They’re innovative, Australian, highly commercial and they’re changing the world, one idea at a time.

Yes, it’s time to reveal this year’s SMART 100 index.

The maven judges have cast their votes and their combined wisdom has unveiled a truly remarkable winner.

It’s common knowledge that products and services designed to help people connect hold a stunning competitive advantage in the digital economy. And just when you thought that all markets were cornered, this year’s SMART 100 winner is bringing new ways of doing business to an old and highly traditional industry.

This year’s winner is taking livestock management from the dirt to the cloud.

And the winners are…

Honourable Mentions

So these guys didn’t make it to the top 100. Yet we think they deserve an honourable mention for finding an idea and running with it, cause that is what innovation is all about.

What is the SMART 100?

In true Anthillian style, the SMART 100 is an ever-evolving, ever-improving experiment.

Designed to encourage, promote and support innovation in Australia, it identifies and ranks new Australian innovations by applying a combination of crowdsourcing, collaboration and common-sense.

Unlike your average awards program, we don’t lock a panel of expert adjudicators in a small room. Neither do we demand a thorough analysis of each applicant’s P&L statement. We don’t even request an historical snapshot of ‘runs on the board’ or commercial achievements.

This is because innovation is future focused. It is about identifying and solving problems in ways that will change the way we live, do business and think.

What was the process?

Anthill readers were invited to submit detailed applications by completing open-ended questions, such as…

This innovation improves on what came before because…

The outcomes of these applications were amalgamated and short-listed to assemble the Top 100. These profiles were uploaded to the Anthill website for judging.

At the same time, over 100 ‘maven’ judges were invited to judge 10 applications each, using an online tool developed by Anthill to reflect a set of eight, individually weighted, criteria.

So, what’s a maven?

Most people define a maven as a trusted expert in a particular field. The word comes from the Yiddish meyvn and Hebrew mevin (מבֿין), with the same meaning, which in turn derives from the Hebrew binah, meaning understanding.

For our purposes, a maven also means a person who seeks to pass on this knowledge to others – an intense gatherer of information and impressions, the first to pick up on new or nascent trends and share them.

Mavens play a vital role in the commercial success of new products and services.

Unlike early-adopters, who are attracted to any new technology, mavens are more discerning. They are thoughtful in their approach to the adoption of innovations and that is why they are often turned to as trusted advisers.

A successful innovation may be attractive to your average early-adopter but mavens are the people who will bring a successful innovation into the mainstream.

As a result, Anthill’s SMART 100 are not chosen simply due to the novel or unique nature of the innovations but because of the potential of each to achieve consumer adoption and commercial success.

Here’s a selection of our 2013 mavens. Recognise any names?

What were the criteria?

In addition to the the obvious (Is this innovation unique? How similar or different do you think the idea is to other products / services that are currently available to its target market?), Anthill’s criteria delved into areas of equal importance not normally acknowledged by other innovation award programs.

For example, Anthill’s criteria included the evaluation of the innovation against questions designed to measure its potential to self-market (i.e. Is the innovation ‘remarkable’? Is it something that YOU would ‘remark on’ — i.e. talk about or mention — when speaking with work colleagues, friends or family?) and achieve adoption among its target market (Does this innovation respond to a necessity or a want? How important do you think this innovation would be to its intended user?).

What is the Readers’ Choice Index?

The Readers’ Choice Index was created to provide an opportunity for Anthill readers to vote on SMART 100 applications, in one of three ways:

1. Tweet it: Top left of each page (3 points)
2. Trigger a Reaction: Facebook ‘Like’, etc (2 points)
3. Leave a Comment: Anonymous comments excluded (1 points)

Simply visit the page of your favourite(s) above and vote.

At the conclusion of the Readers’ Choice judging period, we will tally up the results and create an Index according to the votes of our readers.