2012 In Review
Report on Australia 3.0 Forum in 2012
As part of the 2012 iAwards program, the three organisations responsible for the 2012 iAwards (Pearcey, AIIA and ACS) also organised a debate on national productivity and how it might be improved through innovative applications of ICT. The debate was focused on four vertical areas:
- Mining & Resources
- Manufacturing
- Agriculture
- Services
The debate took the form of an on-line discussion using a social media tool for enterprises known as Yammer (moderated by Hub Melbourne) that commenced on the 1st July and continued until the day of the event Thursday, the 9th of August. On the Thursday 110 ICT professionals attended a five hour discussion facilitated by Roger Perry (CEO, Bevington Group) all of whom had participated in the five week of on-line discussions. A full report on what actually was discussed and what were the outcomes can be read in the Australia 3.0 Forum Report.
"The Health of Australian Science"
Professor Ian Chubb AC, Chief Scientist of Australia, delivered this paper at "Lunch at 401" (Collins Street) on Thursday 30th August 2012. Dr Chubb launched the "Science in my world" education program for Primary Schools which the Pearcey Foundation keenly supports. The event was organised by the Royal Society of Victoria.
Summary of 2012 National Awards
In 2012, the Pearcey Foundation National Awards were held on Thursday 9th August at Crown Melbourne. The awards were part of the 2012 iAwards event a collaboration between the Pearcey Foundation, the Australian Computer Society (ACS) and the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), Australia's ICT industry, premier awards event.
Lifetime Awards
- 2012 National Medal - was presented to Dr Mal Bryce from Western Australia
- 2012 Hall of Fame - in addition to Dr Mal Bryce was Dr Craig Mudge from South Australia and Dr Greg Clark from New South Wales.
- 2012 Benson Award - was presented to Bevan Slattery from Queensland
2012 State Entrepreneurs Awards
- 2012 NSW Award took place on Wednesday 17 October 2012 at the NSW Parliament Theatre 5.00pm-7.30pm with special guest the Deputy Premier, the Hon Andrew Stoner. This year there were joint winners, with the presentation being made to Jo Burston, founder of "new age" professional services firm Job Capital, as well as Mitch Harper and Eddie Machaalani, founders of e-commerce platform company BigCommerce.
- 2012 ACT Award took place on Thursday evening 15 November the 2012 ACT Pearcey Entrepreneur of the year was awarded to Dr Vikram Sharma and special mention was made of runner-up Joshua Luono, a 16 year old high school student. The awards were presented as part of the annual ACS/Pearcey Awards black tie dinner held at The Boat House by the Lake in Canberra
- 2012 Qld Award was held on Tuesday 3 July at the Sebel & Citigate, King George Square,Brisbane. The Hon. Ros Bates MP, Member for Mudgeeraba, Minister for Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts presented the 2012 Queensland Pearcey Entrepreneur Award to Neil Glentworth, a young entrepreneur with his own Information management firm in Brisbane.
- 2012 Vic Award was jointly with ACS, AIIA and Pearcey joined forces to hold the 2012 Vic iAwards event on the 4 July. The event was held at Telstra's Theatrette in Melbourne. The Hon Louise Asher MP, Member for Brighton, the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party and the Minister for Innovation, Services and Small Business and the Minister for Tourism and Major Events presented the 2012 Victorian Pearcey Entrepreneur Award to Oliver Roydhouse, Founder and CEO of Inlink, a digital-out-of-home advertising technology company.
- 2012 Tas Award was hosted by ACS Tasmania, the Premier and Patron of ACS Tasmania, The Hon Lara Giddings MP presented the 2012 Tasmanian iAwards and the Minister for Innovation, The Hon David O'Byrne MP presented the 2012 Tasmanian Pearcey Entrepreneur Award to Jared Hill, Founder and CEO of 'insight4' on the 12th July, at a gala dinner held at the Henry Jones Art Hotel, Hobart.
- SA: no event this year
- WA: already held as part of WAITTA program
- NT: no event this year, but anyone interested please call ACS NT Branch
AIRG Winter Conference, 20-21 August Melbourne
The meeting is on the topic of Innovation and Technology in Australasian SMEs, and is co-sponsored by ATSE with support from AusBiotech and the Pearcey Foundation.
This follows on from previous AIRG National Meetings on this important topic. The meeting will examine how innovation and technology is being managed in small to medium enterprises (SMEs) across Australasia. The meeting will seek to contrast how this is done in different high technology SME sectors: IT, devices and biotechnology. Discussion will contrast recognised SME best practices with those in place in larger industrial settings and lead to a sharing of any crossover opportunities and learnings presented by the meeting.
Further information and registration can be seen at http://www.airg.org.au/. Please note there is Early Bird registration until Friday 13 July and Pearcey Foundation members will receive the same rate as AIRG Members.
At the Conference Dinner on Monday 20 August, the second AIRG Medal for Australasian SME Technological Innovation will be awarded. Information on the Awards can be seen on the AIRG website.
Newsletter June 2012
[19 June 2012] - For Friends of Pearcey please read our June 2012 Newsletter for information on 2012 Pearcey Medal nominations; State and National Award events; Australia 3.0 Forum and MasterClass.
Brand Hoff AM, 2011 Pearcey Medallist honoured in Queens Birthday's Honour Lists
[11 June 2012] - Brand Hoff, 2011 winner of the Pearcey Medal, was recognised as a Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday Honours announced today. Brand was recognised for his 'services to the Information and Communications Technology sector'. The Pearcey Foundation acknowldges and congratulates Brand and his family for this justly deserved recognition.
CSIRO ICT Executives reconnect with CSIRAC - Australia's first electronic digital computer
Photo:
Dr Peter Thorne explaining the finer points of CSIRAC to members of CSIRO's ICT Centre Executive team
[23 Jan 2012] The new world of computer science met the old in late January when senior executives from CSIRO's ICT Centre paid a visit to CSIRAC. "I first saw CSIRAC when I was in Melbourne on holiday recently," said ICT Centre Director Dr Ian Oppermann. "I was truly inspired by its complexity and power and hoped it would similarly move my colleagues so I wrote an excursion to the museum into our meeting schedule."
Dr Peter Thorne explaining the finer points of CSIRAC to members of CSIRO's ICT Centre Executive team
Dr Peter Thorne (who worked on CSIRAC when an undergraduate and decades later, while Head of Computer Science at the University of
Melbourne, initiated and led the project to document the history of the computer and ensure its place in our nation's history) gave the
visitors a guided tour of the computer. He reminded the visitors that the CSIR MK1/CSIRAC is the only intact survivor of the machines
which launched the information age. Dr Thorne is also a member of the National Committee of the Pearcey Foundation named in honour of Dr
Trevor Pearcey who led the team at CSIRO that designed and built CSIRAC in 1949.
Museum Victoria CEO Dr Patrick Greene dropped by and explained his connection with early computer history; he once lived in a property originally owned by Charles Babbage and he was later involved in the creation of the replica of the first stored program machine - the Manchester Baby.
