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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-11-17 Daily Xml
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Women in Innovation Awards

The Hon. T.T. NGO (15:23): My question is to the Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation. Can the minister tell the council about the inspiring women recognised at the annual Women in Innovation Awards?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (15:23): I thank the honourable member for his question and for his strong ongoing interest in women who innovate. On 10 November, I had the opportunity to attend and open the second annual Women in Innovation (or Winnovation) award ceremony recognising some of the outstanding South Australian women who are making their mark on industry and research locally and nationally—and globally, for that matter.

The Women in Innovation Awards honour the state's best female innovators as well as those businesses that support innovative women in South Australia. The awards are run by Women in Innovation SA, a dedicated group of volunteers passionate about innovation and technology. The group is well led by the passionate Lisa Kennewell, an ardent supporter and advocate for women in innovation.

I congratulate Lisa and her team for creating such a successful award and the high profile they have developed for the organisation, the awards, and the broader cause. Young women in particular deserve to be aware of the industry and research opportunities that exist in South Australia, and they deserve to be supported to pursue those opportunities and recognised for their achievements. The Winnovation Awards do exactly that.

The awards comprise a diverse group of categories which represent areas of enterprise and innovation that are important to both a resilient economy and a thriving community. That is why the government is committed to supporting opportunities for innovative businesses in the state. It should also be recognised that innovation is not a single event; it is a continuous process. More importantly, innovative thinking is a habit of mind that South Australian enterprises continue to cultivate and maintain.

As I said on the night, it is an exciting time to be involved in innovation in South Australia. The city is thriving, and we know there is a strong connection between a city's vibrancy and its innovative success. Indeed, vibrancy feeds innovation, and it is no coincidence that we are seeing the emergence of new laneway precincts, small bars and growth in the festival and live music scene. It should come as no surprise that as our city's thirst for innovation grows, the nominations for the Winnovation Awards this year were up on last year—and the event continues to gain in prestige.

All the women nominated for the awards are doing work that is driving the transformation of the state's economy through their big thinking and bold action. It is an exciting time for innovators in our state, and the award recipients should be very proud of their outstanding achievements. The seven individual award categories, and one business category, went to:

Nicole Pratt for science. She was recognised for her work developing a detection tool in the field of medicine testing. The rapid signal-detection tool developed can be used across multiple data sets in multiple countries, potentially helping millions of people avoid serious side-effects of some medication.

Emily Rich won for the technology section. Emily developed computer-vision technologies that allow anyone to train cameras to recognise, detect and identify objects, with one current application being the conservation of the orangutan in Borneo.

Karen Nelson-Field was recognised for her pursuits in engineering. Karen has assisted advertisers around the world to better navigate the social web and understand the power of emotionally engaging content built for sharing, assisting advertisers accurately predict the shareability of a video before it is launched.

Simone Kain developed the educational character, George the Farmer, which has been adopted by the Australian Curriculum to teach children about farming practices and food production. She was a deserving recipient of the arts award.

Sam Moyle was recognised for her leading work in maths. Sam created Project Igloo—a STEM-based learning task using apps for secondary students. Students learn the importance of mathematical calculations as part of the design, planning and costing processes and the steps required to build an initial idea into a final igloo.

Amber Cordeaux was the award winner in the open category for her dedication to transforming the struggling community television station, Channel 44, through undertaking significant and innovative restructuring of the station, introducing a live streaming mode and new content which has resulted in increased viewership.

Nayana Parange devised a training model and ultrasound service to help upskill midwives and GPs caring for Aboriginal women in remote locations and was awarded the Regional Rural and Remote Award.

Finally, Karen Brown was recognised with the Innovative Women's Initiative in Business Award for her work developing the successful Women Influencing Agribusiness and Regions strategy. This is an Australian first which aims to raise the profile of agribusiness and the important contributions being made by women.

Again, I congratulate all the nominees and the successful award winners. These women are leading the way in innovation in their respective fields, and I look forward to following their continued success of not only the winners this year, but the winners in years to come.

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