Applications are now open for the 2025 WA Innovators of the Year (WAIOTY) awards, with more than $280,000 in prize money on offer and a brand-new category launched to shine a light on the State’s youngest innovators.
Now in its 19th year, the WAIOTY awards recognise the State’s brightest entrepreneurs and problem-solvers — from early-stage startups to high-growth businesses — whose innovative ideas are driving economic, environmental, and social impact in WA and beyond.
What’s new in 2025?
This year introduces the WA Young Innovators Platinum Award, targeting high school-aged individuals or teams who have developed a standout product, technology, process, or service that delivers tangible benefits to WA. The new category aims to cultivate the next generation of STEM talent and will be judged alongside six other major award categories.
Minister for Science and Innovation Stephen Dawson welcomed the expansion of the program, highlighting the growing diversity of applicants.
“The awards are an amazing opportunity to have local innovative ideas showcased and celebrated,” he said. “Diversity also continues to grow in our innovation sector with last year’s awards seeing the greatest ever increase of applications from female founders, up more than 40 per cent from the previous years.”
Award categories and key dates
Applications are now open for the following categories, closing Wednesday, 11 June at 11:00 am:
- Rio Tinto Emerging Innovation Award
- Rio Tinto Growth Innovation Award
- Wesfarmers Wellbeing Platinum Award
- Business News Great for the State Award
- Woodside Energy Platinum Award for Energy Innovation
Finalists in these five categories will participate in an Accelerator Program, giving them valuable exposure and tools to scale their innovations.
Two additional categories will remain open until Friday, 25 July at 1:00 pm:
- WA Government Innovation Award
- YEA WA Young Innovators Platinum Award
Winners will be revealed at the 2025 WAIOTY Awards Ceremony in October.
Previous winners
Past winners have gone on to attract investment, scale their businesses nationally, and gain valuable media exposure. Last year’s top honours went to:
- Uluu, winner of the Emerging Innovation and Business News ‘Great for the State’ awards, for its seaweed-based alternative to plastic.
- Deimos Laboratory, recipient of the Growth Innovation Award, for its automated grain quality assessment tool.
- Nepternal Hydrogen, celebrated for its high-efficiency hydrogen production from seawater.
- CoraMetix, a biomedical company using 3D printing to develop natural heart valve replacements.
- And Portable PPB, 2023’s overall winner, for developing a groundbreaking gold detection device enabling faster, field-based exploration.
Each of these innovations exemplifies how bold ideas born in WA can have national — and even global — impact.
How to Apply
Full eligibility criteria, application guidelines, and submission portals are available at the New Industries Fund: WA Innovators of the Year website.
Whether you’re a startup founder, a scale-up leader, or a young changemaker with a world-changing idea — now’s the time to step forward.
