- Seven finalists announced across the Young Innovators and Government Innovation categories
- Winners to be announced at the WAIOTY awards ceremony on 2 November 2026
- This year marks 20 years of the State celebrating innovators
- Cook Labor Government committed to championing Western Australian innovation and help grow new ideas and opportunities
Seven outstanding innovators have been named as finalists in the final two categories of the 2026 Western Australia's Innovators of the Year Awards.
A total of 23 applications were received across the Young Innovators and Government Innovation categories, with seven finalists selected.
The finalists join 23 Western Australian businesses announced across the program's other six categories in August.
Launched in 2006, the awards have celebrated Western Australia's innovative and entrepreneurial spirit for 20 years, recognising local businesses, government entities and young people who have developed outstanding products, technologies and services.
The Young Innovators Award recognises the creativity and entrepreneurial potential of the State's next generation of innovators. Last year was the inaugural year for the Young Innovators Award category.
The winner or winning team will receive a $1,000 cash prize, participate in a masterclass delivered by the Young Entrepreneurs Academy and take part in West Tech Fest events and activities.
The Government Innovation Award recognises public sector teams using innovative approaches to improve services and deliver better outcomes for the community.
The winning team will receive up to five places in the Australian Innovation Management Institute's Certified Innovation Catalyst Program.
The awards are supported through the WA Government's $40 million New Industries and Innovation Fund, which is helping develop and accelerate innovative technologies and increase their participation in global value chains.
Administered by the Department of Energy and Economic Diversification, the Fund is the State Government's primary vehicle for delivering the WA Innovation Strategy: The place to innovate and is a key enabler of Diversify WA.
Winners across all eight categories will be announced at the 2026 WA Innovators of the Year Awards ceremony on 2 November 2026.
For more information and the full list of finalists, visit New Industries and Innovation Fund: WA Innovators of the Year .
As stated by Science Minister Stephen Dawson:
"These finalists demonstrate that innovative thinking is thriving across Western Australia - from our emerging young entrepreneurs to teams delivering better outcomes through government.
"The Cook Labor Government is proud to provide opportunities that help talented Western Australians develop their ideas, strengthen their skills and raise the profile of their work.
"Through our $40 million New Industries and Innovation Fund, we are supporting the people and ideas that will diversify our economy and help create the jobs and industries of the future."
Full list of WA Government Innovation and Young Innovators finalists
Finalist |
Project |
Government Innovation Award sponsored by Australian Innovation Management Institute (AIMI) |
|
South Metropolitan Health Service (SMHS) HealthReady Pipeline |
SMHS HealthReady Pipeline is an end-to-end health innovation development and validation pipeline designed to help external start-ups, researchers, and innovators produce, test, and refine medical innovations within Western Australia's public health system. Its purpose is to ensure promising health innovations become "health ready" - clinically relevant, patient-centred, and capable of being implemented in real-world WA health service environments. |
Transforming Western Australian underutilised sandalwood seeds into next-generation therapeutic products through advanced chemistry and translational science - ChemCentre |
This project transforms Australian sandalwood seeds from a low-value agricultural by-product into scientifically validated therapeutic ingredients and commercial products. Unlike conventional cosmetic product development, the innovation creates an end-to-end pipeline for discovery, validation, formulation and regulatory readiness, enabling high-value therapeutic products while creating a new circular economy opportunity for Western Australia's sandalwood industry. |
WA Vegetation Extent (WAVE) Pilot - Landgate |
The WA Vegetation Extent (WAVE) Pilot moves vegetation mapping beyond simple pixel-by-pixel search for greenness. The team developed a workflow that analyses the context, texture and structure of entire landscapes. By recognising spatial patterns, the model can distinguish sparse native vegetation from disturbed surfaces and naturally unvegetated areas where conventional methods often struggle. |
Young Innovators Award sponsored by Young Entrepreneurs Academy of Western Australia (YEA) |
|
Byouk - Perth Modern School |
Byouk is an online platform that helps aspiring authors write and develop their stories for free, with the opportunity to be physically published for just $5 through a biannual competition selecting the top five entries. Byouk is an affordable and simple way to publish books. With no hidden fees, everything is easy to use. Additionally, Byouk helps develop submissions through intricate advice and feedback. This support allows writers from everywhere to share their story. Byouk receive submissions from across the world from writers of all ages and levels. In our last competition, Byouk received a memoir from an Afghan girl who was forced to flee to Iran, where she faces war once again. Byouk were able to help her develop and soon share her story. These are the stories that need to be heard. |
Agni Renewables - Comet Bay College/GoSH |
Recycling aluminium within electronic devices is often underutilised due to the complexity of separating it from mixed alloys, plastics, adhesives and other components. Agni Renewables proposes a circular aluminium recovery process that targets this gap. The key innovation is not the use of gallium alone, but its integration into a closed-loop process where gallium-assisted aluminium processing is combined with gallium recovery, allowing the processing material to be reused rather than discarded. Unlike conventional approaches, Agni Renewables aims to improve recovery of aluminium-containing resources. |
Project Ecoframe - Perth Modern School |
Project Ecoframe uses AI-powered robots to monitor crops, automate irrigation and harvesting, and improve resource efficiency within a vertical farming system. Project Ecoframe aims to increase sustainable food production, reduce environmental impacts, and improve resource efficiency, particularly in densely populated regions with limited agricultural land, while supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as SDGs 2, 6 and 7. Based on the farm's design, it is projected to reduce water consumption while maintaining and standardising crop health. |
Thermoregulating Beehive Attachment - Hale School |
Bees face difficulty enduring harsh temperatures that WA's summers often present. This design is a retrofit attachment that sits on top of a standard hive box and actively drives cooled air downward using a fan and gear assembly powered by a DC motor. The air is cooled evaporatively, pulled through a bank of acrylic panels interleaved with air-conditioner filters soaked in water, which keeps the system passive, low-power, and simple enough for beekeepers to run unattended. The electronics of the device are interfaced with an Arduino Nano microcontroller to control output (running of the cooling system) based on the input from the temperature sensors. |
