The winners of Papua New Guinea’s major awards for innovation were announced at a special Gala Dinner on 27 March, on the eve of the 2025 Innovation PNG Conference and Expo at the Stanley Hotel, Port Moresby.

Award winner Boas Sengi of the Environmental Health Development Agency, second from right, with (from left to right) Andrew Wilkins, Publishing Director, Business Advantage International, Ivan Vidovich, CEO of Kina Bank, and Mark Pesce, Futurist.

Four awards were given out by a judging panel chaired by inventor and futurist Mark Pesce. For the first time in the awards’ history, one award was shared between two entrants.

“The sheer breadth and quality of entries for this year’s awards made the judges’ job both very difficult and also highly enjoyable,” says Pesce, who is himself the inventor of 3D on the World Wide Web, and is also the keynote speaker at this year’s Innovation PNG conference.

“Our heartiest congratulations go out to every one of the dozens of entrants. Innovation is clearly alive and well in PNG.”

Innovation PNG Awards winners

The Innovation PNG Award for Small Business (sponsored by Kina Bank), was awarded to Lae-based Environmental Health Development Agency for its all-in-one water, sanitation and washing station designed for use by village communities.

The invention, called “Water SHE Technology”, is designed to minimise the workload, especially for women, of carrying water and washing in villages. The judges were impressed by the unit’s design and its successful trials, which have already delivered the safe and hygienic facility to thousands of villagers. The judges share the view of the inventor, Boas Sengi, that it has the potential to be rolled out to villages across the country.

In addition, three small businesses received a Special Commendation from the judges: Port Moresby’s Bobatom Tech and Consultancy for its e-learning platform, Mt Hagen’s Gotronical Engineering for its design of a sago extraction machine, and Lae’s Project Support Services’ for its range of solar-powered mills for smallholder farmers.

The Innovation PNG Award for Large Business (Sponsored by Remington Group) was awarded to superannuation fund Nasfund, for its use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to automate the processing of the invoices it receives from its suppliers.

Using AI has resulted in a 40 per cent increase in productivity in Nasfund’s accounts department. The judges praised the project for being an early and successful use of AI in PNG and one that other businesses and government departments could take inspiration from.

Four large businesses received a Special Commendation from the judges: CreditBank for its innovative technology-led customer onboarding system, MiBank for its agent network model, engineering company Kramer Asia Pacific for its development of smart, climate-resilient engineering projects, and manufacturer Markham Culvert’s use of “concrete canvas” in the construction of drainage solutions.

The Innovation PNG Award for Digital Government (Sponsored by Nasfund) was awarded to the Department of Information and Telecommunications Technology (ICT) for the development of an online police clearance application process, which integrates online payments with biometric fingerprint capture.

The judges praised the design of the solution, which replaces an existing cumbersome manual process which involves lots of queuing by applicants.

The inaugural Innovation PNG Award for Female Innovator (Sponsored by Moni Plus) was split between two entrants. Pacific Palms Property’s Alumita Chan led the project to achieve high level EDGE environmental certification for Steamships’ corporate headquarters in Port Moresby. Meanwhile, BSP’s Penelope Aisi led the team which developed the bank’s recently launched Wantok Wallet mobile wallet.

About the Innovation PNG Awards

Launched in 2019, the Innovation PNG Awards reward and encourage innovation – creative problem-solving using new ideas – in PNG business and government.

The awards ran alongside Innovation PNG, PNG’s festival of innovation, technology and ideas, held at the Stanley Hotel on 28 March. Innovation PNG is co-hosted by the Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Business Advantage International.