The Defence Support Industry Awards recognise local businesses that support the defence industry in the Northern Territory (NT) including:
The major award is the Minister's Award for Excellence in the Defence Industry. The winner receives $5,000 towards improving their business.
Other awards include the Innovation and Young Achiever awards.
The selection panel may also give out a Chief Minister's Special Recognition Award for nominations that deserve special mention.
You can nominate yourself or another business if it meets the following criteria:
You do not have to be a member of the Australian Industry Defence Network NT (AIDN-NT) to apply.
Nominations for the 2021 award will open soon.
DefenceNT staff will contact nominees to arrange a site visit to discuss the business's achievements.
Nominees will be assessed on their activities to grow their defence support capability or the industry.
This includes:
The following businesses were recognised in the 2020 awards:
The winner of the Minister’s Award for Excellence in the Defence Industry was SAGE Automation.
SAGE is an Australian sovereign manufacturer and control system integrator who has been in the NT for more than a decade. SAGE now have a team of 30 across the NT undertaking more than 10,000 hours of work on Defence assets each year.
Major projects, including the RAAF Base Darwin Fuel Farm 3 and Fuel Farm 7 Control System Upgrade meant SAGE was maintaining the project schedule and compliance of the RAAF Base Darwin Fuel Facility during a global pandemic. Due to Covid, SAGE had to adopt and develop a visual commissioning training method to teach local Defence personnel how to use the Fuel Farm control panel.
SAGE’s increased involvement with Defence has contributed to the channelling of new infrastructure, business partnerships, training and bringing human capital to the region.
The winner of the Innovation award was SPEE3D.
SPEE3D has designed and built metal 3D printers that enable the most affordable metal additive manufacturing process in the world. In November 2019, the Royal Australian Navy announced a $1.5 million investment in a pilot of SPEE3D technology. The Australian Army announced a similar program in February 2020 with a 12-month trial designed to test the feasibility of developing 3D metal printers both on base and in the field.
The winner of the Young Achievers award was Emily Prunnell from Aurecon.
As Project Delivery Service (PDS) Project Manager, Emily delivers a suite of services to advance Defence industry capability by developing and delivering a range of projects that meet the Defence Capability requirements.
