Each year, the IoT Awards provides a snapshot of the progress that Australian companies are making with IoT.

In the last two years, we’ve seen a fascinating range of nominated projects from the likes of NSW Department of Primary Industries, SA Water, The Yield, The Australian National University, Waverley Municipal Council and many others.

And this year we saw many more interesting projects nominated.

We announced the award winners yesterday at the IoT Festival, which was held at the Melbourne Convention Centre. There were awards for people, companies and projects, including a new award recognising the achievements of women working in with IoT.

Here are the Award winners:

Best Primary Industry IoT Project – Newcrest data science platform and COB project, by Insight and Newcrest Mining

Newcrest Mining's 'Crushed Ore Bin' project leverages data science and Azure IoT technology to deploy a machine learning algorithm to predict the level of underground catchment bins.

The project demonstrates innovation for overcoming the challenges of data collection in incredibly difficult physical conditions, and has an impressive ROI attached. The project is predicted to drive significant dollars in recurring business benefits back to Newcrest.

Best Industrial IoT Project – Smart Wastewater Network, by SA Water

SA Water’s smart wastewater network uses a wide variety of sensors and cloud-based data analysis to provide real-time information about the water network and manage overflow and odours.

To achieve this, SA Water is using odour and overflow pattern sensors, weather stations, hydrogen sulphide detection sensors, air pressure and flow direction sensors. These are linked via Taggle communication devices to Microsoft Azure, and odour modelling simulates dispersion of atmospheric pollution. SA Water is working with the University of Adelaide on the data analysis.

Best Government IoT Project – The Latrobe Valley Information Network, by Attentis

The LaTrobe Valley Information Network provides the community, industry and emergency services with real-time information about environmental challenges such as floods, fires and air quality concerns, and provide connectivity for farmers.

Best Healthcare/Sport IoT Project – Hospital productivity with Telstra Track and Monitor, by Telstra, Ballarat Health Services and Coregas

This trial project aims to save Ballarat Health Services employees time by helping them quickly locate medical equipment, such as wheel chairs and bariatric beds. This would give them more time to spend on patient care, and potentially save the hospital money by reducing the need to rent more equipment (which might otherwise be deemed lost).

Telstra has made this possible without the hospital needing to invest in new network infrastructure. It did this by working with a partner to adapt Telstra Track and Monitor – an outdoor tracking device – to use the hospital’s WiFi network and optimise transmissions to extend the device’s battery life. Telstra also extended the Track and Monitor platform to show which floor equipment is located and overlay floor maps.

Best Overall IoT Project – The Latrobe Valley Information Network, by Attentis

This project shows how IoT can help to address community concerns. By providing real-time environmental alerts, the network aims to help the community respond faster to fires and changes in air quality. This is particularly relevant in the LaTrobe Valley, which has experienced bushfires and mine fires.

The project has also been a catalyst for inter-agency collaboration throughout the region. Attentis has achieved buy-in from local council, industries, emergency services and the community to share information about the environment.

Women of IoT Award – Danielle Storey, Chief Information Officer at Smarter Technology Solutions

Danielle has an impressive list achievements across a wide variety of IoT projects at both a strategic and practical level. This work includes the development of smart city visions for local governments.

She has also contributed as a thought leader to various industry organisations, including the IoTAA to ASCA, IoTSec and others. And she has mentored startups and IoT innovators through her involvement in innovation hubs, and been a cybersecurity advocate.

The IoT Pioneer Award – Bob Sharon, Founder & Chief Innovation Officer, Blue IoT

As the founder of smart cities integrator Blue IoT, Bob is proving that innovative IoT companies can take on much larger competitors.

Blue IoT has developed the world’s first IoT virtual intelligent smart building management platform, which cuts the cost of energy management for businesses and government organisations. The platform has achieved a significant reduction in energy consumption for the City of Greater Dandenong.

Bob also contributes to the IoT community as a member of the IoT Alliance Australia Executive Council.

Best IoT Startup – Okra Solar

Okra’s IoT hardware and software solution aims to provide affordable and scalable electricity to the many people around the world who don't have access to the electricity grid.

Its plug and play micro-grid is made up of Okra's proprietary IoT controllers, which create a decentralised energy grid. Okra’s innovative approach to micro-grids can reduce capex and opex, making it profitable for utilities to reach the last mile in needy communities.

IoT Channel Award – Communications Design & Management

CDM is helping companies using heavy machinery to extract data in ways thought previously unachievable due to connectivity and data collection challenges.

The company has developed a solution that provides visibility of more than 100 heavy machinery inputs, does complex edge computing and delivers the data in a format that integrates with the global IT data platform. It also uses a store-and-forward approach to overcome lack of connectivity in remote areas.