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The Smith Family awarded for its innovation

09 August 2019
The Smith Family is honoured to be recognised for the second year running as one of Australia and New Zealand’s most innovative companies in the 2019 AFR Most Innovative Companies List.

The prestigious annual list, published by The Australian Financial Review and Boss Magazine, is based on a rigorous assessment process, and judged by a panel of industry experts.

The Smith Family was ranked 8th in the Government, Education and Not-for-Profit industry top 10.

“I’m delighted that The Smith Family has been recognised with this significant award,” said Chief Executive Dr Lisa O’Brien. “We take great pride in being innovative in our work, so as to best support Australia children living with disadvantage, to succeed at school and beyond.”

“In this rapidly evolving world it’s essential that we keep pace with change so that disadvantaged Australian children can get the most out of their education and create better futures for themselves.”

Organisations were assessed on a top innovation implemented in the past twelve months, as well as their innovation culture, strategy, resources and process.

The Smith Family was recognised for our innovation of Tech Pros, which was co-designed with students to increase digital skills, as well as student confidence and curiosity in engaging with digital technology. Tech Pros is designed to support students to build the skills essential for the workforce of the future, which will be increasingly digitally oriented and address the growing digital divide between the digital ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’.

Innovation is vital to ensure that our work equips more young people to thrive in the 21st century, said Dr Lisa O’Brien.



Media Enquiries: media@thesmithfamily.com.au

The Smith Family is a national children’s charity that helps disadvantaged young Australians to succeed at school, so they can create better futures for themselves. www.thesmithfamily.com.au

Media contacts:

Andrew Dickson | National Media Manager (National) - 0421 285 529 | andrew.dickson@thesmithfamily.com.au
Carla Horton | Senior Media Advisor (QLD & WA) - 0423 618 776 | carla.horton@thesmithfamily.com.au
Reid Jermyn | Media Advisor (VIC, SA & NT) - 0412 803 566 | reid.jermyn@thesmithfamily.com.au 
Ben Chenoweth | Senior Media Advisor (NSW, ACT & TAS) - 0413 346 934 | ben.chenoweth@thesmithfamily.com.au

The Smith Family is a national children’s education charity that helps young Australians experiencing disadvantage to create better futures for themselves through harnessing the power of education. We partner with around 800 Australian schools and work with over 162,000 children and young people experiencing disadvantage access our education support programs to help them overcome . For more information, visit thesmithfamily.com.au