionises how manufacturers program their robots, turning it from a time-consuming and expensive process to one that is automatic, easy and flexible.
Cyber Security & Critical Tech (Web 3.0) Award Winner: Brauz
Brauz bridges the gap between online and in-store retail by integrating in-store inventory online and connecting customers in-store through its unified platform. It consolidates complex systems into simple and easy-to-use experiences.
Fintech & Regtech Award Winner: CXEX
CXEX have developed advanced AI conversational analytics around consulting, known as AutoInsights, to monitor, measure and improve customer experience, employee experience and compliance.
Social Impact Award Winner: MentorKey
MentorKey is a digital platform that unlocks people's value and potential. The employee development SaaS platform enables organisations to facilitate effective mentoring, coaching, leadership and sponsorship programs for their people and develop organisational cultures where leaders have powerful career conversations with all their employees.
Space & Defence Award Winner: Hypersonix Launch Systems
Hypersonix is an aerospace engineering design and build company specialising in hydrogen-powered reusable scramjet engines and hypersonic flyers, which have no CO₂ emissions for the global aerospace sector.
Water, Food and Agribusiness Award Winner: Zondii
Zondii's patented multispectral technology delivers the world's first real-time food and fibre verification tool, using a smartphone or handheld device. From verifying organic status and confirming the authenticity of food to determining characteristics of fibres, projects have been undertaken in cotton, organic food, food fraud, ginger disease detection and wool testing.
Clean Energy Award Winner: ONVOL
ONVOL turns movement into electricity to supply endless power to industrial Internet of Things (IoT) sensors in critical applications like wind turbines enabling less downtime, more uptime and greater profits.
Sustainable Cities, Communities & Transport Award Winner: Adiona Tech
Adiona is an innovative technology company providing a robust and scalable delivery route planning platform. Adiona's AI powers millions of efficient deliveries for some of the world’s biggest brands and enables their transition to net zero.
SPECIAL ALUMNI RECOGNITIONS:
Victorian Cleantech Alumni Award Winner: RayGen
RayGen combines hi-tech solar with thermal storage for proven, reliable and flexible energy. Their innovations across solar and storage hardware, operating software, manufacturing and process optimisation, offer a new capability for the fight against climate change.
Alumni Achievement Award Award Winner: Coviu
Coviu is an all-in-one virtual care engagement platform dedicated to measurement-based care providing integrated customisable forms and standardised assessments with automated scoring. With dynamic video consultations, group therapy rooms, phone telehealth capabilities, and over 50 clinical tools and assessments, you can assess patients seamlessly and get them the outcomes they want.
It was an honour to host the ATC23 Program, Finals & Awards and witness the exceptional quality of home-grown tech companies poised for international growth.
We would like to extend our gratitude to all participants, judges, mentors, sponsors, and partners who fuelled the success of this competition. Congratulations once again to the winners and their stellar teams. Scalare partners and the ATC Team look forward to delivering an even bigger program next year!
If you are interested in being involved in ATC24 as a partner, sponsor or mentor, please send your expression of interest to the ATC team.
About the Australian Technologies Competition
The Australian Technologies Competition (ATC) is a national growth program and awards program designed to showcase and promote innovative Australian technologies with global growth potential. The competition is open to Australia-based technology companies across various sectors (link to all categories) including clean energy, fintech/regtech, medtech, critical technologies (Web3), advanced manufacturing, social impact and more.
Successful entrants will have access to connect with investors, mentors, and industry experts, ultimately helping you to scale and grow your businesses. Semi-finalists receive mentoring, intensive MasterClass sessions and networking opportunities while finalists have a chance to pitch their technology to a panel of judges and ultimately become an awards category winner.
Now in its 13th year, the ATC was previously owned by Impact Tech Ventures and has produced more than 350 alumni and supported numerous technology company success stories.
About Scalare
At Scalare, we’re on a mission to create a greater impact by building a collaborative network that connects exceptional founders, advisors and investors in a unique and powerful partnership, because real transformation and growth takes more than money.
Our unique collaboration and partnership model provides clear pathways to global investors, experts and markets. We plug existing skills gaps in our portfolio companies from our best-of-breed advisor network - to bring, expert resources exactly when needed to facilitate growth and deliver exceptional returns to investors and founders alike. Find out more >
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