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The AFR BOSS Most Innovative Companies list recognises and celebrates Australian businesses that are challenging the status quo.

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Jane Livesey, president Asia Pacific and Japan, Cognizant.

BOSS Most Innovative Companies pave the road to Australia’s future

AI agents and virtual teams provide new ways to scale talent, adapt and collaborate. But Australian firms lag in linking technology investments to business goals.

  • Jane Livesey
Staff of Australian Spatial Analytics, a not-for-profit business that finds employment in data analytics for young autistic people.

This non-profit plays to the strengths of autistic young adults

Australian Spatial Analytics aims to find jobs for a group who are 10 times more likely to be unemployed than the national average.

  • Christopher Niesche
LEAP Legal Software founder Christian Beck.

Lawyers double check this AI tool’s answers

LawY, a function of LEAP Legal Software that allows users to query a legal database to carry out common tasks, uses an old-school way to ensure accuracy.

  • Edmund Tadros
Connon Bray, a New Zealand-based partner at The Research Agency and part of the founding team at Ideally.

Marketers get ‘freedom to play’ using automated research tool

The marketing aid uses artificial intelligence to quickly ask customers what they think about new products and deliver the research results overnight.

  • Edmund Tadros
Ben Johnston, founder of digital agency Josephmark, and Mindhive co-founder Bruce Muirhead “see a future where our digital clones do our work”. 

This AI agent can spare you inconvenient meetings by deputising

Mindhive has developed AI-enhanced avatar software that allows users to create digital ‘twins’ of themselves to stand in when they are unavailable.

  • Alexandra Cain

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October

Pathzero co-founders Charbel Ayoub and Carl Prins in Sydney. Their Pathzero system allows asset owners to discover energy transition risks lurking in their investment portfolio.

Emissions tracking tool a winner for super funds and Pathzero

Aware Super and Hesta use Pathzero software. So do 600 fund managers. It’s already the world’s largest data sharing network for private market carbon emissions.

  • James Eyers
Anson Parker,  chief product officer of Up: “We see banking through the lens of, ‘Why are these experiences so crappy, compared to what they could be?’”

You’ll thank this bank for making you wait hours for your savings

This neo-bank wants to do money differently, and teach its customers how to take control of their budgets.

  • Lucy Dean
George Evans is Head of Consulting, Asia-Pacific & Japan at Cognizant.

Assessing innovation hands on with AI and experts

Cognizant employed a multifaceted approach in judging of The Australian Financial Review 2024 BOSS Most Innovative Companies Awards.

  • George Evans
Mick Moore and Pushkar Kumar of Scalene.

Space is finite – this company helps retailers maximise it

Scalene helps retailers make the best use of their footprint, while Samsara Eco is tackling fashion’s huge plastic waste problem.

  • Lauren Sams
H2X chief executive Antony Tolfts in one of the Warrego hydrogen-powered 4x4s destined for Swedish customer Renova.

Why hydrogen is better than batteries for long-distance trucks

H2X is focusing the rollout of its hydrogen-powered trucks on Europe and Scandinavia where incentives and refuelling are better.

  • Agnes King
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Sam Makwana and Rob Tadros from Impressive Digital: When people are specific, they are more often than not looking to buy.

How one agency found a way to juice its clients’ Google search results

Impressive Digital has spent the past two years building Skailed, a platform that can generate thousands of e-com landing pages to improve Google rankings.

  • Sam Buckingham-Jones
Ryco’s filters bolt on to the front of the cab and only take a few minutes to fit.

‘The cabin is the driver’s office’ for filters maker Ryco

Ryco’s fine-particle vehicle filters offer a medical-grade ‘face mask for your truck’ – a game changer for the health of commercial transport drivers.

  • Sylvia Ramsay

The start-up revolutionising male fertility tests

A home testing kit for men helps avoid the inconvenience and embarrassment of trips to IVF clinics.

  • Michael Smith
Kelly McJannett, founder of Food Ladder.

AI greenhouses feed remote communities and educate children

Food Ladder installs AI greenhouses in remote communities to feed people and educate their children about the benefits of healthy fresh produce.

  • Christopher Niesche
A lithium-rich lagoon in Chile’s Atacama Desert.

How this Aussie mining tech company is doing its bit for the planet

ElectraLith is named the 2024 AFR BOSS Most Innovative Company in the Agriculture, Mining, Engineering and Utilities sector.

  • Sally Patten

January

Woolworths young executive Andrew Cooper at Bloodhound Espresso in Darlinghurst, Sydney on December 19, 2023.

Why this Woolworths executive no longer brings a laptop to meetings

In our Summer Breakfast with the BOSS series, Andrew Cooper, head of transformation at Woolworths Metro, says ditching his laptop for an old-fashioned paper notebook has helped him become more productive in meetings.

  • Updated
  • Lois Maskiell

September 2023

OPEC’s move to reduce oil production will push fuel prices even higher.

This fintech lets you pay for fuel with bitcoin

A small, but growing, cohort of consumers is tapping their crypto wallets to pay for fuel, powered by a local payments innovation.

  • Tess Bennett
Sypac’s chief engineer Ross Osborne, and its CEO Amanda Holt, join managing director David Vicino and founder and chairman George Vicino with one of the drones that have been deployed in the Ukraine conflict.

Cardboard drone maker used in Ukraine is Australia’s top innovator

Sypaq has won the 2023 AFR Boss Most Innovative Companies Award, for its flat packed cardboard drones, which have been serving on the front line in Ukraine.

  • Paul Smith

Old hands can be disruptors too

Some of the finalists in the 2023 AFR BOSS Most Innovative Companies awards are not start-ups, but companies that have been around for a few decades or more.

  • Sally Patten

Robots open a path to sustainable construction

This university building used a world-first technological innovation involving the use of a robot to install screw fixings during construction.

  • Prashant Mehra
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How Guide Dogs caters for all walks of life

The not-for-profit’s new Sydney flagship office is a template for the disability-inclusive future workplace.

  • Sian Powell
Dr Larry Marshall was head of the CSIRO for eight years.

We need to turn invention into innovation

Australian innovation has come a long way over the past decade, but innovation never sleeps, writes Larry Marshall.

  • Larry Marshall

This online tool cuts contract red tape to less than an hour

A law firm has created an innovative tool that creates a customised construction contract in a fraction of the time.

  • Prashant Mehra
Cameras being installed and checked - Dr Emma Spencer (right) with a volunteer.

Using AI to help save wildlife after bushfires

Ecologists know that far more data is needed to help species to survive catastrophic bushfires. That is where AI comes in.

  • Sian Powell

These five items drive your electricity bill

Retailer AGL has designed an app to help homeowners figure out how to electrify their homes.

  • Christopher Niesche