Here at aXcelerate we are big advocates of innovation. After all, innovation is the key contributing factor to success within the technology industry. The act of creating and implementing new ideas and improving on existing processes is the only way organisations can maintain a competitive edge and continue to grow and prosper.
This is why our aXcelerate team are constantly looking at ways we can build upon our own student management system and create new features for it. However, we are not the only organisation putting a strong emphasis on the importance of innovation; the Australian government has made a recent pledge to promote Australian ingenuity and foster a strong culture of innovation in order to improve the country’s economy. The hon. Minster for Innovation, Christopher Pyne even made a statement earlier this month highlighting the precedence innovation will play in the government’s upcoming policies.
“The government is always looking for new ideas and ways to build on the innovation agenda. That’s because we know that innovative businesses are twice as likely to export, increase productivity, employment and training, and are five times more likely to increase their number of export markets,” he said.
Mr Pyne went onto announce that as part as this push for innovation, the government will be focusing on initiatives to help Australians transform their ‘cutting-edge ideas’ into commercial reality by creating real products and services. One particular initiative to help achieve this is the Australian Innovation Challenge, which announced it’s winners within each of it’s categories last Thursday evening. The Australian Innovation Challenge is a competition, which focuses on highlighting the most original and entrepreneurial ideas and products put forward by Australian applicants. This year the challenge received a record 310 applications from innovators across the country for the following categories:
-the Overall Innovation Award,
-the Backyard Innovation Award,
-the Young Innovator award (for applicants under the age of 21)
-the Innovation in Manufacturing,
-the Innovation in Construction and Infrastructure Award,
-the Innovation in Minerals and Energy Award,
-the Innovation in Environment, Agriculture and Food Award
– the Innovation in Education and Community Services Award.
The technology and software put forward by these applicants was nothing short of inspiring, with technologies such as a microscopic needle to better probe through tissue during surgery, a new recycled plastic fibre to reinforce concrete and an automatic irrigation control system that draws on meteorological data to turn sprinklers on and off, taking out the top prizes.
Furthermore the sunshine state proved to be especially ingenious with Queensland residents taking out four of the total seven award categories. One of these winners was Monica Davis who took out the Young Innovators award for ‘Rumbl’, an app she developed which allows restaurants to sell unused food at significant discounts. Rumble provides a connecting hub for for food retailers, customers and charities, with the idea being that at the end of the day food retailers can post any quality, unsold food on the app and customers and charities in the surrounding geographic region are notified of this surplus food for sale. Davis argues it’s a win win solution to solve the pressing issue of food waste within Australia.
“With Rumbl, retailers can earn money from food otherwise tossed in the trash, customers can purchase excess food through the app for reduced prices and charities cam claim food through the app for their life changing missions,” she said.
By winning the Australian Innovation Challenge, Davis has received $5000 in prize money that can be put towards commercialising the app and releasing it to the market.
Both Davis’s Rumbl app and all the other winning innovations, demonstrate the potential Australia has to become a leader in technological innovation and has definitely inspired aXcelerate to continue to pursue new ideas and new processes. We congratulate both Davis and all of the other winning applicants on their technological innovations and wish them the best for the future.
To see a full list of the winning applicants and to find out more about the Innovation Challenge Awards, click here: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/innovationchallenge