The University of South Australia hosted Pitch@Palace On Tour Adelaide today, as part of the global event giving new entrepreneurs and startups the best connections to develop their ideas and innovations.

Pitch@Palace was founded by HRH, The Duke of York KG in 2014 as a platform to amplify and accelerate the work of entrepreneurs. The program guides, helps and connects entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses with a global network of potential supporters including CEOs, influencers, angels, investors, mentors and business partners.

After applying online, successful applicants from around Australia were sent to their state-based competitions, with 13 entrepreneurs selected to participate in the Adelaide event, pitching to a panel of judges including South Australia’s Chief Scientist Caroline McMillen, HRH, and an appreciative audience of around 200 people.

Entrants were assessed on the commercial potential of their concept, their ability to communicate their idea and the potential social impact of their business or innovation.

Impressed by the participants’ professionalism and innovative ideas, the judges sent eight companies through to ‘Bootcamp’ in Brisbane, which will be followed by the Australian Final (Pitch@Palace Australia 2.0) on 30 November.

The eight finalists selected to take part in the Brisbane Bootcamp were:

• Makers Empire: A 3D design and printing learning program introducing 3D printing to primary school students in the context of Design Thinking.
• Athlete’s AI: An entrepreneur providing real-time video analytics for sports (mainly tennis) using artificial intelligence to help athletes improve their game.
• Tiantai Medical Technology Pty Ltd: A company working on detecting Alzheimer’s disease earlier in patients through the detection of a specific human protein, to improve the quality of life for older people.
• The Village Foundation: An application to create a modern-day village to empower women, increase family wellbeing, decrease postpartum distress and facilitate a strong transition back to work. They have designed platforms connection mothers to other mothers.
• Safety from Space: A safety system for those in remote locations too far from wireless coverage. With satellite phones being prohibitively expensive, the team proposes an alternative and supplementary service (and the support infrastructure) to provide specific messaging via satellite for dangerous situations that could easily and rapidly develop into an emergency.
• Tekuma: Tekuma has developed the next generation of intuitive hand controller hardware or ‘joysticks’ which uses patented technology and custom firmware to process a user’s tactile hand movements. This enables them to control an object, such as a drone, with one hand. The solution is sturdier and more secure than current solutions in the market and is universal, allowing it to speak to all drones or other hand-controlled objects such as remote robots or jet packs.
• Verbalize.Science: Using artificial intelligence tools to turn complicated science into easy to understand audio summaries for increased impact and engagement for research.
• Add-Life Technologies: A company aiming to provide quality care to people who have suffered a neurological disorder no matter where they are in the world, through technology. They have developed ALTO: a library of six virtual reality environments that assists people who have had a stroke, to regain their life.

The winners of Pitch@Palace Australia 2.0 will be invited to Pitch@Palace Global 3.0 at St. James's Palace in London on 12 December and will have the opportunity to network with potential investors and influential members of the international business community.

Announcing the winners, HRH The Duke of York, said: “Thank you very much to all our entrepreneurs for your collaboration and participation. I am a strong believer that when it comes to entrepreneurs it is about how we can all work together to ensure these businesses have the best opportunities.”

The Duke also thanked the audience: “In some respects you are more important than the entrepreneurs, the reason being is that you are the people who make the material difference to these businesses. While listening to their great ideas, you will have a serendipitous moment where you will know exactly how you can help them.”

Melbourne (RMIT), Gold Coast (Bond University) and Wollongong (the University of Wollongong), UniSA and Murdoch University (Perth) held events as part of Pitch@Palace Australia 2.0 in 2018.

UniSA hosted this event in collaboration with the Innovation & Collaboration Centre (ICC), a unique co-working space that supports innovative ideas from generation through to growth and expansion.

UniSA Deputy Vice Chancellor: Research and Innovation, Professor Tanya Monro, says the inaugural Pitch@Palace event in Adelaide has been “a wonderful opportunity” for UniSA to support the State’s most innovative entrepreneurs.

“As Australia’s University of Enterprise, UniSA is renowned for its culture of innovation, fostering inventive and adventurous thinking and supporting bold new ideas. The pitches we have heard tonight from all 13 finalists are outstanding examples of global learners who are quick to recognise business opportunities that benefit society – the same qualities that UniSA instils in its own students and graduates.

“Congratulations to those South Australian start-ups who have been selected to attend the Pitch@Palace Boot Camp in Brisbane later this week. We look forward to tracking their progress, perhaps all the way to the international finals in London on 12 December.”

Media contact: Candy Gibson email candy.gibson@unisa.edu.au mobile: 0434 605 142