Computer scientist is a high achiever
Computer scientist Dr Elena Kelareva of Warragul hadn’t even heard of Regional Development Victoria’s prestigious leadership and innovation award until she was nominated for it.
Dr Kelareva, who has a PHD in computer science, said she was surprised to prevail over hundreds of nominations to take RDV’s top award on the awards night, which celebrated regional Victoria’s high achievers.
“I hadn’t even heard of the award until a friend suggested making a nomination,” she said.
“It was a quick nomination, we had just a few days to write.”
Having left Google last year, Dr Kelareva began to follow her passion and founded GippsTech with the vision of growing regional start-ups and tech communities.
Starting the year with three employees, Dr Kelareva said her staff would increase to nine before the year is out.
“Technology has so much potential for increasing jobs, and we’ve been helping businesses to reach their potential,” she said.
Dr Kelareva also founded Binary Shift, which was Gippsland’s first conference on innovation, technology and startups. The event brought together Australian and international leaders, receiving good feedback from attendees. It was one of the flagship regional events in the Victorian Digital Innovation Festival.
“There is growth and interest” she said.
“In our second year we had 140 SNDs (smart network data services) attending, with people coming from as far as Perth.”
Award winners each received a choice of $2000 or air time packages on Prime television, along with trophy.