State Awards

The Pearcey State Entrepreneur Awards are aimed at encouraging and rewarding fresh and innovative talent in the ICT profession.


The Pearcey State Entrepreneur Awards recognise outstanding achievers in ICT within each Australian State and Territory who have:

  • Taken a Risk
  • Made a Difference
  • Are an Inspiration

The Pearcey Foundation embraces all aspects of the ICT industry from traditional Information Science to the latest technological advances in social networking, multimedia, games, Internet technologies and artificial intelligence - the very broadest spectrum of the Australian innovative sector.

Nominations are welcome at any time.

The awardees are selected by state-based judging committees.

Each year, one of the awardees is selected for the Pearcey National Entrepreneur Award.     

Recent State Awards

Nov 19, 2024

2024 Qld Award

The Queensland Pearcey Entrepreneur for 2024 was presented to Andrew Bate, co-founder and CEO of Swarm Farm Robotics. The presentation was part of the Pearcey Foundation's National Event Gala Dinner on Tuesday 19th November 2024 in Brisbane.

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Nov 6, 2024

2024 NSW Award

At a special Pearcey Foundation awards night in Sydney on Thursday 7 November 2024, Prof Michael J. Biercuk PhD, CEO and founder of Q-CTRL, was announced as the recipient of the 2024 NSW Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year Award.  Professor Biercuk is a global science and technology innovator building the greenfield quantum technology industry.

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Sep 24, 2024

2024 ACT Award

The founders of CEA Technologies, Ian Croser and David Gaul, were the recipients of the 2024 ACT Chief Minister’s Pearcey Award. The award was presented at a special Pearcey event in Canberra on the 25th of September 2024 by the ACT Chief Minister, Andrew Barr.

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Sep 6, 2024

2024 Victorian Pearcey Entrepreneur Award

The 2024 Victorian Pearcey Entrepreneur Award presented to Chris Piastri, co-founder and CTO of HP Tuners. Award was presented at a special dinner in Melbourne, by Professor Eduard Hovy, Executive Director of Melbourne Connect at the University of Melbourne. This was the flagship event of the Melbourne Connect Innovation Week.

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Jul 19, 2024

2024 WA Award

Peter van der Made, founder and CTO of Brainchip Inc was announced as the 2024 WA Pearcey Entrepreneur Awardee at the 33rd WAITTA Incite Awards in Perth on 19th July 2024. 

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Nov 10, 2023

2023 Tasmania Award

The 2023 Tasmanian Pearcey State Entrepreneurship Award was presented to Damian Ivereigh, founder and Chief Network Architect of Tasmania-based ISP Launtel. The presentation was made by Tasmanian Minister for Small Business and Science and Technology, the Hon Madeleine Ogilvie at the TasICT Conference Gala Dinner tonight at the C3 Convention Centre in Hobart on the evening of Friday 10th November.

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Oct 18, 2023

2023 Queensland Pearcey ICT Entrepreneur Award Recognises Yas Grigaliunas

Brisbane, Australia – 18 October 2023 – The Pearcey Foundation today announced Yas Grigaliunas, founder and chief evangelist of Circonomy, as the recipient of the 2023 Queensland ICT Entrepreneur of the Year Award. The Pearcey Foundation also gave a highly commended award to Geoff Augutis.

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Oct 17, 2023

2023 ACT Pearcey Award

At a special Pearcey Foundation roundtable event, Marcus Dawe was awarded the ACT Chief Minister’s Pearcey Entrepreneur Award by the ACT Chief Minister, Andrew Barr. Marcus is CEO of MCi Carbon, a clean energy scale-up that started in Canberra 17 years ago. Marcus has mentored many rising entrepreneurs over last 10 years. This year, the Pearcey Foundation is pleased to announce him as the 2023 ACT Chief Minister’s Pearcey Entrepreneur for his involvement in MCi Carbon.

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Oct 4, 2023

2023 NSW Award

The 2023 Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year award for NSW was presented to Emma Weston, co-founder and CEO of AgriDigital, on 4 October at ASX. The award was presented by Wayne Fitzsimmons, OAM. Under Emma's leadership, AgriDigital has become a pioneering force in digitalising global agricultural supply chains, connecting farmers directly to consumers.

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Sep 30, 2023

2023 VIC Pearcey Award

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

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Aug 11, 2023

2023 WA Award

The 2023 WA Pearcey Entrepreneur Award was presented to Pia Turcinov AM, Director FundWA, at the 32nd WAITTA Incite Awards, Westin Perth, Friday 11 August 2023.

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Nov 11, 2022

2022 Tas Award

The Tasmanian Pearcey Entrepreneur for 2022 was presented to Andrew Davies, founder and CEO of Taz Drone Solutions, by Hon Madeleine Ogilvie MP, Minister for Science and Technology. The presentation was part of the Pearcey Foundation's National Event at the TasICT Conference Gala Dinner on the evening of Friday November 11th at the C3 Convention Center in Hobart.

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