Special Reports

Exploration expenditure data for Australian Stock Exchange-listed exploration companies has confirmed last quarter’s prediction that expenditure could level out in the March quarter.

Perth company Cool Energy is preparing for field trials of a ‘gas sweetening’ technology that could allow dozens of ‘shut in’ gas fields around the world to be developed.

In universities, in public research institutions, even in the proverbial backyard sheds, vast numbers of inventive, creative types around Australia are looking for the next big breakthrough.

A new technology developed at Curtin University and currently being commercialised by Sydney company, Neuromonics, is seeking to change the widely held view that the medical condition tinnitus cannot be treated.

Gerry Monteiro narrowly escaped family tragedy twice in an eight-month period a few years ago when he almost ran over his son while reversing the family caravan down the driveway.

Embedded Technology Corporation is in many ways an archetypal early stage software company, driven by dedication and enthusiasm but with global aspirations.

Former Orbital Engine Corporation chief executive Kim Schlunke came to some interesting conclusions when he sat down three years ago to ponder the future of recreational transport.

Researchers at the University of Western Australia have licensed a technology that may lead to a new treatment for osteoporosis, the skeletal disorder that affects almost two million Australians.

Home-grown technology developed by private Perth company McRobert Aquaculture Systems has been promoted as having the potential to “revolutionise” the global aquaculture industry.

Cell Aquaculture

Perth investors who like the taste of barramundi are currently in the rare position of being able to select from an investment menu with three Western Australian aquaculture companies.

By seizing on opportunities in the market and focusing on becoming a wholesale distribution business, Australian Gypsum Industries (AGI) has cemented a place as one of this year’s Rising Stars.

In 2003, when WA Business News and Deloitte ran the first Rising Stars survey, the top-ranked business was advertising agency Gatecrasher.

With interest rates at their lowest levels in 20 years, the Australian mortgage market has never been healthier. But as rates have begun to climb this year, the number of new loan approvals is diminishing.

Niche markets can be hard to grow in, especially since marketing requires selling a brand and often the business concept.

Messages on Hold managing director Kym Illman attributes the growth of his business to a total focus on customer service.

Follow five simple business rules and growth will happen according to cook-chill catering enterprise, Total Catering Solutions director John Mitchell.

Growth businesses are organisations with an expanding presence and recognised brand.

National Lifestyle Villages (NLV) has set its sights on establishing 100 self-contained villages across Australia that will house up to 40,000 people over the next 20 years. And it’s well and truly on the way to achieving that goal.

When a company goes from a standing start to nearly 400 staff in the space of three years, you might think it would be time to take stock and consolidate.

PIVoD Technologies, a Perth-based provider of media on demand technology for use in museums, as well as residential and corporate systems, has secured a position in this year’s Rising Stars.

Balcatta-based Blackadder Group’s growing client base includes CBD high-rises, Goldfields and North-West resource projects, industrial complexes, including water treatment plants, freeway and rail repair, extension and modification, and offshore oil and g

What stands Change Corporation ahead of its competitors, according to the company’s managing director Rob Evans, is providing clients with a combined consulting and IT solutions service, but then going one step further and implementing the technology t

Kalgoorlie MLA Matt Birney’s unwavering confidence has propelled him to leadership of the Western Australian Liberal Party at the relatively young age of 35.

A date of completion has been tentatively set for the 50-million-ounce-plus Golden Mile that no Kalgoorlie resident thought would ever run out of gold.

For more than a century Kalgoorlie has been synonymous with gold mining and its associated industries and activities.

Confidence is high in Kalgoorlie’s residential property market, which is good for investors and home occupiers and bad for renters.

The term ‘family business’ is typically associated with private companies, yet people like Rupert Murdoch, Kerry Packer and Frank Lowy have proven it to have a much wider import.

The Paino family, owners of prominent South Fremantle business Sealanes, provides a telling case study of a management succession that has not run according to plan.

Bill Clough is a rare specimen when it comes to looking at dynastic Western Australians.

While the issue of succession normally focuses on fathers and their children, in some notable cases succession has initially passed from husband to wife.