Simon Poole is an outstanding researcher and entrepreneur with many years’ experience in the field of photonics. His achievements cover research as well as successful commercialisation of advanced technology on an international scale. As a researcher he was part of the team which developed the Erbium-Doped Fibre Amplifier (EDFA), which is now a ubiquitous part of the optical fibre networks that underpin the global internet. Poole has also led the establishment of an export-competitive photonics industry in Australia, having founded manufacturing companies in Australia that have generated high-value-add export revenues.