• Semi-finalists for WA Innovator of the Year announced
• Program is in its eleventh year, with a prize pool of $145,000

Technologies to protect online banking, prevent mine truck accidents and harness solar energy through windows are among the innovations named as semi-finalists for this year's WA Innovator of the Year program.

Sixteen companies have been short-listed for the annual awards, which recognise the exceptional local and regional innovators behind the newest products, technologies, processes and services developed in Western Australia.
 
Winners will share in a prize pool of $145,000 to help commercialise their innovations, and the program also links industry and academia through research collaboration.
 
Former winners have gone on to extraordinary achievements, such as Professors Sue Fletcher and Steve Wilton who won the overall award in 2012 for their gene-patch drug treatment for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.
 
Last year, the groundbreaking drug received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, and now the two researchers are working on treatments for nearly 50 more rare diseases.
 
Finalists will be announced next month ahead of the awards ceremony in November.
 
For more information, visit http://www.jtsi.wa.gov.au/wa-ioty

Comments attributed to Acting Innovation and ICT Minister Simone McGurk:

"The McGowan Government is committed to diversifying the State's economy to create new local jobs, and innovation plays an essential role in delivering on this commitment.
 
"For the first time, all semi-finalists will receive professional assistance and mentoring to help foster their innovations - something which has only been offered to finalists in previous years.
 
"I would like to congratulate all the semi-finalists on their achievements, and look forward to the many benefits their innovations will bring for WA."