2026 ATC winners revealed: Celebrating Australia's rising tech innovators
Five months of growth planning, mentoring and preparation came down to five minutes on stage.
On Tuesday, September 15, the Australian Technologies Competition brought the 2026 Finalists together at Sydney’s Ivy Ballroom for the Finals & National Awards Night, marking the apex of another big year for the program.
Before anyone could get their hands on a trophy, one final challenge remained: the live pitches. The Finalists' pitches covered some serious ground, from AI-powered dental diagnostics and dementia support technology to battery-electric mining trucks and field-deployable quantum communications. The breadth of technology being developed across Australia made some tough decisions for our judges.
Throughout this year's program, entrants took part in a full-day Growth Masterclass, online workshops, investor sessions and networking. They also received personal mentoring and developed business plans to validate their technology and business models as they step into their next stage of growth.
From over 240 applications, 95 semi-finalists were chosen, and 33 finalists were shortlisted across 11 tech categories. The final line-up demonstrated everything from strong market traction and international reach to groundbreaking technology.
It was also rewarding to see previous entrants reapply, bringing new progress and learnings, with two returning companies taking home category award wins this year. It shows this competition isn't just about an award that recognises great technology; it also aims to help promising Australian companies keep building and progressing.
As the nation’s tech innovators took the stage in a sold-out room of more than 200 guests, the conversations, connections and sheer variety of ideas on show made for a fitting celebration of the ambition and global potential within our tech community.
A special thanks goes out to our sponsors, ecosystem supporters, judges, mentors and Masterclass facilitators who offered their time and expertise to the companies coming through the program. Your support played a major role in making this year’s competition possible.
We’re excited to see where this cohort goes next. Congratulations to this year's winners!
2026 Australian Technologies Competition Award Winners
ORACLE AI TECH
Eyes of AI
Eyes of AI is Australia's only dental diagnostic AI company, developing proprietary AI across both 2D and 3D dental imaging. It is a clinical support tool that helps dentists and specialists diagnose faster, more accurately, and with greater clinical confidence. https://www.eyesofai.com
ZEPHYR CLEAN ENERGY
EPCA (Electric Power Conversions Australia)
EPCA is an Aboriginal-owned company specialising in retrofitting diesel-powered mining haulage trucks into full battery electric trucks (BEVs) powered by rechargeable batteries.
DISASTER, EMERGENCY & RISK MANAGEMENT
Cogito Group
Cogito is an award-winning innovator in sovereign cybersecurity. Its AI-enabled automation, Zero Trust, cybernetic orchestration and post-quantum readiness deliver advanced digital trust technologies that protect critical government, defence and enterprise services across the globe.
FINTECH & REGTECH
LoanOptions.ai
LoanOptions.ai is an award-winning and pioneering finance technology provider and finance brokerage. Over the past six years, LoanOptions.ai has been building AI systems that provide a fast, accurate, painless, and transparent end-to-end lending experience for borrowers, brokers, and lenders alike. After previously reaching the finals in 2025, this company returned to take home the award this year.
GLOBAL SOCIAL IMPACT
Memory Aid
Memory Aid transforms a familiar telephone handset into an intuitive smart device, empowering people living with dementia to maintain independence and stay connected while reducing the daily mental load for family caregivers.
GROWTH EQUITY
Duress
Duress is an Australian safety technology company protecting frontline and lone workers through wearable devices, live video streaming, and secure emergency communication systems that connect directly to 24/7 monitoring centres and emergency services in real time.
MARKETING TECHNOLOGY
yourfilm
yourfilm is the platform that runs video production for enterprise brands, globally. We make professional video production simple and scalable for marketers.
CLOUDFLARE MEDTECH & PHARMA
Roam Technologies
Roam Technologies is revolutionising respiratory care with a lightweight, tankless oxygen device that delivers continuous therapy while enabling true mobility and independence for patients. This is the company's second award win with the ATC.
SUSTAINABILITY
Renewable Metals
Renewable Metals recovers 95%+ of critical minerals from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries using a proprietary alkali-based hydromet process, at roughly 50% lower capital and operating cost than acid-based recycling, with no sodium-sulphate waste and onshore refining for sovereign supply.
WATER, FOOD & AGRIBUSINESS
Woven Optics
Woven Optics develops handheld, real-time wool testing technology that uses advanced optics and AI to accurately measure fleece micron on-farm, helping Australian wool growers improve breeding, clip quality, and profitability.
RECOGNITION AWARD
Hypersonix
This award looks back at the finalist alumni over the course of the competition that have shown significant growth since their first involvement. Hypersonix is recognised for a number of achievements, including:
Closing a $46 million Series A funding round.
Being selected as the first prototype company for the US Defence Innovation Unit’s HyCAT hypersonic testing program, from more than 60 applicants.
Completing the first flight of its DART AE hypersonic aircraft, reaching speeds above Mach 5.
Expanding its advanced manufacturing capability in Queensland and growing its team to more than 60 people.
DEEPTECH
Space CoLAB
SpaceCoLAB is developing the world's first field-deployable quantum data transceivers using diamond-based technology. The unhackable, unharvestable secure communications solution, HaloCore, is a 15kg, briefcase-sized room-temperature system that transmits information encoded directly into the quantum states of individual photons over a free-space optical link, leaving no classical data channel.
OVERALL AUSTRALIAN TECHNOLOGY COMPANY OF THE YEAR
Space Co Lab
Well done to all our winners, and a big thank you to everyone who took part in this year’s competition and joined us along the way. This year's line-up really showcased that Asutralia's homegrown businesses are right up there with the world's best.
Interested in future opportunities or want to get involved next year? Connect with our team.
Image credit: Ryan Chenoweth
About the Australian Technologies Competition
Celebrating and accelerating Australia’s top tech talent since 2010, the Australian Technologies Competition continues to be the nation’s premier growth and awards program for technology SMEs and scale-ups. With a spotlight on innovation with global growth potential, the ATC gives successful entrants a gateway to invaluable connections with investors, mentors, and industry leaders. Now in its 16th year of operation, the program has created an alumni pool of more than 600 semi-finalists, many of whom have scaled internationally.
Comments