Petra Helmholz joint the Curtin Ignition this year — a one-week intensive program designed to help entrepreneurs, researchers, and innovators turn ideas into successful ventures.

The program brings together workshops, mentoring sessions, and keynote talks from some incredible speakers, including Josephine Muir, PhD, Derek Gerrard, Lacey Filipich, Isis Nair, Greg Riebe, Matthew Macfarlane, Bindhu Holavanahalli, Michael Pasquale, 🙌 Garry Williams and many more. It’s an amazing opportunity to learn, connect, and grow alongside other passionate innovators.

Over the past 15 years, Curtin Ignition has supported 800+ participants, helping many transform their concepts into thriving businesses like Rhinohide, SpaceDraft, and OMNI Health.

This year, SMAAT had the exciting opportunity to showcase at the Curtinovation Awards as part of the innovation booths — a privilege we were given after winning the 2024 Curtinovation Award (Science & Engineering) last year.

In June, Curtin University proudly hosted a full-day Health Innovation Accelerator Workshop, dedicated to advancing healthcare through next-generation solutions and hashtag#interdisciplinary hashtag#collaboration. The event attracted over 100 engaged participants, including hashtag#researchers from the Curtin Faculty of Health Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, and Curtin Singapore alongside hashtag#consumers and hashtag#clinicians from partner hashtag#healthservice providers. The workshop was a resounding success - providing a platform to explore real-world clinical challenges and fostering cross-disciplinary idea exchange to drive meaningful impact in the health sector. It was a great pleasure to present

hashtag#Cliniface (www.cliniface.org) and hashtag#SMAAT (www.smaat.org) at the Health Innovation Accelerator Workshop. The projects were presented as keynotes by Petra Helmholz and Roslyn Ward .

12 teams participated in the 2025 Curtin Accelerate program, a diverse group of companies that are rapidly developing the next generation of innovative products and services to benefit society. The facilitators and mentors are some of the world’s leading innovators and startup founders. Previous cohorts have had the opportunity to learn from high-profile individuals, including venture consultant Larry Lopez, Kanopy founder Olivia Humphrey and angel investor Bill Tai.

Roslyn Ward chaired the session “Use of human digital twins in allied health and medical education“ which included talks from Richard Palmer, Guntas Singh, Liam Boyle and Petra Helmholz.

The Health Service Union WA (HSUWA) is part of the WA Health Excellence Awards and sponsor the Allied Health Team of the Year Award. The SMAAT team is one of the finalists in 2024.

Petra Helmholz joint the Curtin Ignition this year — a one-week intensive program designed to help entrepreneurs, researchers, and innovators turn ideas into successful ventures.

The program brings together workshops, mentoring sessions, and keynote talks from some incredible speakers, including Josephine Muir, PhD, Derek Gerrard, Lacey Filipich, Isis Nair, Greg Riebe, Matthew Macfarlane, Bindhu Holavanahalli, Michael Pasquale, 🙌 Garry Williams and many more. It’s an amazing opportunity to learn, connect, and grow alongside other passionate innovators.

Over the past 15 years, Curtin Ignition has supported 800+ participants, helping many transform their concepts into thriving businesses like Rhinohide, SpaceDraft, and OMNI Health.

Curtinovation: Science and Engineering Award winner

Seven Curtin projects will receive $100,000 from the State Government’s Future Health Research and Innovation (FHRI) Fund, which provides funding to WA researchers who miss out on National Health and Medical Research grants.

Speech impairments affect more than one million Australians and can seriously impact a person's health and wellbeing. Now, Dr Ward and a team of colleagues from the Telethon Kids Institute have received a government grant to assist early diagnosis.