- Posted on 3 Jun 2026
- 2 minute read
Some of the most useful ideas start as a question someone couldn't stop thinking about.
That's a fair description of what brought the 2025 IBISWorld 3P Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition winners to where they are now.
15 student teams worked across industries like energy systems, marine emissions, and medical diagnostics and spent months testing ideas associated with the 3Ps (People, Planet, Profit), responding to feedback, and building something worth handing to the world.
The 3P program gives student teams early-stage support: mentoring, structured feedback, and funding to help them move from an idea to something they can actually test. What it also gives them, as this year's winners describe it, is a way to find out what they don't yet know.
Tintelligence developed an AI-backed system for smart window tinting and HVAC optimisation, aimed at reducing energy use in schools and commercial buildings. The idea grew out of coursework on emissions in education settings, where heating and cooling can account for a significant share of energy consumption.
Working with industry experts, the team said, helped them sharpen both the technical and business sides of their work.
"The 3P Competition was such an important step in our individual and company development. Working with the mentors answered hundreds of burning questions and shaped our idea to where it is today."
They're now using their first prize funding for pilot projects and early prototyping, with interest from potential partners already taking shape.
2nd place winner Air2Energy came at the problem from the water. Their system captures CO₂ directly from vessel exhausts and converts it into usable energy, reducing fuel consumption while helping operators get ahead of incoming carbon regulations. For the team, the weekly rhythm of mentoring was what made the difference. "You're really able to pick apart multiple fundamental parts of the business. Getting feedback, working on it, and receiving feedback again made a huge difference."
3rd place went to REPARA, a multidisciplinary team drawing on biomedical, software, and systems engineering knowledge to build a rapid diagnostic platform that can deliver lab-grade insight into DNA repair activity within minutes.
Previous winners include an on-demand hiring service for contractors, industrial lift, a digital textbook service, safer, fashionable and practical scooter attire, crowd sourced fashion website, an online art platform, thermoelectric generation devices and a home automation system. Teams to be made up of 1-6 students and are eligible to anyone enrolled in a UTS degree whether it be undergraduate, postgraduate or HDR.
The competition has been proudly supported by IBISWorld since 2013.