18 December 2023 Innovative Solutions Unveiled at Advance Queensland Symposium

About Queensland Connects

Queensland Connects is a regional entrepreneurship acceleration program that supports regional leaders to develop a detailed understanding of the strengths of their region or industrial sector. The program aims to educate and allow leaders to:

• identify local solutions that strengthen their region/sector’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem
• implement initiatives that build connections across the region or sector’s innovation ecosystem
• accelerate economic growth and job creation through innovation-driven entrepreneurship.

The program brings together teams who nominate to work on a shared vision and collaborative initiatives.

They focus on an identified regional/industry challenge or seek to unlock key regional opportunities that will help connect and grow the region or sector. The teams are made up of key regional innovation ecosystem leaders.

The teams from Cohort 3 and 4 of the Queensland Connects initiative showcased their groundbreaking work at Parliament House on 29 November 2023.

Cohort 3 teams

Cohort 3 teams focused on topics such as:

• enhancing business opportunities for first-generation migrants in Logan
• exploring advanced simulation and testing in North Queensland
• creating sustainable Community Energy Zones in Ipswich.

Uzman Iftikhar of Catalysr presented Logan's initiative to establish a hub for migrants and refugees to address challenges in navigating support systems – a major issue for people from Non-English Speaking Backgrounds.

The North Queensland team, led by Miranda Mears, is aiming to capitalise on simulation infrastructure for sectors like defence and health.

The Ipswich team, led by James Sturges, is exploring sharing local renewable energy to create Community Energy Zones – combining energy generation such as solar and wind, high voltage poles and wires, and storage to deliver cost-efficient energy to homes and businesses.

Cohort 4 teams

Cohort 4 concentrated on disaster preparedness and resilience solutions.

The drought and heatwave team, represented by Prof David Phelps and Suzanne Thompson, is working to create a Queensland Drought Resilience Alliance.

A team led by Veronica Kregor highlighted gaps in communication infrastructure and the need for Safe, Trusted, Informed and Connected communications (STIC).

David Batt outlined an opportunity to develop a game for primary school children to prepare for flood events.

Mark Crawley and Kevin Bell emphasised the impact of disasters on Indigenous communities and the need to include First Nations knowledge and better assistance to help people prepare.

The Connectivity team, led by Stephen Nicolson and Fraser Nai, addressed the need for improved connectivity in regional and remote areas, introducing the Connectivity Compass.

To help develop strategies and initiatives, each team has worked with the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and Advance Queensland, leveraging the internationally regarded Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program framework and resources.

To learn more about Queensland Connects, explore the Regional Futures initiative.