Young Innovators Awarded

In a first for the Avalon Innovation Awards both the National and the SME Innovation Awards have been won by the same company.

Melbourne-based 1MILLIKELVIN Pty Limited was named winner of both the National Innovation Award and SME Innovation Award at the presentation ceremony.

1MILLIKELVIN won both awards for its worldleading work developing a stress imaging camera system which provides a full-colour representation of the stress on a mechanical structure under loads, such as the airframes of crewed and uncrewed aircraft and helicopters.

The panel of eight judges, led by former Deputy Chief Defence Scientist Dr Bill Schofield AM, agreed that 1MILLIKELVIN’s entry was a deserving winner for both awards.

The Young Innovator Award was presented to BAE Systems Australia Melbourne engineer, Callum Rohweder, for his work on developing the core guidance, navigation and control algorithms at the heart of the Australian-developed Vehicle Management System (VMS) for the Boeing MQ28A Ghost Bat uncrewed aerial vehicle.

This year, for the first time, the winners of the SME Innovation Award and Young Innovator Award were presented with a cheque for $50,000 each.

The winners are:

• AVALON 2023 National Innovation Award: 1MILLIKELVIN Pty Limited (VIC)

• AVALON 2023 Defence SME Innovation Award ($15,000): 1MILLIKELVIN Pty Limited (VIC)

• AVALON 2023 Young Innovator Award ($15,000): Mr Callum Rohweder, BAE Systems Australia Limited (VIC)

In addition, three Award contenders won a High Commendation:

• AVALON 2023 National Innovation Award HIGH COMMENDATION: DMTC Limited (VIC)

• AVALON 2023 SME Innovation Award HIGH COMMENDATION: MicroTau Limited (NSW)

• AVALON 2023 Young Innovator Award HIGH COMMENDATION: Mr Michael J Scott, RMIT University (VIC)