To achieve Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame status usually requires a lifetime of achievement, but the changing nature of business has seen a young upstart join the esteemed ranks.

For games developer Halfbrick, the Brisbane-based company's induction was 2 billion downloads in the making.

Halfbrick was among six new admissions to the Hall of Fame on Thursday night, joining companies Blackmores, Queen and Walkers Limited and individual entrants Dimity Dornan and George Chapman.

Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame committee member Peter Little said Halfbrick's inclusion was a sign of changing times.

"We've got a long list of businesses and individuals who have made a great contribution over the life of Queensland's statehood and, if you look at the people and businesses we've inducted, most of them have been in leadership positions for 50 years or 100 years or more," Emeritus Professor Little said.

"But we recognise that business formation and business longevity has changed quite dramatically.

"There are a lot of businesses that, in previous generations, might have been set up with the intention of building them up over generations, but it's not necessarily like that anymore."

These days, Professor Little said, start-up businesses did not necessarily have the cross-generational aspirations that so many before them demonstrated.

"The reason we're not waiting for them to be around for 10, 20 or 30 years is that they might not exist in 10, 20 or 30 years time," he said.

"They may well, as is commonly the case, attract the interest of large multinational corporations who are prepared to pay huge prices to get that technology or that product into their stable.

"We'll see a lot of these new businesses rise and be absorbed quickly into a global network. Equally, we'll see some companies make a global impact with a technology, product or service that, in 10 years' time, will be made redundant by new technology.

"So we thought it was really important that in the case of Halfbrick, which has made really an astonishing impact in the gaming industry and especially mobile games, and we thought we should recognise them."

With start-up incubators such as River City Labs and Brisbane City Council's The Capital, Professor Little said Queensland was well placed in cultivating emerging tech businesses.

That had become apparent in Professor Little's discussions with Halfbrick co-founder Shainiel Deo, he said.

"You've got universities that are producing good graduates with relevant knowledge and hi-tech skills and he said, if you look at the cost structure, to do the same kind of thing in Silicon Valley would cost you many, many more times in salaries, rentals and infrastructure than what can be achieved here," Professor Little said.

"Plus we've got a very good lifestyle and the city is a very good city to live in, so the circumstances are good and there's enough capital in Queensland now that wouldn't have been here 20 or 30 years ago."

Comment was sought from Mr Deo.

On the other side of the Business Leaders Hall of Fame coin was Alderley-based Queen, the 120-year-old market leader in vanilla products.

"Queen is not a multinational brand, but it is an iconic brand and it is dominant in its industry," he said.

"Most people wouldn't know that it's a Queensland business and it's also a very thriving Queensland business."

Professor Little said the committee tried to balance each year's Hall of Fame recipients across eras, industries and regions.

"We have a long list – around 1000 names in total, although not all of those would be of sufficient standing to be conducted in the Hall of Fame – but we have a long shortlist and there are new people coming through, just like Halfbrick," he said.

"So we've probably got 20 or 30 that are always under active consideration."

State Librarian Vicki McDonald said the Hall of Fame documented and celebrated the individuals and businesses that had played vital roles in developing the Queensland's business landscape.

"Collecting, recording and retelling these stories ensures that these achievements are recognised and remembered now, and made accessible for future generations," she said.

The 2017 Queensland Business Hall of Fame inductees:

• George Chapman AO: Tourism pioneer responsible for the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway.
• Dimity Dornan: Founder of the not-for-profit Hear and Say Centre.
• Blackmores: An international vitamin and supplements company that grew from a small health food shop in Brisbane's CBD.
• Halfbrick: A gaming company that flourished in the app-based gaming space with Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride being downloaded more than 2 billion times between them.
• Queen: The 1897-founded food brand, based in Alderley, that is a market leader in vanilla essences, food colourings, extracts and other cooking and baking staples.
• Walkers Limited: The Maryborough-based engineering firm that was founded in 1867 which is now part of the Downer Group.

The Queensland Business Hall of Fame can be viewed at the State Library of Queensland website.