🚀 What an incredible day at The Challenger Summit! It was inspiring to see Australia’s brightest minds in biotech come together to share ideas, showcase innovation, and push the boundaries of what’s possible. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who participated, our judges, and sponsors for making this event a reality.
We are excited to announce the winners:
🏆 Axiom Prize ($100K):
Chynna-Loren Sheremeta – Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland
🏆 Challenger Prize ($150K):
Daniel Beard – The University of Newcastle
A special thank you to Nicholas Hunt, CEO of Endo Axiom, for presenting the Axiom Prize, and Anand Gautam, Chairman of Strategic Advisors, for awarding the Challenger Prize.
We are also deeply grateful to Shannon Willoughby for her energy and poise as our master of ceremonies and to our incredible panelists for sharing invaluable insights:
• Dr. Larry Marshall – Former CEO, CSIRO
• Dr. Peter H. Diamandis – Executive Chairman, XPRIZE Foundation
• Reed Jobs - Investor, Yosemite
• Gavin MacLaren – CEO, Corrs Chambers Westgarth
• Shivaune Field – Business Journalist, Forbes Australia
• Dr. Stephanie Allen – Partner, Kearney
• Damien Petty – Partner, Morpheus
• Senator Andrew Bragg - Senator for New South Wales
• Andrew Adamovich – CEO, AdvanCell
Our panelists offered key takeaways:
• Building talent density in emerging areas of opportunity to accelerate innovation
• Assembling great teams capable of scaling and adapting
• Getting early U.S. exposure, essential for biotech growth
A huge thank you to our judging panel: Kathy Connell, GAICD, Derek Van Dyk, Chris Alma, Elaine Stead, Mike Lamprecht and Laura Wimberger.
This summit celebrated the courage of entrepreneurial researchers shaping the future of science and medicine. Thank you to our sponsors – Macquarie Group, Investment NSW, Morpheus Ventures, Teneo and Corrs Chambers Westgarth – for making this event possible.
Most of all, we are so grateful to all ten presenters for their trust and courage. Proto Axiom aims to earn the right to be your partner of choice.
With gratitude,
Ant
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