Best Small Business Idea Award – Metropolitan

Go Get Car Share, Newtown, New South Wales – Nic Lowe, Director
Go Get Car Share has introduced “Paladins” who barter their time for marketing and labour to help maintain the business in exchange for car share credits. Go Get Car Share started in 2003 and was Australia’s first car sharing service. The “Paladins” are local neighbourhood champions who promote the business in their area. By using their local knowledge, GoGet’s marketing efforts are targeted, relevant, cost-effective and of a high standard. Paladins also maintain and manage the vehicles, generating substantial business savings in both staff labour and cost.

Best Small Business Idea Award – Regional

O-Zo Fresh, Redcliffs, Victoria – Andrea Minter, Director
O-Zo Fresh have developed an innovative processing technology for fresh produce which incorporates ozone sanitation, “breathable” packaging, cool chain management, drying techniques and efficient water use for increased shelf life and freshness.  The business first developed “Quick Fresh Asparagus”; premium fresh asparagus pre-trimmed ready for easy microwave cooking and eating; tripling its supermarket shelf life from 2-5 days up to 2 weeks. Such extended life span improves the product’s export potential. The business continues “making fresh food easier” with a healthy snack range of fresh produce.

Best Medium Business Idea Award – Metropolitan

AIS Enterprises, Tingalpa, Queensland – Kerry Gosse, Managing Director
AIS Enterprises, a manufacturing company specialising in the research and development of salt-water chlorinators, has introduced the Switch Mode Power Supply (SMPS) to improve the quality and reliability of technology used for pool water treatment. SMPS were originally developed for power supply in computers but AIS have redesigned them for use in salt water chlorinators, helping improve efficiencies by reducing power consumption and heat resulting in a ‘cleaner’ output and increased life span.

Best Medium Business Idea Award – Regional

Riverview Citrus and Stonefruit, Cobram, Victoria – Charlie Gattuso, Managing Director
Riverview Citrus and Stonefruit Pty Ltd, a fruit packaging company, introduced new packaging systems to eliminate waste and increase productivity. Smaller pieces of fruit were being discarded when deemed too small for packing into cartons or trays. Farmers were responding by treating their fruit with chemicals to enhance growth. Recognising the unnecessary waste, the company installed equipment capable of packaging, netting and labelling small fruit into punnets, providing regional orchardists with export and domestic market opportunities for their otherwise redundant fruit.

Laser Marketing Australia, Wingfield, South Australia – Kevin Witkowski, National Sales Director
Laser Marketing has developed the Infrared RoadMASTER (IRMA) heater, a machine which uses infrared heat to melt asphalt surface back to its original temperature. The old asphalt is recycled and rejuvenated on the spot, producing a fully bonded joint between the old and new asphalt… a permanent repair, the first time. The business claims this technology can repair our roads and highways six times faster with greater production rates than current repair methods and at a third of the cost!

Research One, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory -- Troy Simpson and Fabian Serena, Directors
Research One provides customised legal research, writing, and analysis solutions to practising lawyers and government departments worldwide. The business has developed the Web-based Integrated Legal Research System (WILRS), to help make legal research more comprehensive, accurate and timely. The foundation stone of WILRS is an online guide that applies a 10-step approach to the task of systematic legal research. This guide is supported by an extensive database of legal resources that can be searched electronically and a program that checks the accuracy of legal citations and converts “lawyer-speak” into plain English.

Imaginality, Byron Bay, New South Wales – Jane Davenport, Director
Imaginality is an unconventional art studio which provides licensed library access to artworks for private collectors, businesses and publishers as well as creating large-scale, outdoors travelling art installations for international exhibit.  Discovering a range of problems transporting and storing the artworks on their USA tour, Imaginality have designed a lightweight, affordable yacht-sail based support structure and textile display for photographic artwork – these can be transported with ease, installed quickly, are inexpensive and will withstand inclement weather.

Smart Burn, Gelorup, Western Australia – Peter Hutchison, Director
Smart Burn Pty Ltd has developed the environmentally friendly SmartBurn, a device which reduces atmospheric pollution from domestic wood heaters by up to 50 per cent. SmartBurn contains a mixture of non toxic natural ingredients. Placed inside the firebox of a domestic wood combustion heater, the SmartBurn heats up and releases a vapour which encourages excess soot and flammable sap to burn more efficiently within the firebox instead of being propelled up the chimney flue into the atmosphere. Independent Laboratory Report confirms that this process reduces the smoke haze and particulate emissions from entering the atmosphere by up to 50 per cent!

PTG Global, Sydney, New South Wales – James Breeze, General Manager and Psychologist
PTG Global has developed XPDesign, the world’s first scientific methodology for designing high performance transactional user interfaces. PTG Global's XPDesign has helped clients to provide superior customer service, enhanced staff performance, satisfaction and increased profitability through improved usability of their IT applications.

The Grange Group, West Melbourne, Victoria – James Farmer, General Manager and Lisa Macdougal, Marketing Coordinator
The Grange Group specialises in corporate and leisure accommodation services and has introduced a web-based quotation management system, providing increased customer service for clients booking accommodation. The system allows uniformity in branding, transparency in processing of incoming queries and improved customer relationship management across five hotel properties, increasing administration efficiency by 60 per cent.

Community Programs Inc, Grafton, New South Wales – Michael Foley, Chief Executive Officer
Community Programs Inc specialises in delivering community support services and has developed a client management system, WeServe, to enable improved information flow between government departments, community support agencies and clients. WeServe comprises a privacy protected database to enable case managers access to a common source of information leading to improved client engagement, timely intervention and a reduction in case note requirements. The implementation of WeServe also helps free up valuable contact time for clients.

* only two finalists at the appropriate standard for this category