Pearcey

2020 National Awards

The 2020 Pearcey National Awards, will be presented on Wednesday 25 November 2020; 4:00pm - 5:45pm. This will be a virtual event due to Covid restrictions. The presentation will cover:

• The prestigious Pearcey Medal, Pearcey Hall of Fame and Entrepreneur of the Year awards
• A panel of notable industry leaders for the final Pearcey Conversation of 2020!

The 2020 Pearcey Medal will be presented by Prof Jon Whittle, Director data61, representing CSIRO with whom this annual presentation has been closely aligned since its inception in 1998.

After a very different year that was - we invite you to come with us on a journey into the future, as our guest speakers generously share their valuable insights and predictions for what's in store for 2021! In this special (and final!) Conversation for 2020, you will be privy to the valuable insights and predictions for 2021, from a panel of notable industry leaders. Speakers include

• Jamila Gordon, CEO & Founder of Lumachain
• Jon Whittle, Director of CSIRO's Data61
• Leanne Kemp, Queensland's Chief Entrepreneur, Advance Queensland
• Elaine Stead, Manager, South Australian Venture Capital Fund

The discussion will be moderated by Simon Foster, Treasurer, The Pearcey Foundation

This event is free! Please register here.

Pearcey State Entrepreneur Awards

Some events will be live and in usual format but some will be virtual.

One of the state winners will be chosen as the National 2020 Pearcey Entrepreneur.

Conversations

The Pearcey Foundation is holding an ongoing series of on-line seminars we have called "Conversations". They are being held on the last Wednesday of each month.

This Month - October 2020

• Tuesday 13th October 2020; 3:00pm - 5:00pm AEST.
• This Conversation celebrated the amazing contributions of female Australians to the digital age
• Leading the Conversation were:
• Kerrie Mengersen FAA - Distinguished Professor of Statistics, Queensland University of Technology
• Jennifer Seberry - Emeritus Professor, School of Computing and Information Technology, Faculty of Engineering and Information Science, University of Wollongong
• Helen Vorrath - experienced industry veteran
• Alison Harcourt AO - Australian mathematician and statistician
• Michelle Melbourne, Founder Intellidox
• Ann Moffatt, retired IT executive and 2011 Pearcey Hall of Fame
• Dr Michelle Deeker CEO, Founder of VC company One Ventures
• Jan Korweibel West Australia entrepreneur
• And MC'd by Deputy Chair of the Pearcey Foundation, Kelly Hutchinson - Manager, Digital Innovation Festival, Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions Vic Government
• Our previous Pearcey Conversations are available on the Pearcey Foundation YouTube Channel.

2020 Pearcey Oration

2020 Pearcey Oration was held on Wednesday 2 September 2020 and following the presentation of the 2020 Victorian State Entrepreneur Award. These two events were sponsored by the Victorian Government and form key elements of the Digital Innovation Festival (DIF) in its fifth year of celebration of Victoria's tech community. The 2020 Pearcey Oration explored the very pertinent topic of Resilience, specifically: How do we address our resilience and preparedness in this age of mistrust?

John Blackburn AO

The Oration was delivered by John Blackburn AO, Air Vice-Marshal (Retd) and Chair of The Institute for Integrated Economic Research (IIER). John is a consultant in the field of Defence and National Security. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW, the Institute For Regional Security, the Sir Richard Williams Foundation and the Australian Institute of Energy. He has extensive experience across the fields of strategy, policy, planning, operational command, capability development and material acquisition. He recently featured as a panellist on the 29 July 2020 Pearcey Conversation on-line seminar entitled "The role of the ICT Community in the future resilience and self-reliance of Australia".

View on Pearcey YouTube channel.

Initiatives

2020 has certainly been a remarkable year with the onset of the pandemic. The members of the Pearcey Foundation felt it important that the tech sector show thought leadership by debating the pros and cons of the CovidSAFE app launched by our Federal Government in late April 2020. To this end, we have published two papers and held a public zoom seminar on the app and its ramifications for our community. Below are references to these activities in detail. No one could have foreseen the incredible disruption we are all experiencing in 2020 but, as one of our CovidSAFE speakers commented, this app is all about TRUST; TRUST in government in particular. He offered a definition: Trust is Integrity plus transparency over time.

History of the Australian ICT industry

Additionally we have launched our History of the Australian ICT industry initiative (last November 2019). We have assembled a great team of advisors, led by Dr Peter Thorne, all of whom are working with our author Graeme Philipson to curate a wonderful living document. The book is making great progress.

Events

More details on all events, as well as on the Book, are available on our Pearcey Heritage website heritage.pearcey.org.au.

Please check out our press release for a consolidated list of activities:

https://prwire.com.au/pr/91462/pearcey-to-address-the-role-of-technology-in-building-back-better-at-this-years-digital-innovation-festival-dif2020-1