Innovation PNG 2026 Awards

Awards Winners

Innovation PNG Award for Small Business (sponsored by Kina Bank) winner Jamie Solien Lalana of Valana Poultry BSF Integrated Agro Farm, presented by Kina Bank CEO Ivan Vidovich. Credit photo: Lennox Matainaho/BAI/POMCCI

A digital strata title platform designed to modernise land title management in PNG, a novel poultry feed solution powered by Black Soldier Fly larvae, and a student management system to support school teachers are the three winning innovations of the 2026 Innovation PNG Awards.

The winners of Papua New Guinea’s major awards for innovation have been announced at a special breakfast at the Hilton, Port Moresby.

The Innovation PNG Awards are designed to reward and encourage innovation – defined as creative problem-solving using new ideas – in PNG.

• The Innovation PNG Award for Small Business sponsored by Kina Bank was awarded to Valana Poultry BSF Integrated Agro Farm, a small poultry farm in Central Province which has deployed a smarter, more affordable and sustainable way of producing poultry feed, using the proven powers of the amazing Black Soldier Fly.

Poultry feed is expensive and accounted for some 70% of the farm’s costs.

In July 2025, Valana started feeding organic food waste to Black Soldier Fly larvae, which consumed the waste and were then used as a feed supplement. The experiment has been a great success in its first year.

By using the fly larvae, the Valana farm has been able to cut its feed costs in half. As a bonus, the birds produced grow faster, are healthier, and – they claim – taste better too!

The judges were very impressed by this innovative approach, which is already delivering commercial benefits to the farm and has the potential to be used by many other farms across PNG.

In addition, two small businesses received a Special Commendation from the judges: Port Moresby’s Homes Purse Clean Energy which has created and taken to market an alternative fuel sourced from local waste; and from the Jiwaka Province, Gotronical Engineering for Kastom PNG, a website which not only helps to preserve and promote PNG’s cultural heritage but also deploys a business model that could generate funds to support it.

• The Innovation PNG Award for Corporate Innovation sponsored by Vodafone PNG was awarded to NiuPay Limited and its NiuPay’s Digital Strata Title Platform, a locally devised response to the recently-launched strata title system in PNG.

PNG has a unique approach to land ownership and land management. The issuing of land titles by the Department of Lands has hitherto involved time-consuming, manual processes. The adoption of PNG’s new strata title system therefore represented an opportunity to innovate.

The judges were particularly impressed with this project, which saw the use of smart technology to create PNG’s first digital strata title – or e-title – earlier this year. NiuPay’s innovation has the potential to revolutionise the management of all land titles in PNG, benefitting landowners, home owners and developers.

One company received a Special Commendation from the judges: the Coffee Industry Corporation with its Green Gold Card initiative for coffee growers which designed to help make PNG’s important coffee sector more efficient, by creating this identification and verification system for all coffee growers.

• The Innovation PNG Award for Young Innovator of the Year sponsored by Moni Plus was awarded to Anthony Tutmulai in the NCD who has devised a student management system for schools, aimed at helping teachers spend less time on administration and more on teaching.

The judges gave a Special Commendation to Debbiealishia Kuamba, in Goroka, for her Areca Fluffy Pulp Project: using betel nut fibres to address a major challenge for PNG women – the production of affordable sanitary products.

‘The range of innovations covered by the entries was nothing short of breathtaking, covering many different economic activities; from agribusiness, food production, education, recycling and energy, to telecommunications, logistics, manufacturing, information technology and more’ said renowned futurist, Chief Edge Officer at Deloitte’s Centre for the Edge in Australia, Chair of the judging panel, Peter Williams. ‘They also represented projects at various stages of development, from early concepts through to completed projects, some of which are already delivering commercial benefits.‘

‘The digital economy is an important opportunity for PNG’s future and many entries focused on using PNG’s improved internet connectivity to launch their new ideas, including those making use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). We also noted this year an increase in the number of projects that had an environmental or sustainable element to them.’

This is the fourth time the Innovation PNG Awards have been run, and there were a record number of entries this year.

Awards Shortlist

The creation of fuel and animal feed from waste, a student management system to help school teachers, and an export system for PNG coffee are just some of the bright ideas shortlisted for the 2026 Innovation PNG Awards.

The Innovation PNG Awards are designed to reward and encourage innovation – defined as creative problem-solving using new ideas – in PNG.

The actual award winners, selected from the shortlists below, will be announced at a special awards breakfast on 3 June at the Hilton Hotel, Port Moresby.

These are the three shortlists announced today:

The Innovation PNG Award for Small Business (sponsored by Kina Bank) shortlist

• Central Dakis Mamina Trading (Central Province)

• Gotronical Engineering (Jiwaka Province)

• Homes Purse Clean Energy (NCD)

• Pinpoint Consulting (NCD)

• Valana Poultry BSF Integrated Agro Farm (Central Province)

• Yaung Organics (Morobe Province)

The Innovation PNG Award for Corporate Innovation (sponsored by Vodafone PNG) shortlist

• Coffee Industry Corporation (Green Gold Card project)

• Coffee Industry Corporation (Coffee Export Management and Facilitation System)

• NCSL Savings and Loans

• NiuPay

• TISA Bank

The Innovation PNG Award for Young Innovator (sponsored by Moni Plus)

• Debbiealishia Kuamba, Areca Fluffy Pulp Project (Eastern Highlands Province)

• Anthony Tutmulai, e-Skul PNG (NCD)

“This is the fourth time the Innovation PNG Awards have been run and we had a record number of entries this year,” said Chair of the awards judging panel, Peter Williams, who is Chief Edge Officer at Deloitte’s Centre for the Edge in Australia. “Of these, around half were from small businesses, which shows that a lot of innovation is happening at grass roots level in PNG.”

“The quality of the entries was very high and the judges would like to congratulate all those who entered the awards. We look forward to announcing the winners on 3 June.”

The actual award winners, selected from the shortlists above, will be announced at a special awards breakfast on 3 June at the Hilton Hotel, Port Moresby. Peter Williams will be the keynote speaker at the awards ceremony on the topic: Innovation for everyone: how anyone can be an innovator in PNG.

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