Imagine Intelligent Materials, co-founded by iAccelerate Researcher-in-Residence, Dr Robert Gorkin III has been named among Australia’s best emerging technology companies.

Imagine Intelligent Materials, Australia’s leading graphene applications company, has been named as a finalist in two categories in the prestigious Australian Technologies Competition 2017. They will compete among 15 other companies for the Australian Technology Company of the Year Award on November 16. Commenting after making the shortlist, Imagine IM’s CEO Chris Gilbey said that this continued a streak of highly-promising successes so far in 2017. “This news reinforces Imagine IM’s growing reputation for innovation in high-value areas where great quantities of functionalised graphene are required,” said Gilbey.

“The two industry categories we have been named as finalists in – Energy Resources and Advanced Manufacturing – are areas where we are using graphene’s superior conductivity to develop revolutionary solutions, which could, for example, make coal seam gas mining much safer and deliver ‘smart composites’ able to sense structural changes.”

The competition will see category winners decided on October 12 (at the All Energy Conference in Melbourne) and on November 16 (at the Showcase & Awards event in Sydney).

Competition Organiser John O’Brien said the program aimed to turn great technologies into great businesses.

“We aim to find the best companies, provide them with the best mentoring possible, and connect them with global partners, including on our trip to Hong Kong and Shenzhen in October,” said O’Brien.

“We want to help create multi-billion-dollar global success stories.”

The Showcase & Awards event will name the overall winner of the program, the Australian Technology Company of the Year 2017, with Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science Craig Laundy to present the award. Laundy recently opened Imagine IM’s first full-scale graphene research plant in Geelong, commenting that, “Imagine IM have demonstrated a capacity to both develop and manufacture highly effective end products which have revolutionary implications for manufacturing industries in Australia.”

About graphene

Graphene’s discoverers were awarded the Nobel Prize in 2010. Graphene is the first two-dimensional material and is classed as a “super-material” offering extremely high electrical and thermal conductivity, hydrophobicity, strength, and impermeability to all gases.

About Imagine Intelligent Materials

Imagine IM is a leading Australian developer of graphene-based applications for industrial textiles and fibres. It was founded in 2014 by a group of scientists and engineers led by Chris Gilbey and Phil Aitchison, with a vision to create disruptive products and solutions that leverage the promise of graphene. Imagine IM has an innovative certification and licensing model that ensures customers and licensees can be confident that their products will always perform to the standard necessary. Imagine IM is the first company in the world to develop conductive geosynthetic materials using functionalised graphene.