Norwood Systems, Fastbrick Robotics and Balconi Telecommunications were among the winners at this year’s WAITTA INCITE awards for the ICT sector.
Norwood Systems, Fastbrick Robotics and Balconi Telecommunications were among the winners at this year’s WAITTA INCITE awards for the ICT sector.
Announced on Friday evening, the award winners also included Yuuwa Capital co-founder Matt Macfarlane, who was honoured as the Pearcey WA entrepreneur of the year.
Yuuwa runs a $40 million venture capital fund that has backed multiple startup businesses in the ICT and life sciences sector, including Curtin University spin-out iCetana, Agworld, Dealised and Filter Squad.
Mr Macfarlane is also a director of the Spacecubed co-working space, a program lead for Curtin Univeristy’s Accelerate program, and a director of the Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre.
The startup of the year award went to Formalytics, which uses computer vision and augmented reality to turn a soccer ball into a ‘smart’ ball.
It enables soccer players with a smartphone to film their kicks and receive feedback on speed, placement and trajectory.
The company is targeting global market opportunities, particularly through the English Premier League competition, and is aiming for a product launch this year.
Private company Balconi Telecommunications won two awards, for most impactful social benefit and most innovative collaborative technology.
The Cockburn Central-based company has been operating for 25 years, initially with a focus on the marine industry, but latterly in the telecommunications and television broadcast industries.
Its Smart Torch Global Live is a handheld two-way video conference system that gives most remote and disadvantaged communities access to medical specialists globally.
Fastbrick Robotics pipped five other finalists to win the award for most disruptive technology.
Based in High Wycombe, the company is seeking to commercialise a robotic bricklaying machine with a design capability of 1,000 bricks per hour, which could revolutionise the global construction industry.
Having used a demonstrator to achieve proof-of-concept, Fastbrick is due to deliver the first truck-mounted commercial prototype this year.
After listing on the ASX in 2015, the company has $9.9 million in cash reserves, which means the development of its commercial prototype is fully funded.
Norwood Systems, which was established in 2011, has also listed on the ASX to fund development of its telecommunications technology.
Its Corona compliance management product was judged the most effective e-business solution in the awards.
Corona is an enterprise-class service that integrates compatible mobile devices with an organisation’s existing telephone network, independent of location.
The benefits include identity control and regulatory compliance management.
The award for most creative media/entertainment technology went to Lateral, whose directors include 40under40 award winner Tommy Shin.
Lateral has a software development partnership with listed company Thred, which has an app that delivers the ability for consumers to unite their messaging, mail, connections, SMS and more, into one simple ‘thred’.
NGIS Australia, CSBP, EnergySafety and the Department of Commerce also won product awards, while Curtin University’s Stefan Prandl won student of the year, and Web Key IT’s Vivienne Conway was named achiever of the year.
