• Applications now open for the 2018 WA Innovator of the Year program
• Total prize pool of $165,000 up for grabs
• New focus on supporting local innovators with potential to create and support WA jobs 

Applications are now open for the 2018 Innovator of the Year program, which acknowledges and rewards exceptional innovators in Western Australia who have developed an outstanding project.

The innovation must be at the emerging or growth phase of development, and demonstrate an economic, social or environmental benefit for the State.

Award winners will share in a prize pool of $165,000 to help commercialise their innovations, and the overall winner will receive a prize of $75,000.

The program also links industry and academia through research collaborations to help innovators ground their ideas and move them forward.

For the first time, applicants will have to demonstrate how their innovation will create or support Western Australian jobs and help diversify our economy.

The awards began in 2006 under the Carpenter Labor Government to foster and support local innovators. Just last week, a former runner-up in the 2008 Innovator of the Year awards, Melanie Perkins made the WA Rich List 2018. Ms Perkins was recognised for her innovations in developing an online design tool; this innovation led to the creation of Canva which is now a global multimillion dollar business.

The State Government would like to thank principal sponsor Mitsubishi Corporation and sponsors Woodside, South32, DXC Technology, Business News, iPREPWA, Wrays, Watermark, EnterpriseFirst and Murfett Legal.

Applications close at 11am on June 5, 2018. For more information, visit http://www.newindustries.wa.gov.au/ioty-2018