Newsroom
Pearcey Foundation news and press releases, as well as other noteworthy Industry news
The Pearcey Foundation is proud to be at the forefront of ICT innovation and recognition in Australia.
As newsworthy items arise, we like to publish interesting items including:
For more information please contact:
Martin Aungle
Explore Communications Pty Ltd
Tel: +61 2 4872 4981
Mob: +61 415 917 381
Twitter: @maungle
Email: maungle@explorecomms.com.au
Website: www.explorecomms.com.au
An evening of celebration and recognition, the Pearcey National Awards Gala incorporated the Queensland Entrepreneur Award, the National Entrepreneur Award, the Pearcey Hall of Fame and the Pearcey Medal. These most prestigious awards recognise outstanding Australians in the ICT sector for their entrepreneurial spirit, achievements and lifetime commitment to the betterment of our society through technology enabled change.
Mrs Barbara Ainsworth, Curator of the Monash Museum of Computing History has published a new biography of Dr Trevor
Pearcey, Dean of the School of Computing and Information Systems (1980-1984).
Chris Piastri, recipient of the 2024 Victorian Pearcey Entrepreneur Award is interviewed by 9News about his Pearcey award and the work he has done to receive this prestigious recognition.
Musica ex Machina: Machines Thinking Musically is an exhibition at EPFL Pavilions in Lausanne, Switzerland, that explores the intersections of algorithmic and computational thinking in music. The exhibition highlights the evolution of these concepts from historical to contemporary contexts, showcasing how technological advances have expanded musical possibilities. A significant part of the exhibition is dedicated to CSIRAC, the first computer to play music, featuring its pioneering role in the history of computer music. CSIRAC's contributions are illustrated through historical documentation and audiovisual installations. More details about the exhibition and its themes can be found here . Details about the associated symposium are here
The Pearcey Foundation's own Board member and Secretary, Jordan Green, was awarded an AM in the Australia Day 2024 Honours List. Jordan was recognised for his significant service to business, particularly through Angel investing, and to professional associations.
On October 31st in Sydney the Pearcey Foundation celebrated its jubilee year and presented its national awards. This included the Pearcey Medal awarded to Aidan and David Tudehope, co-founders of Macquarie Technology Group and Pearcey Fame inductees, Richard White, Founder and CEO of Wisetech Global, and Professor Jean Armstrong, engineer, inventor, teacher and researcher. The Pearcey National Entrepreneur Award recipient was Didier Elzinga, Founder and CEO of CultureAmp.
25 years ago, the Foundation launched on its mission to celebrate, support and encourage Australians who engage in, and excel at, the
invention, development and use of information, communication and computing technologies (ICT) for the betterment of our society.
Building on the work of Dr Trevor Pearcey and his invention of the first digital computer in Australia, which put us at the global forefront
of the digital age, we have recognised outstanding Australians:
161 Pearcey Entrepreneur Awards
62 Pearcey Hall of Famers
24 Pearcey Medals
Peer-selection is the hallmark of the Pearcey awards. Selected by past award recipients, this is the community recognising the significant achievements of its peers.
The 2023 Victorian Pearcey Entrepreneur Award presented to Didier Elzinga, founder and CEO of Culture Amp. Award was presented at a special dinner in Melbourne, by the Honourable Ben Carroll MP, Minister for Industry & Innovation, State Government of Victoria. A flagship event of the Victorian Digital Innovation Festival and of the Melbourne Connect Innovation Week
In 1955, the first digital computer arrived in Australia in Melbourne, called CSIRAC. It is the world's oldest surviving first-generation
electronic computer and the first computer to produce digital music.
Our guest was the former Head of the Dept of Computer Science at the Uni of Melbourne and explains how CSIRAC led to the rapid adoption of
computing at the university and fostered the discipline.
Guest: Dr Peter Thorne, former Head of the Department of Computer Science, University of Melbourne, Chair, Heritage
Committee, The Pearcey Foundation.
Broadcast 3 Sep 2023
Australia 4.0 is a Pearcey Foundation thought leadership initiative to identify and discuss the challenges and opportunities of a digital and data enabled transformation of the electricity sector to Australia Net Zero.
John de Margheriti awarded the 2022 Pearcey Medal; Len Rust and Bevan Slattery inducted into the Pearcey Hall of Fame; Dr Mark Englund receives National Entrepreneur Award
The Pearcey Foundation today announced Andrew Davies, founder and CEO of Taz Drone Solutions, as the recipient of the 2022 Tasmanian Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
The Pearcey Foundation today announced co-founder and CEO of Fleet Space Technologies, Flavia Tata Nardini, as the recipient of the 2022 South Australian Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
The Pearcey Foundation today announced founder and CEO of FiberSense, Dr Mark Englund, as the recipient of the 2022 NSW Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
The Pearcey Foundation today announced Rebecca McDonald, founder and CEO of Library for All, and Sarah-Jane Peterschlingmann, managing director and owner of ATech, as joint recipients of the 2022 Queensland ICT Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
The Pearcey Foundation today announced Ben Bromhead and Adam Zegelin (the technical inspiration behind Instaclustr) as this year’s recipients of the ACT Chief Minister’s Pearcey Entrepreneur Award.
The Pearcey Foundation today announced Jason Lohrey, founder and CEO of Arcitecta, as the recipient of the 2022 Pearcey Victorian Entrepreneur Award. The award was presented at an event in Melbourne that also featured the 2022 Pearcey Oration, which was given by The Honourable Ed Husic MP, Federal Minister for Industry and Science.
