A bold new series of products and services from the next generation of innovators has been unveiled in the most impressive field of finalists the judges have ever seen, at this year’s Curtinnovation Awards.
A deployable sensor system capable of flying under the radar to track aircraft and satellites, a chatbot designed to support mental health in young people and a leading national education platform that is improving access to school content, are among the 19 finalists announced today.
Curtin University Commercialisation Director Rohan McDougall congratulated the finalists on transforming innovative research into real-world solutions.
“The judging panel and selection committee, made up of industry professionals, has unanimously agreed this year’s pool of applicants is among the highest quality we have seen in the award’s 16-year history,” Mr McDougall said.
“It’s clear from the outstanding field of finalists that WA’s innovation-driven ecosystem is growing from strength to strength.
“These awards recognise and celebrate individuals and teams developing new innovations through research, study or work at Curtin University that has the potential to significantly benefit society.”
Among the finalists is a team of researchers from Curtin University’s Malaysian Campus that has developed an AI-driven model to predict the quality of a pineapple that doesn’t damage the fruit.
With Malaysia producing on average 400,000 to 600,000 tonne of pineapples yearly, this new innovation aims to benefit the local pineapple market by helping producers identify higher quality varieties whilst reducing product waste.
Mr McDougall said the finalists would receive wider recognition of their work and be considered for further support towards commercialisation of their innovations.
The winners, which will be announced at a gala ceremony on Friday, October 20, will share a prize pool valued at $100,000 and be given the opportunity to promote their work to an audience of high-profile investment, business and government representatives.
For more information about the Curtinnovation Awards, visit .
The finalists in this year’s Curtinnovation Awards are:
- A new AI-driven model to predict pineapple quality based on the fruit’s skin colour
- Tempo: a two-sided marketplace for health providers and health professionals working the gig economy to fill shifts and contracts.
- A deployable space domain awareness sensor system
- SpeedSig: a new way to understand how athletes run
- An electrolyzer to produce green hydrogen from untreated-water
- MYLO; a new mental health chatbot to support mental health of young Australians and beyond
- A natural dye extract from the iconic southwest Western Australian Marri gum
- Elucidate Education: a not-for-profit education platform providing students with free access to school content they need to succeed.
- Curtin ANI Research: an automated self-service market research solution for SMEs
- Hydrobe®:A scalable carbon elimination process for production of Bio-hydrogen and high value products
- A new treatment for Human African Trypanosomiasis (Sleeping Sickness)
- The XIoT Health Tag; a new livestock health & wellbeing monitoring device called.
- A decontamination process to remove toxic elements from mining-influenced water
- Democratic Climate Bonds: a novel financial instrument that combines climate bonds and deliberative democracy to facilitate climate action
- A valuation method for Asian options
- MacroMop; a treatment option for cancer patients, that can remove diseased tissue
- A decision support tool for the optimisation of drill and blast designs
- A program to build positive school cultures, called System-Wide Foundation for Improvement.
- A pelletisation technology to decarbonise iron and steel making
