The UK Department for International Trade (DIT) has recognised the Australian tech companies that it anticipates are ready to “go global”.
The inaugural UK Tech Rocketship Awards were open to established Australasian scale-ups across nine categories.
The winners were:
- Economy and Digital Security: QuintessenceLabs
- Tech for an Ageing Society: PainChek
- The AI and Data Revolution: Faethm
- The Future of Mobility: Myriota
- Clean Growth: carbonTRACK
- Feeding the Nation: Yume
- Connected Consumers and Creativity: Desygner
- GREAT Tech for Change Award: Mentorloop
- Special Judges Award: Blamey and Saunders Hearing
Each winning company will now travel to the UK in 2019 for meetings, networking events and workshops.
All nine of the winners were Australian companies.
“It is fantastic to see so many innovative Australian and New Zealand companies delivering leading edge technologies,” said British Consul General and Director General, Department for International Trade (DIT), Australia and New Zealand.
“I’d like to congratulate the nine winners – a stand-out cohort – on being selected.
“This is an invaluable opportunity to gain access to the fifth largest economy in the world and a thriving tech community and we are excited to welcome them to the UK in the New Year.”
CEO of the Australian British Chamber of Commerce, David McCredie, spoke about how the awards can further Australia and the UK’s technology relationship.
“Australia and the UK already enjoy a close alliance in the sharing of ideas and best practices in technology. We are confident that that the programme will be a great opportunity on both the delegates and hosts’ sides to explore progressing these technologies internationally,” he said.
Taking out the Tech for an Ageing Society award was medical company PainChek, which utilises facial recognition technology to automatically detect pain among for people with dementia.
PainChek CEO said the prize will help the company move into overseas markets.
“The Rocketship Award is a significant recognition of the PainChek technology, the successful market introduction in Australia and the large overseas market potential,” he said.
“The award will provide PainChek with financial support as well as the key contacts and processes to fast track our UK and European commercialisation in early 2019.”
Energy monitoring company and winner of the Clean Growth award carbonTRACK also welcomed the recognition.
“The cost of energy and the wastage associated with traditional methods of production are a big challenge in the UK, as they are in the rest of the world,” said company Co-Founder and CTO, Shavaj Kallamkote.
“CarbonTRACK technology can bridge the gap between energy supply and demand and therefore help reduce costs and eliminate wastage. We believe that UK and Europe are ready to embrace this change.”
