2013 Consensus Awards Celebrate Technology Built to Solve Real-World Problems
Australian and New Zealand innovators recognised for technologies changing the way businesses operate, consumers make decisions and people manage their health
SYDNEY, 2013: An outstanding group of Australian and New Zealand technology innovators has been recognised at the 2013 Consensus Awards, celebrating locally developed solutions demonstrating innovation, practical value and genuine commercial potential.
The 2013 Awards brought together members of the technology, business and investment communities to recognise the people and companies taking difficult problems and finding smarter ways to solve them.
This year's recognised technologies demonstrated just how diverse innovation across Australia and New Zealand had become — spanning financial reporting, business process automation, consumer technology and healthcare.
Among the 2013 Consensus Award winners were IFRS SYSTEM, recognised for its financial reporting software, and SolveXia, recognised for its Business Process Automator.
IFRS SYSTEM Financial Reporting Software tackled an essential but notoriously complex area of business: statutory and regulatory financial reporting.
By automating significant elements of the reporting process, the technology was designed to reduce repetitive manual work, improve accuracy and help finance professionals manage increasingly demanding reporting and compliance requirements.
SolveXia's Business Process Automator addressed another challenge facing modern organisations — how to automate complex business processes without creating equally complex and expensive technology infrastructure.
Its hosted platform enabled organisations to automate and manage processes through flexible, modular technology, offering businesses an alternative to heavily customised systems and labour-intensive manual processes.
The strength of the 2013 field extended beyond the Award winners.
Crowdbuy.info received Highly Commended recognition for technology bringing mobile price comparison into the hands of consumers, demonstrating how rapidly smartphones were changing the relationship between shoppers, information and retailers.
FitEyes Pty Ltd was also Highly Commended for FitEyes Insight, applying technology to the management of glaucoma and demonstrating the enormous potential for digital innovation to play a greater role in personal healthcare.
While the technologies recognised in 2013 operated in very different markets, they shared an important characteristic.
They weren't technology looking for a problem.
They were built around real problems worth solving.
From reducing the burden of financial reporting and automating complicated business processes to giving consumers better information and helping people manage their health, the 2013 recipients demonstrated what happens when technology is developed with a clear purpose.
That philosophy sits at the heart of the Consensus Awards.
Rather than recognising innovation simply because it is new, Consensus independently assesses technologies for the benefits they deliver to users, the innovation behind their development and their potential for further product and market growth.
The 2013 Consensus Awards were endorsed and supported by the Australian Consensus Technology Association, New Zealand Trade & Enterprise, Wholesale Investor and the Northern Sydney Institute, part of TAFE.
The awards continue a tradition of identifying Australian and New Zealand technologies with the potential to build significant businesses, enter new markets and change the industries in which they operate.
For the innovators recognised in 2013, the award celebrates more than the technology they have already built.
It recognises the potential of where that technology might take them next.