Australian ocean data company Tidetech has won the Small Business award at the 2026 Tasmanian Export Awards, presented at a gala dinner in Launceston on Friday. Now in its 32nd year, the awards recognise Tasmanian businesses building sustained success in international markets.
Tidetech’s operations manager, Kate Reid, accepted the award on behalf of the company and its founders CEO Penny Haire and chief scientist Dr Roger Proctor, who founded Tidetech in 2008.
“This means a great deal, particularly coming so soon after being named a Tasmanian Employer of Choice last month,” Ms Haire said.
“Roger and I started Tidetech as a two-person operation back in 2008. Seeing the team recognised twice in a matter of weeks, for how we build our business as well as for how we compete internationally, is enormously satisfying.”
Operations manager Kate Reid said the award meant a lot because of how Tidetech has grown.
“We’re a team of ten, 90 percent based in Australia and 80 percent in Tasmania,” Ms Reid said.
“Being small hasn’t held us back internationally. Our data is onboard a lot of the world’s shipping fleet, inside navigation and optimisation systems, and inside the tides feature on a popular smartwatch. Over 95 percent of our revenue comes from exports to more than twenty countries, earned from Tasmania and reinvested here,” she said.
Haire, a maritime navigator, and Proctor, a coastal oceanographer, founded Tidetech in 2008 on the idea that the tidal modelling used in ocean research could just as easily help ships save fuel and yachts win races.
The Small Business award is Tidetech’s second industry recognition within a month. In August, the company was named a Tasmanian Employer of Choice for 2026, acknowledging its workplace culture, flexibility and staff retention. State winners of export awards progress to the national Australian Export Awards finals in Canberra later this year.
Tidetech specialises in high-resolution tidal and metocean modelling, producing operational ocean data used by hydrographic offices, ports and maritime OEMs and software providers around the world. Behind that work is a small, highly specialised team of scientists, technologists and mariners.
For more information, visit tidetechmarinedata.com
