Elaine Saunders is a lifelong entrepreneur with a distinguished record of launching and leading high-tech companies, pioneering research, and interdisciplinary innovation programs in universities and research institutes. A hearing scientist and clinician by trade, Elaine has led major studies on hearing in children and adolescents in the UK, the US and Australia, where she has co-founded two award-winning companies that have changed the face of the global hearing industry.

 

Elaine is recognised as one of Australia’s most courageous and hardworking entrepreneurs, with a slew of awards including the 2015 BioMelbourne Network’s Women in Leadership Award and the 2016 ATSE Clunies Ross Medal for Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2019, she was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering for her tireless support of Australian innovators and women in STEM. Her work with Bingarra partner Peter Blamey in designing a self-fitting hearing aid system has revolutionised life for thousands of people with hearing loss – particularly in rural and remote locations. Elaine is an influential mentor to students and researchers at Swinburne University, where she chairs the renowned Innovation Precinct, as well as Melbourne’s Bionics Institute and the Australian Innovation Research Group.