Monash spinouts and startups shine in Top 100 Innovation List

Monash University continues to make waves in the innovation landscape, with its spinouts and startups achieving remarkable success.

The Australian newspaper has identified the nation’s best inventors and entrepreneurs in The List – Top 100 Innovators 2024 that features the most exciting ideas emerging across the country, ranging across industries, from space to cyber security, travel to fashion, energy to infrastructure and a special focus on health.

The List Editor Helen Trinca said “We have selected 100 innovators doing interesting work across a range of sectors from energy to e-commerce. It doesn’t pretend to be a definitive list of the brilliant and committed Australians who get up every day, determined to turn their idea into reality. But our Top 100 Innovators List spotlights the talented people who, one way and another, are changing the way we live.”

The List also looks at how key sectors are adopting technology and adjusting to the realities of doing new things at a time of economic uncertainty. The Monash innovators making The List include:-

Mindset Health founders Alex and Chris Naoumidis

Mindset Health: When brothers Alex and Chris Naoumidis first applied to The Generator’s Accelerator Program in 2017 it was for a dress rental app called Covet. While the program head wasn’t keen on the idea, they were encouraged to think of something else and complete the Accelerator program. With the help of the Startmate accelerator program in 2017 they progressed and developed. Mindset Health has since featured in Launch Vic Newsletter, the Financial Review and voted as a Great Place to work by BOSS magazine 2024.

Tixel was created in 2017 after their music-loving founders were burnt by a fake ticket scam. Not only did they miss a great Tame Impala gig, they also had no way of getting their money back. They knew there had to be a way for fans to access spare tickets. So they made one. The founders completed The Generator’s Accelerator program in 2018.

CLT Toolbox  Adam Jones, founder and CEO of CLT toolbox studied structural engineering at Monash University and researched CLT (Cross Laminated Timber) as the topic of his final year thesis. CLT is regarded as the sustainable alternative to steel and concrete. Now he oversees an international software company providing support to architects looking to incorporate this sustainable timber material into their designs.

Great Wrap: The incredible Great Wrap team of makers, designers, chemists and microbiologists are industry partners with Monash Innovation Labs. Team member Eddie Attenborough, who completed a double degree in Chemical Engineering and Science at Monash University, is focused on converting materials into a marine degradable film called PHA.

ElectraLith: For the second year in a row, Huanting Wang, SJ Oosthuizen and Charlie McGill were named one of Australia's Top 100 Innovators!  ElectraLith’s patented DLE-stage membranes are based on revolutionary work conducted by Professor Huanting Wang, Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor and Australian Laureate Fellow within the Faculty of Engineering.

These achievements are testament to the hard work of the founders and the university’s vibrant ecosystem, which encourages creativity, collaboration, and a relentless pursuit of solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges, which are not only achieving commercial success but also contributing to global sustainability efforts.