Aurecon, Deloitte and Partners in Performance top AFR most innovative companies
Aurecon, Deloitte, and Partners in Performance have taken the top three spots in the professional services category of this year’s AFR annual list of Australia’s most innovative companies.
Compiled in conjunction with innovation consultancy Inventium, the Australian Financial Review has issued its annual list of the nation’s most innovative companies, with Aurecon, Deloitte and Partners in Performance taking out the top three spots in the professional services category.
Other firms featuring in the top ten for professional services include Quantaco, Allens, King & Wood Mallesons, MinterEllison, Ernst & Young, Bendelta and MakerX.
Now into its 12th cycle, the annual Most Innovative Companies list this year received more than 700 nominations, which were assessed by Inventiumaccording to three criteria; a particular innovation which has been implemented over the past two years, how innovation has been more generally embedded across the organisation, and via Inventium’s benchmarking survey which measures performance on a range of innovation drivers.
Coming out on top of the professional services category was engineering and design firm Aurecon, which was recognised for its work on Murdoch University’s Boola Katitjin project – Western Australia’s first mass-engineered timber (MET) building. An on site robotics trial successfully demonstrated its capabilities in the installation of screw fittings, proving that automation technologies can help drive sustainable industry transformation.
“Innovation is at the heart of everything we do at Aurecon, and we are thrilled to see the progress we continue to make in this space,” commented CEO William Cox. “Boola Katitjin is an example of a research thesis on using robotics in construction that started in the Aurecon Design Academy and was brought to life on a ‘live’ project in collaboration with Murdoch University and our project partners, along with innovations in timber design.”
“At Aurecon, we bring a pragmatic approach to innovation with experimentation and co-creation central to the process,” commented innovation and futures director Amanda Good, who joined the firm from KPMG earlier this year. “As one of the oldest and largest industries globally, the construction industry can benefit significantly from innovation, especially when it comes to work-forces, materials and construction techniques.”
Like Aurecon, Deloitte has appeared on the list for the seventh consecutive year, landing in second after last topping the chart in 2021. This time around, the firm has been awarded for its GreenSpace Tech platform, which connects businesses with climate tech innovators and insights to help accelerate their efforts toward net-zero. Launched at the start of the year, the platform continues to be rolled out around the world, including last week in the EMEA.
Another returnee, Partners in Performance, has followed up last year’s honour with a third place nod for its Virtual Experts solution, which seeks to address experienced labour shortages in the heavy industries. The consultancy and its prescriptive analytics arm DataStories developed an AI-driven adaptive platform for simulations and ‘what-if’ analysis which provides near real-time process setting recommendations to operators and supervisors.
“There is no single fix for the skilled labour shortages facing many organisations, but there are pathways that integrate new technology and empower workers to achieve high levels of performance,” stated DataStories CEO Katya Vladislavleva. “We believe our Virtual Experts will help change how organisations are run, with the potential to support clients in overcoming labour shortages by empowering operators to do more with less and learn new skills.”