NSW Finance Minister Dominic Perrottet has given three enterprising companies $15,000 to develop and deliver their apps after they won this year’s apps4nsw competition.

Billed as ‘unleashing the creativity and skills of private entrepreneurs to solve public sector problems’ Mr Perrottet shortlisted 13 entries under three categories with the finalists pitching their app to a judging panel of industry and agency staff.

The winners were Appiwork, for its Towns Through Times app for the NSW State Records, a lovely nostalgic idea that lets you see historic photos of a neighbourhood as you stroll through it; Geddup’s The School Bell for the NSW Department of Education and Communities, so schools can share information with parents including forms and calendars; and an app by InductOnline called WeCare, which connects young carers with support services and each other.

“This initiative continues to be hugely successful and has led to apps that have made it so much easier for people to access government services,” Mr Perrottet said.

“A wealth of talent and imagination has emerged in the latest round of the competition and I look forward to seeing the winning entries come to fruition in 2015.”

Mr Perrottet said ICT continued to be one of the highest priorities of the NSW Government.

“This competition is an engaging way to harness community involvement and nurture talent in the ICT industry,” he said.

The NSW Finance Minister is known to be a big fan of apps. He has publicly backed apps that have irritated other NSW bureaucrats, notably ride-sharing app Uber and home-sharing app Airbnb calling them ‘the free market on steroids’.

“As someone on the Liberal side of politics, we should welcome the sharing economy as something profoundly conservative,” he said.