Now in its 10th year, the TechDiversity Awards in Melbourne celebrates inspiring tech initiatives across business, education, government, campaign of the year, and tech for good.
An app that uses AI to transform complex objects into easily understood information has won the TechDiversity Awards Tech for Good and TechDiversity Champion prizes.
The “Make it Easy App” was created by siblings Sam and Jon Paior, and inspired by deeply personal experiences. Sam is a leading disability expert and was motivated to act after witnessing how difficult a government letter was for people with disabilities to understand. Her son, Ben, who has an intellectual disability, also faced challenges at an art gallery where complex signs were hard to comprehend.
This firsthand experience led Sam and her brother, Jon, who has a background in technology, to build the app together. Make It Easy‘s clear and precise descriptions are designed to make life a little bit easier for people with low vision, low hearing, language difficulties, and perception difficulties, according to the website.
Described as a ‘user-friendly app that translates complex language into easy-to-understand English,’ Make It Easy uses machine learning and image recognition to help users understand information quickly and easily.
TechDiversity Foundation co-founder Deirdre Diamante experienced the app first-hand at the awards, when Ben gave her a demonstration. She described the technology as “incredibly powerful through its simplicity” and recounted Ben taking a photo of glassware on the table. The app identified and differentiated between the glasses, and in real-time announced in a clear voice that some glasses had orange juice, some contained water, and some were empty.
Foundation celebrates a decade of growth and impact
The organisation that Diamante co-founded is a grassroots effort to promote diversity in the Australian tech sector, and has grown into a major event drawing 600 attendees and over 100 nominations. The TechDiversity Awards celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, and honoured achievement in five separate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) categories.
Soozey Johnston, co-founder of the TechDiversity Foundation and the dazzling MC for the awards night, noted the organisation is volunteer-led and has a strong sense of community. The evening’s theme was ‘Framing DEI futures’ and showcased initiatives that are actively shaping a more inclusive technology workforce.
In addition to the “Make it Easy App,” the awards recognised the outstanding achievement of Press Play Ventures (Business Category) for a program that helps women transition into entrepreneurship. The Education Category was awarded to Future Tech: Reimagining Education for Neurodivergent Youth. The Government Category went to MyAMES Chat, while the HyroBot Rumble Challenge by STEM Hub was named Campaign of the Year.
During the awards, Executive Director of the TechDiversity Foundation, Luli Adeyemo, addressed the audience, stating that while some companies are stepping back from DEI, there is an opportunity for those that don’t. Adeyemo noted that recent research shows “47% of companies that dropped their DEI policies are now reporting declining morale.”
Diamante agrees, noting that in addition to providing diversity training, the organisation is working to spread the word that there is a link between diverse teams and business performance.
2025 Award Winners
Business Category: Press Play Ventures – A pre-accelerator programme by Jumpstart Studio, Vox360, NiceTo & Evander Strategy that helps women transition from employment into entrepreneurship.
Education Category: FutureTech: Reimagining Education for Neurodivergent Youth by FutureTech Australia Incorporated.
Government Category: MyAMES Chat: Empowering Language, Literacy, and Employability Skills Through AI Innovation by Getmee and AMES Australia.
Campaign of the Year: HyroBot Rumble Challenge by STEM Hub in collaboration with the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, sponsored by BAE Systems Australia, accelerating diversity through STEM education
Tech for Good Category & Tech Diversity Awards Champion: Make it Easy App by
We Make It Easy Pty Ltd
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