2010 Innovation Hero Awards

Dr Simon Poole, Finisar Australia

Dr Simon Poole, Director, New Business Ventures, Finisar Australia Pty Ltd, Sydney

Dr Simon Poole is an engineer, innovator and entrepreneur with over 30 years experience in communications and photonics technologies, academia and industry. A member of the team that invented the Erbium-Doped Fibre Amplifier,
one of the key inventions underpinning the optical communications revolution with a market of $300million p.a.

He founded the Optical Fibre Technology Centre at Sydney University and the Australian Photonics CRC. He founded and sold two successful photonics companies, Indx and Engana, and has been closely involved in many others.

In 2001, Simon Poole and Steve Frisken founded Engana. Engana developed Wavelength Selective Switching (WSS) technologies, which is now part of Finisar, a leading supplier of optical components and modules. Finisar Australia, located in Waterloo, has 150 staff working on the development and manufacturing of WSS-based products.

Dr Steven Frisken (left), Finisar Australia with Professor Michael Dureau, The Warren Centre

Dr Steven Frisken, Chief Technology Officer, Finisar Australia Pty Ltd, Sydney

Dr Steve Frisken was a co-founder of the successful Photonic Technologies company where he developed and protected the IP culminating in the acquisition by Nortel Networks, becoming the interim CEO. He introduced a telecommunications optical circulator which has been adopted by industry – and passive and dynamic EDFA gain flattening filters leading to the first laboratory DWDM amplifiers.

Steve Frisken co-founded Engana with Simon Poole and was the Chief Technology Officer and CEO of Engana,

Australia's most successful optical start-up company. As CTO of Finisar Australia, he is leading the development of WSS technology that Finisar Australia designs, develops, manufactures and sells.

Professor Gernot Heiser (left), Open Kernel Labs with Professor Michael Dureau, The Warren Centre

Professor Gernot Heiser
University of NSW, NICTA & Open Kernel Lab, Sydney

Professor Heiser has built one of the world's leading computer operating systems research groups, and his products include the L4 microkernel, the core technology of Open Kernel Labs, where he is the C.T.O. This US company performs all research and development in Sydney, and has shipped its microkernel operating system in more than 500 million mobile phones.

He currently is developing embedded systems that are secure, safe and reliable by guaranteeing that the system will never “crash”, or be subverted by malware. The market for this technology is estimated to be in the billions of dollars.

Gernot pioneered, with members of UNSW's Photovoltaics Special Research Centre, advanced techniques to improve the operations of silicon solar cells, contributing to increased solar-cell efficiencies.

Alexander Gosling, Director, Invetech Pty Ltd, Melbourne

Alexander Gosling is a co-founder, Director and Chief Executive of Invetech, a company focused on product development through the innovative use of technology. The company employs 200 scientists, engineers and technicians and supports clients throughout Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan. Invetech's subsequent evolution into Vision Systems Ltd was acquired by the US Danaher Group for around $800M.

Invetech has designed new strategic platform instruments for seven of the world's top ten diagnostic companies.

An example is the Bioplex 2200, the leading random access clinical chemistry analysis system which is also manufactured by Invetech on contract for Bio-Rad globally.

Invetech has generated several billion dollars worth of value for its clients by converting new science and core technology into commercial products and processes.

Dr Bob Johnson
Founder and Chairman, Maptek Pty Ltd, Adelaide

Maptek is a pioneer of innovative software technology in the mining industry, with offices in Adelaide, Brisbane, Newcastle, Perth and Sydney; Brazil; USA; Chile; Mexico; UK; Peru; and RSA; and employs 250 staff.

Maptek Vulcan software provides advanced 3D spatial information, modelling, visualisation and analysis. Its linking capabilities have led to the development of Maptek I-Site Laser Imaging hardware and software products. Laser scanning can be used in the mining, engineering and surveying and forensic industries to create 3D models for a variety of spatial and volumetric analysis tasks. It is the only scanner with an integrated digital camera, enabling capture of 3D laser point clouds with overlaid photo pixels.

Maptek MineSuite provides a complete production monitoring and fleet management solution. Maptek Services help mine operations improve performance, productivity and profitability.

Neil O'Sullivan, Managing Director, NOJA Power Switchgear Pty Ltd, on behalf of his senior
management team: Oleg Samarski, Jay Manne, Quynh Anh Le and Tony Stacey in Brisbane

NOJA Power designs and manufactures low and medium voltage switchgear products incorporating many innovations. The company conducts an extensive research and development program that involves market research to identify changing customer needs and the regulatory environment.

The environmental benefits of NOJA Power's products represent a unique selling point for the company. It has developed a range of products that completely eliminate the need for the oil or sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) typically used in the industry as insulants. Both of these have negative environmental implications – the IPCC considers SF6 to be the most harmful greenhouse gas it has evaluated.

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