2017 Victorian State iAwards Presentation and Cocktail Event

Minister for Small Business, Innovation and Trade
Victorian State Government

Philip Dalidakis is the Minister for Small Business, Innovation and Trade in the State Government of Victoria, Australia. Mr Dalidakis was elected as a member of the Victorian Parliament, Australia in November 2014, and rose to the Ministry in July 2015.

Minister Dalidakis sees his three areas of portfolio responsibility as having a natural synergy, and is looking to grow the State of Victoria as an international innovation hub.

Immediately before entering Parliament he was the Principal of SCG Advisory, a boutique advisory firm that specialised in Corporate Strategy, Communications (including crisis management) and Government advisory

Chief Executive Officer
LaunchVic

Dr Kate Cornick is CEO of LaunchVic, an independent company established by the Victorian Government to support and grow the state’s startup ecosystem. Kate has extensive experience in both business and academia and has also served on the board of Broadband World Congress.

Kate holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering and has previously served as CEO of an ASX-listed technology startup, Rision.  She has held a range of executive positions within the University of Melbourne, including Director of Industry Engagement and Innovation.

A recognised leader in Australia’s telecommunications sector, Kate also sits on the State Government’s Innovation Expert Panel which advises on ways to strengthen Victoria’s position as Australia’s innovation and tech hub.

Chief Executive Officer
Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria (DVRCV)

Prior to leading DVRCV, Emily worked at Our Watch where she was involved in writing the National Framework to Prevent Violence against Women and their Children. She also designed and led Our Watch’s innovative new Respectful Relationships Education in Schools project being established across over 20 schools in Victoria, and managed a range of other violence prevention initiatives targeting workplaces and capital city local governments.

In 2014, Emily led the development of the Australian Human Rights Commission’s national workplace sexual harassment campaign, Know Where the Line Is, and has also previously worked at VicHealth where she managed a range of prevention initiatives including the Creating Healthy Workplaces: Y Respect Gender project and VicHealth’s innovative workplace focused Bystander Intervention Pilot Project.

She was one of the leaders of the Prevention of Gender-Based Violence Demonstration Project at CASA House, and has previously worked at DVRCV developing a range of resources for young people, including Sex, Love and Other Stuff, an award winning respectful relationships resource for young men.

She has written for The Drum, DVRCV Quarterly, and the Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse and is a regular presenter and public speaker at a range of violence against women forums as well as the Melbourne Free University where she speaks on issues related to gender and violence. Emily also spent many years volunteering as an overnight support worker at a women’s refuge and on a range of community based projects focusing on violence against women and women’s empowerment.

Emily has worked within the Office for Women’s Policy and has also held a range of positions with the Department of Education and Training, which included a focus on the development of state wide student wellbeing and sexual assault response policies, as well as psychosocial response and recovery work to support school staff after the Black Saturday bushfires.