The Best Tech Pioneers to Hail from Down Under
When thoughts of Australia spring to mind, it’s all about surfing, beaches and iconic landmarks. Look beyond the tourist brochures and you’ll soon discover that the major cities “Down Under” are true innovation powerhouses, masterminding some of the world’s most groundbreaking tech.
From creative tools to gaming software, the tech pioneers of Oz have made waves globally, far beyond the confines of Oceania. Below, we’ll take a closer look at the successes of a trio of standout tech giants proving Australia’s knack for pushing the boundaries of design, efficiencies, entertainment and so much more.
Canva’s Bid to Turn the Design World on its Head
If you’ve ever dabbled in the world of graphic design, it’s highly likely that you’ll have come across Canva. Developed and unveiled in 2012, by Sydney-based trio Melanie Perkins, Cameron Adams and Cliff Obrecht, Canva has since improved the accessibility of graphic design, ensuring people of all skill levels can get involved.
Canva’s unique selling point is its drag-and-drop interface, empowering everyday users to create professional-grade graphics, images, presentations and social media posts in a matter of minutes. It’s said that 95% of all Fortune 500 companies now lean on Canva’s software in some capacity.
Eyecon Blazed a Trail for Online Casino Software Experiences
Brisbane-born iGaming giant Eyecon was at the coalface of the iGaming industry. Founded in 1997, Eyecon focused on computer games like Gore before turning their hands to online casino experiences two years later. Its Temple of Iris slot, released in 2003, put Eyecon’s game designers well and truly on the map. Three years later, they would go on to unveil the Fluffy Favourites slot which has gone on to establish itself as a phenomenal slot series in the world of iGaming. Its cute and cuddly theme has made it a popular slot choice, along with its engaging Toybox Pick screen and its Free Spins mode.
It's not just about its entertaining games, but its technical expertise which make it easy for iGaming operators to integrate their slots with ease. Eyecon was acquired by Playtech in 2017 and relaunched its entire suite of casino games on Playtech’s state-of-the-art HTML framework.
Atlassian Sought to Redefine Workplace Collaboration
Finally, no list of tech pioneers from Down Under would be accurate without a nod to the team at Atlassian. Established in 2002 by tech entrepreneurs Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar, the Sydney-based firm has played an influential role in the improvements of in-house and remote collaboration.
Over the years, Atlassian has designed and built a suite of cloud-based productivity tools like Jira, Trello and Confluence, helping businesses and talented online professionals to streamline all kinds of tasks and processes. Whether it’s defining workflows, tracking project progress, brainstorming ideas or reviewing tasks, Atlassian’s products are now utilised by project managers, developers, designers, copywriters and content marketers in all four corners of the globe.
Whether it’s Canva’s user-friendly design platform, Eyecon’s thrilling iGaming innovations or Atlassian’s game-changing collaboration tools, Australia is proving it’s a well-established hotbed of tech talent.
