Portable PPB has taken out the prize for WA Innovator of the Year for its high-tech portable gold detector.
The company was one of 17 finalists in the running for the title and will share in a total prize pool of $220,000 with the five winners of the other categories.
Portable PPB uses pXRF technology to find gold concentrations that are too low and dispersed to be picked up through other means. In this way, users are able to find gold faster and cheaper.
“On behalf of the WA Government, I congratulate our six winners as well as all the other finalists that took part in this year’s Innovator of the Year awards,” WA Innovation and Digital Economy Minister Stephen Dawson said.
“It was a very tough job for the judges to choose the winners from such a wide range of amazing high tech and innovative solutions and full credit to Portable PPB for coming out on top with their gold detector.
“All participants are well deserved and for me as the State Minister for Innovation, it’s fantastic to see such a variety of innovation solutions that are being developed here in WA.”
The awards were primarily sponsored by Rio Tinto, along with Woodside Energy, Business News, Wesfarmers, Griffith Hack, Nexia, Wrays, CERI, Biodesign, Murfett Legal, Moore Australia and PwC.
The other five winners from the night were:
- Rio Tinto Emerging Innovation: Earflo for a device that treats chronic ear infections in children at home;
- Rio Tinto Growth Innovation: Leisure Technologies for a wireless towing and anti-theft system;
- Business News Great for the State Platinum Award: Reliis for its Aqueous Quetiapine solution;
- Wesfarmers Wellbeing Platinum Award: Inspiring Holdings for its Novel Universal Spacer System;
- Woodside Energy Platinum Award for Energy Innovation: Innovation Energy Solutions for its autonomous solar cleaning robotics.
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