The Pearcey Foundation has announced that this year’s Pearcey Oration will be given by The Honourable Ed Husic MP, Federal Minister for
Industry and Science. The Oration will feature at a dinner in Melbourne on Wednesday, 21 September 2022 held with the support of Digital
Innovation Futures Victoria, an initiative of the State Government of Victoria. The Pearcey Foundation Victorian
Entrepreneur of the Year will also be presented at the event.
The Pearcey Foundation today announced Mahmood Hussein, founder and CEO of Global Drone Solutions, as the recipient of the 2022 Western Australian Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year Award. The award was presented as part of the 31st annual WAITTA INCITE Awards, Western Australia’s longest running Tech Awards program.
Congratulations to Wayne Gerard on his appointment as Queensland's new Chief Entrepreneur. Wayne is passionate about innovation, start-ups, and Queensland as a place to live, work and play. So it's no surprise that his appointment recognises his outstanding leadership over many years… In fact, it is six years since he was voted by his peers as Queensland's 2015 Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year.
Given the COVID travel restrictions placed on all of us, Chair Wayne Fitzsimmons and Deputy Chair Kelly Hutchinson managed to catch up in person with Medallist Jenny Seberry and Hall of Famer Owen Hill by travelling to NSW after Victoria's border restrictions were lifted in early December 2020. We managed to meet Jenny in Wollongong at that time and succeeded in meeting up with Owen on 30 January 2021 in Maitland.
The Pearcey Foundation had a busy year in 2020. Highlights include our National and State Awards, the Pearcey Oration and our monthly "Conversations" webinars on many areas important to Australia's ICT policy, heritage, and innovations.
Sydney Uni's Nano Centre in Department of Physics was awarded the 2020 Eureka Prize for Outstanding Science in protecting Australia. By harnessing the delicate interaction between light and sound, Professor Ben Eggleton and his team have produced a microchip that provides a unique advantage for defence platforms.
Dr Jenine Beekhuyzen, creator of the Tech Girls Are Superheroes campaign, was awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in the Queens Birthday Honours List for "service to information technology, and to women".
Three outstanding members of the Pearcey family were recognised in the 2020 Australia Day Honours lists Members (AM) General Division, Order of Australia - Geoff Huston (Pearcey 2015 Hall of Fame), John O'Callaghan (2005 Pearcey Medal), and Peter Thorne (Member Pearcey National Executive)
The 2019 national awards were held in the evening of 14th November at the University of Melbourne. Presentations included the Pearcey
Medal awarded to Prof David Abramson, the Pearcey Hall of Fame awarded to Sonja Bernhardt and Bob Beaumont, and the Pearcey Entrepreneur of
the Year awarded to Craig McDonald from Victoria.
Rod Tucker speaking at the inauguration of the Tucker Lab at Melbourne University
24 July 2017 - Steve Baxter set to be the next Queensland's chief entrepreneur (SmartCompany
article)
4 July 2017 - US Award for Bill Caelli AO. Bill Caeli AO was awarded the Founders' Medal by the Colloquium for
Information Systems Security Education (CISSE). (ACS
article)
Press Release - Kate Lundy, Helen Meredith, Dr Mike Miller and Collis and Cyan Ta'eed recognised at the National Pearcey Foundation
Awards
Sydney, Australia - 2 November 2017 - The Pearcey Foundation today announced its National Entrepreneur of the Year, Hall of
Fame inductees and Pearcey Medal winner. The winners were presented as part of the ACS
National Digital Disruptor Awards
and Reimagination event held in Sydney on Thursday, 2 November 2017.
Sandy Plunkett shares her perspective on recent industry events and calls out how money, fame, power and hubris inevitably brings with it bad behaviour
In 2016, the Pearcey Foundation had many events and recognised a wide variety of ICT entrepreneurs and industry contributors, including the 2016 Pearcey National Awards, 2016 Pearcey State Awards, the 2016 Pearcey Oration, and an extensive Australia 3.0 program.
1 December 2016 - StartupAUS releases its CrossRoads Report 2016(PDF, 6.6 MB) on the Australian startup ecosystems. Contains good analysis and recommendations, though perhaps could have more broadly considered industry initiatives from organisations like Pearcey, AIIA or ACS and also successes in our public markets where 180+ tech companies have listed in the last 3 years.
Pearcey was proud to host a series of events as part of the Digital Innovation Festival Victoria www.vic.gov.au/digitalinnovation. These events (2-6 September 2016) included a Pearcey Institute breakfast, Melbourne's Digital Changemakers panel and the 2016 Pearcey Oration.
Two past National Pearcey Awardees were recognised in the 2016 Australia Day Honours lists. These were Emeritus Prof. Mary O'Kane, 2014 Pearcey Medal winner and Dr Craig Mudge, 2012 Pearcey Hall of Fame.
24 September 2015 - Dr Elaine Saunders (2011 Vic Pearcey Award) wins one of the Australian Financial Review and Westpac 100 Women of Influence Awards for 2015. She is recognised in the Innovation category for her contribution to hearing aid development, research and education (media release).
What a breath of fresh air to think that the government of the day 'gets it'!
How long have we all waited to have a leadership team who actually can connect with the tech educated populace of Australia? Many of us
have been guilty of 'telling the government what they ought to do'.
.jpg)
