NEWS & MEDIA

Organiser AMDA Foundation first presented the Indo Pacific Innovation Awards in 2013, with the aim of recognising, rewarding and bringing Australian innovation to the forefront of the region's maritime industry.

Here, judge and Innovation Awards founder, Dr Gregor Ferguson, looks back at past winners to see how the Indo Pacific Innovation Awards program has furthered careers and impacted organisations for the better.

Since Tennyson, Queensland-based EM Solutions won the prestigious SME Innovation Award at Indo Pacific 2019 for its work on the ‘Cobra’ Satellite Communications (SATCOM) terminal, it has increased its workforce by some 30 per cent.

It has also sold the original system, incorporating a one-metre-diameter satellite dish, to four NATO navies, to the UAE Navy and, of course, to the Royal Australian Navy, says Vice President of Programs John Logan.

Here in Australia, the ‘Cobra’ terminal is a standard fit on the Navy’s ANZAC-class frigates, Supply-class Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment (AOR) ships, Arafura-class Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV) and Cape-class patrol boats. In all, the company has sold 40 terminals to customers around the world.

So, did winning the Award make a difference to the company’s market prospects? “Yes!” says Logan: winning an innovation award was one of a number of factors that demonstrated EM Solutions’ technical mastery and the product’s success has come since 2019.

Why is it so innovative? Not only does the Cobra system support communications on both military and civil satellites – the US WGS system and Inmarsat’s GX system – it operates on dual frequency bands so can handle two simultaneous streams of messages to the WGS satellite. And it has a built-in satellite tracking capability so communications aren’t lost, even when going through rough seas or bad weather. No other manufacturer can rival it, says Logan.

The original ‘Cobra’ system was developed under a Defence Capability and Technology Demonstrator (CTD) contract. Thanks to a Defence Innovation Hub grant awarded in 2019, EM Solutions has developed a new and improved version: one with a two-metre dish antenna which nearly doubles the system’s Ka-Band signal bandwidth from 2GHz to 3.5GHz. As a result, the company has achieved repeat sales to most of its existing customers and added a new one, Norway, to the list.

The ‘Cobra’ system won the SME Innovation Award at Indo Pacific 2019, shortly after the company won the equally prestigious Department of Defence/ADM Essington Lewis Award for the same product, says Logan. The company made a point of citing each Award in its sales material as evidence of its technical innovation and technical and commercial excellence.

“Winning the SME Innovation Award was one of many factors that helped us get over the line with domestic and export customers,” he says – and that initial sales success has led to both new and repeat business, he says proudly: “Success breeds success!”