ATSE is proud to announce Challenger Group Limited as the inaugural partner for its Traditional Knowledge Innovation Award.
Thanks to Challenger’s generous contribution, winners of the Traditional Knowledge Innovation Award will now receive prize money and mentoring in their entrepreneurship and innovation journey.
ATSE is delighted to collaborate with Challenger in recognising great Australian leaders who are respectfully and authentically applying Australia’s 60,000 year-strong history of innovation in a modern context.
The ATSE Traditional Knowledge Innovation Award is one award per year that acknowledges and recognises up to two teams or individuals respectfully, collaboratively and successfully applying Traditional Knowledge through modern innovation. The Award celebrates STEM research and development done by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples or communities (either solo or in partnership), which incorporates or builds on Traditional Knowledge.
This award will recognise:
- Excellence and impact as a result of applying Traditional Knowledge through modern innovation in any STEM field
- Contribution to improving understanding and awareness of Traditional Knowledge and its modern value
- The measurable actual or anticipated benefits to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and/or communities. This may include, but is not limited to, intellectual property
ownership, royalties/commissions/other payments, community health and wealth-building, improved opportunities for educational and career advancement
NOMINATIONS
Please review the guidelines below for more information.
Past winners
2023 winners
John Watson & Prof Ron Quinn AM FTSE
In 1986, John Watson’s finger was bitten off by a crocodile. A Nyikina Mangala man from the Jarlmadangah Burru Aboriginal Community of the Kimberley, John turned to the bark of the Mudjala mangrove tree seeking pain relief. He chewed on a strip of bark and applied it as a dressing to his wound.
When Professor Ron Quinn from Griffith University heard of John’s ordeal, and his use of the Mudjala bark, he was intrigued. An enduring partnership eventuated between the Nyikina Mangala people and Griffith University under the leadership of John and Ron, seeking to identify what active compounds could be present in the bark.
Combining thousands of years of Traditional Knowledge with western science has revealed a novel, natural remedy for the treatment of severe pain. The bark contains two classes of compound: one is effective for inflammatory pain and the other mitigates sciatic nerve injury. The resulting product – a possible topical gel – will be based on the complex mixtures present within the bark paste. John and Ron hope that this gel could be supplied to athletes at the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
The project is powerful not only for its outcomes, but also its approach in retaining traditional ownership and respect for the integrity of traditional knowledge.
Reconciliation Action Plan
ATSE’s vision for reconciliation is that all Australians recognise and value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander custodianship as one of the oldest knowledge systems on the planet. Through respectfully working with, listening and learning from current Traditional Knowledge holders and practitioners in science and engineering we will build a better nation and a healthier, more sustainable world.
The ATSE Traditional Knowledge Innovation Award is one award per year that acknowledges and recognises up to two teams or individuals respectfully, collaboratively and successfully applying Traditional Knowledge through modern innovation. The Award celebrates STEM research and development done by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples or communities (either solo or in partnership), which incorporates or builds on Traditional Knowledge.
The ATSE Awards celebrate the outstanding achievement of Australians in technology, engineering and innovation. They are open now, and anybody is entitled to nominate a candidate.
Read ATSE’s Reconciliation Action Plan