Sally-Ann Williams

As the CEO of Cicada Innovations Sally-Ann leads Australia’s pioneering deep tech incubator supporting companies solving the world's most pressing problems through science & engineering. Cicada Innovations has nurtured hundreds of visionary deep tech innovators to validate, commercialise and scale high impact technologies globally across MedTech, HealthTech, AgTech, FoodTech, Clean Energy, AI, Manufacturing 4.0 and more.

Prior to joining Cicada Innovations she spent over 12 years at Google as an Executive Program Manager on the engineering team leading work on R&D collaborations with universities, startup and entrepreneurship engagement and pioneering work on CS & STEM education including building world first collaborations delivering national transformation.

Sally-Ann has been involved in driving national engagement and change strategies in innovation & entrepreneurship, Computer Science and STEM education as a member of the COAG STEM Partnership Forum and contributed to the foundation of StartupAUS, a non-profit with a mission to transform Australia through technology entrepreneurship. She has led several cross sector working groups to drive change both in policy & cultural transformation needed to grow a thriving technology driven economy, and served on 4 University Industry Advisory Boards in the engineering and computer science departments.

Sally-Ann is an experienced Non Executive Board member currently serving on the boards of Cicada Innovations, Biz Capital and AusOcean, an environmental not-for-profit organisation with a mission to help our oceans through technology. She has also been a Non Executive Director of World Vision Australia, and Fishburners. She is an advisor to several state and national working groups on tech & innovation and is a mentor and advisor to several industry and university incubators & accelerators including Startmate.

Sally-Ann is a frequent keynote speaker on topics such as Deep Tech, technology transformation, innovation & entrepreneurship, inclusion, business development, commercialisation and transformation.