Government awards best of Aussie IT

Nov 23rd, 2004: The government has chosen twenty-one winners from its competition to find the most innovative companies in Australia, which included categories under the banners of business industrial software solutions, communication applications, e-commerce, e-health, e-learning and entertainment.

The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, announced the winners of the 2004 Secrets of Australian IT Innovation Competition, at the third year of the awards, which included 200 applications from all states and territories.

She said: "The 2003 competition winners reported new business in excess of Aus$3.2 million due to their involvement in the competition and their participation in international showcase events.

"I'm keen to ensure that Australia continues as a producer and an early and widespread adopter of the Information Communications Technology (ICT) that are transforming business and enhancing the nation's overall competitiveness."

A panel picked from leading technology practices, the venture capital community, media, market research organisations and major overseas corporations judges the competition.

Innovit Pty Ltd, from NSW, won the first prize in the e-commerce category. A spokesperson for the company explained how pleased the company was about receiving the award.

"We offer a unique solution which involves integrating disparate data management systems across the supply chain for retailers and distributors. We allow data contained in different formats to be readable by all the companies involved in the supply chain.

"Our system also prevents the companies from having to re-key in information. We won the award because nobody else has been able to tailor a solution like this for retailers and distributors since we started seven years ago. This award should now give us the platform to attack the U.S. and U.K. market and be an ambassador for Australian ICT abroad."

Coonan backed up these comments about the competition being a fantastic opportunity for Australia's most innovative ICT companies to showcase their products and ideas to national and international audiences.

The list of winners can be found here.

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