Recycle a Device (Rad) received the Spark Best Hi-Tech Solution for the Public Good award in front of a record crowd of more than 1000 people, including Prime Minister Chris Hipkins.
Set up during the nationwide Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, Rad had the goal of closing the digital divide for school pupils and young people in New Zealand by not only redistributing used laptops, but also teaching the engineering skills needed to refurbish the laptops, which also reduced e-waste.
The goal was to have 17,000 laptops distributed by 2024.
Mr Aitken, who grew up in Porirua, was partly responsible for the inception of Rad, which grew from an initiative he created as part of the Young Enterprise Scheme in his school days at Aotea College in Wellington.
He built his first computer in year 9 with the help of a friend.
As well as studying, he also travelled the country delivering one-day refurbishment workshops and providing technical expertise to the programme.
The award judges said the calibre of this year’s entrants was at an all time high, with a record number of new companies entering.
That made the task of selecting winners exceedingly challenging for the more than 80 local and international judges.
New Zealand Hi-Tech Trust chairman David Downs said it was "awesome" to see entries, finalists and winners coming from such a diverse range of companies from throughout the country.
The other key theme was how many New Zealand companies were making technology with purpose that could really scale internationally, he said.
The big winner was Auckland software company Cin7, which won the PwC Hi-Tech Company of the Year category.
The international judges said the company was a "shining example" of how New Zealand companies could win in highly competitive global markets competing against the biggest global software vendors.
It was early in understanding changes in ecommerce and omni-channel selling and supply chains and developed comprehensive and yet easy-to-use software in close collaboration with its early New Zealand customers.
Founded 12 years ago by a refugee immigrant to New Zealand, Cin7 globalised quickly with special focus on the USA market.
The company now employs more than 350 people across six countries.
The other big winners were Dawn Aerospace, which won both the hardware and emerging company categories, and Formus Labs, taking out the software and deep tech categories.
