Special Events

Special ICT occasions that include celebrations, retrospectives, and important industry discussions.


The Pearcey Foundation is proud to organise and participate in special events to help elevate and promote the Australian ICT industry.

We work closely with leading industry associations, businesses, government agencies and academic institutions to stimulate opportunities and discuss issues that are important to ICT in Australia.

Events include significant ICT milestones, anniversaries and contemporary discussions. These events are important to help raise the ICT profile of the past, so that we can understand the present and be able to prepare for the future. 


Pearcey Special Events on YouTube

Special Events

Mar 30, 2024

VIP Launch - Australia 4.0 Communiqué

The Honourable Ed Husic MP, Minister for Industry and Science will launch the Australia 4.0 Communiqué which outlines five pilot projects to accelerate the progress towards the ultimate goal of a net-zero energy system for Australia.

Australia 4.0 is an initiative of the Pearcey Foundation to help our nation move towards a net zero energy system by enabling the innovative contributions of the ICT sector in collaboration with the energy sector. Over 100 discrete business and regulatory challenges  identified, were synthesised into to 10 key challenges with three overarching themes.

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Oct 9, 2023

National Awards Gala

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.

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Oct 9, 2023

Australia 4.0 Summit

A half-day gathering to review the findings from our seven national discussions. The Australia 4.0 discussion series and summit are designed to open the door to substantial innovation and business opportunities throughout the Australian ICT sector.

These activities explore the profound changes required of the Australian electricity system to realise a Net Zero Australia. This outcome demands significant collaboration between the energy and ICT sectors.

The Australia 4.0 Summit is intended to include diverse perspectives, across key stakeholders, exploring the opportunities for the Australian ICT sector to contribute to the transition to Net Zero of the Australian electricity system.

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Oct 4, 2023

Ada Lovelace Day 2023

Ada Lovelace Day honours all the innovative women in STEM, commemorating their ingenuity that has changed the course of history.

Proudly sponsored by the Pearcey Foundation.

The Monash University Faculty of IT is exploring the role of Australian women in early digital computing – and the opportunities in the future. Join us for insightful speeches, a thought-provoking panel discussion and networking over a light lunch in our celebration ‘Australian women in IT yesterday, today and tomorrow’ which will be opened by Professor Ann Nicholson, the first female Dean of our faculty. It will then venture into the life of Ada Lovelace and how women can carry on her legacy of impact today and tomorrow.

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Jun 27, 2023

Australia 4.0 Session # 6 - Critical Digital Technologies

Join us for the 6th and final session in this series of national discussions with leading experts to explore the challenges and opportunities for the ICT sector in the transformation of our electricity system to Australia Net Zero.

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Jun 27, 2023

Australia 4.0 Session # 5 - Consumer Grid

Join us for the 5th in this series of national discussions with leading experts to explore the challenges and opportunities for the ICT sector in the transformation of our electricity system to Australia Net Zero.

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Jun 27, 2023

Australia 4.0 Session # 4 - Energy Resilience

Join us for the 4th in this series of national discussions with leading experts to explore the challenges and opportunities for the ICT sector in the transformation of our electricity system to Australia Net Zero.

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Jun 27, 2023

Australia 4.0 Session # 3 - Network Intelligence

Join us for the 3rd in this series of national discussions with leading experts to explore the challenges and opportunities for the ICT sector in the transformation of our electricity system to Australia Net Zero.

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Jun 26, 2023

Australia 4.0 Session # 2 - Future Grid

Join us for the 2nd in this series of national discussions with leading experts to explore the challenges and opportunities for the ICT sector in the transformation of our electricity system to Australia Net Zero.

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Jun 20, 2023

Australia 4.0 Session #1

Join us for the first in this series of national discussions with leading experts to explore the challenges and opportunities for the ICT sector in the transformation of our electricity system to Australia Net Zero

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Jun 16, 2023

Australia 4.0 - path to Net Zero

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.

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Jun 3, 2022

Opening of Graeme Philipson Library

On June 3, 2022, the Graeme Philipson History of Computing Library was launched. The keynote was given by Dr Peter Thorne AM, Chair of the Heritage Committee project run by the Pearcey Foundation.

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Feb 23, 2022

2022 Riding the Digital Wave Summit

A national landmark event celebrating the 70th anniversary of the first computer conference held in Australia! The Riding the Digital Wave Summit takes us back to the birth of computer science as a discipline and profession in its own right, looking at some of the early developments and where they have led us today. How has digital technology influenced our every day life and where will it take us in the future?

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Aug 25, 2021

2021 The Future of Work Roundtable

The DIF2021 Roundtable covered an in-depth dialogue around the Future of Work, starting with the recently published report from Swinburne University of Technology’s Centre for the New Workforce "National Survey Report: Peak Human Workplace, Innovation in the unprecedented era".

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Nov 14, 2019

2019 CSIRAC 70th Anniversary

Celebrating the 70th Anniversary of CSIRAC: Australia's first stored program digital computer and the world's fourth. Presentations by eminent speakers honour Dr Trevor Pearcey's legacy and catch a glimpse of what the future holds for Australian innovation, entrepreneurship, and technology in society.

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Mar 5, 2019

2019 Dr Trevor Pearcey Centenary

This special event held at the Sydney Nanoscience Hub commemorated Dr Trevor Pearcey and his work. The program featured eminent speakers and an audience of over 200 scientific, academic and industry leaders. Topics included historical computing, astronomy, radio physics, nanoscience and quantum computing.

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Sep 7, 2018

2018 Ballarat Heritage Event

The Pearcey Foundation held a special Heritage Event on Friday 7th September 2018 at Federation University in Ballarat. The event ran from 3pm - 5:30pm and was entitled Celebrating the Past; Informing the Present; Inspiring the Future.

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Aug 28, 2018

2018 Pearcey Day Heritage Panel

At the 2018 Pearcey Day, the Heritage session brought together representatives of major organisations, and individuals, concerned with preservation of our ICT heritage. The topic was: Current ICT Heritage Collections - Where they are, what they are and plans for the future?

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Jun 14, 2016

2016 - 60 Years of Computing in Victoria

14 June is an important date in Australian computing history and in particular for the Pearcey Foundation. It's the date CSIRAC was switched on at The University of Melbourne and began the first university computing facility in Australia.

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Jan 23, 2012

2012 CSIRO ICT Executives visit CSIRAC

The new world of computer science met the old on 23rd January 2012 when senior executives from CSIRO's ICT Centre paid a visit to CSIRAC - Australia's first electronic digital computer.

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Nov 18, 2009

2009 Pearcey Celebration of CSIRAC 60th Anniversary

The 60th Anniversary Celebration of CSIRAC was wheld at the Melbourne Museum, Nicholson St., Carlton, Victoria, Australia on Wednesday 18th November 2009.

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Sep 1, 2003

2003 Pearcey to the PC - History Conference

On 1st September 2003, the Pearcey Foundation held a Conference to celebrate 50 years of computing. The afternoon event drew a wide selection of speakers that traced the significant events of computing in Australia, from the first digital computer built by Dr Trevor Pearcey to the modern computing platforms.

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