AIMIA (an acronym for Australian Interactive Media Industry Association - This is now considered obsolete so the full name is no longer used) is the peak Australian body representing the digital content, services and applications industry in Australia.
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AIMIA has over 600 members from a broad sector of the digital industry. AIMIA's membership includes Australia's top digital power houses, digital content, services and applications companies, and major industry suppliers.
AIMIA Awards
AIMIA is best known for its annual awards that recognise the best digital work in Australia. Now approaching their 20th year, the AIMIA Awards are the longest running and most prestigious awards in Australia's digital industry. Winners for the 19th AIMIA Awards are listed here
The AIMIA Awards are the peak awards for the digital industry in Australia, and year after year continue to deliver a strong and innovative showcase of award winning digital creations.
History of AIMIA
AIMIA was founded by Richard Heale the CEO of the Perth-based New Media company Interactive Logic and a group of other invited CEO's from companies in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
The idea for AIMIA came from a conversation between Richard and Michael Gale who at the time was the CEO of the Authorware distributorship in Australia. Michael's commercial network afforded the opportunity to invite interested parties to an initial meeting in Sydney. At this meeting Richard Heale brought a Perth lawyer, Martin Haas of Murie Edward, to draft an initial constitution and AIMIA was born.
Richard Heale was the first AIMIA President, a position he held for the first two years of the organizations life. Paul Campbell of ICE Media in Brisbane was elected Treasurer and John Caitlin of Applied Learning in Sydney its Vice-President, other board members included Stephen Schwalger, Marius Coomans & Kevin Karp.
AIMIA's initial primary focus was not on creating awards and their associated ceremonies but on creating federal government support for the fledgling New Media industry. AIMIA did organize awards and ceremonies the first taking place in Perth in 1992. However, at the time the AIMIA board realized that New Media had a significant role to play in Australia's mixed economy. New Media had both export potential and the opportunity to make certain aspects of the economy more efficient and effective.
In 1994 the AIMIA board gained funding from the Department of Industry and Technology to appoint the organizations first permanent national CEO and subsequently state based officers. Interviews were conducted in Sydney & Melbourne, by federal government and AIMIA officials, and from a strong list of candidates Stephen Schwalger was appointed.
The appointment of Stephen Schwalger (CEO 1994-1997), who had been a member of AIMIA's first national board, gave AIMIA the everyday horsepower it needed to develop appropriate foundations for the New Media industry in Australia.
After considerable lobbying of the federal government by the AIMIA board & CEO, significant funds were allocated to AIMIA and the New Media industry as part of the 'Creative Nation' initiative from the Keating labour government. Creative Nation was launched in each Australian capital city in 1994 by the Hon Simon Crean and Richard Heale AIMIA's president.
Significant components of the Creative Nation initiative included:
The Multimedia Enterprise - A funding bank for the creation of CD titles (there was no internet at that time for content commercialization) Australia on CD - Where Australian cultural institutions and New Media companies were encouraged to collaborate and bid for a pool of funds to create CD titles that reflected Australian history and culture.
Over the next three (1994 - 1997) years AIMIA grew from a membership of 40 companies to over 800, set up State and federal structure for the association and negotiated state federal funding for industry development staff in 4 states, developed and managed a three-year export strategy in conjunction with Austrade which resulted in Australian companies entering markets in UK, USA, Europe, Canada, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Exports generated in this period exceeded $250 million on Austrade figures and introduced the AIMIA national conference program and the annual industry awards for excellence.
History of AIMIA Awards
Previous venues, VIP guests include:
Hosts:Kitty Flanagan and Steve Philp
Hosts:Jane Gazzo and Brendan MacLean
Special Guests Included: Paul Twomey, Former CEO of ICANN
Adam Spencer, AIMIA Awards Ceremony MC
Special Guests Included: Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy
Mikey Robins, AIMIA Awards Ceremony MC
Special Guests included: Honorable Paul Holloway MLC, South Australian Minister for Industry and Trade
The Honorable Stephanie Key, South Australian Minister for Employment, Training and Further Education
Mr Kym Richardson MP, Federal Member for Kingston (SA)
Special Guests Included: Helen Coonan, Minister for Communications, IT and the Arts
Adam Spencer, AIMIA Awards Ceremony MC, Triple J radio host
Special Guests Included: Daryl Williams, Federal Minister for Communication, IT & the Arts
Adam Spencer, AIMIA Awards Ceremony MC, Triple J radio host
Professor Peter A. Bruck, Head of the United Nations World Summit Awards
VIP Guests Included: Victor Perton, Minister for Conservation and Environment and Multimedia
VIP Guests Included: Richard Alston, Federal Minister for Communications, IT and the Arts
Special Guests Included: Richard Garriott, Computer Games Legend
About AIMIA
AIMIA was founded in 1992 as a not-for-profit membership organisation. AIMIA has chapters in all the major states of Australia including New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and a national head office in Sydney. The organisation's Chief Executive is Rob Wong.
The Current National Committee of AIMIA (as at October 2013):
The Current AIMIA State Presidents (as at June 2015):