Businesses soak up latest ideas for growth
INNOVATION weekends aimed at helping small businesses to grow could be held across Australia after a successful pilot program in Cairns.
Over two days, seven business owners from a broad range of sectors, including agriculture, construction and law, tinkered with drones and 3D printers, and worked with industry professionals to develop their ideas.
Believed to be the first event of its kind in Australia, the Innovation Weekend followed a series of Startup Weekends delivered by The Space at TAFE Queensland North over the past two years.
“The challenge with small businesses is that they are so busy just doing the work that they don’t have time to think creatively,” said The Space cofounder Troy Haimes. “They are hearing the term ‘innovation’ everywhere and how all levels of government are supporting it but they just don’t have the headspace or time to do that, so what we’ve done is drag them out for a weekend to give them that headspace but then also teach them some of the fundamentals around innovation, and help them to demystify it.
“In addition to that, bring in a lot of really cool, key service providers like programmers, designers and business development people to support them to build out their opportunity or challenge they’ve got for this weekend.”
Mangoesmapping director Alistair Hart hoped to explore the assumptions behind his company’s business idea of using emerging spatial technology to deliver crop health solutions for the horticulture industry. “What we’re seeking to do is help farmers to reduce the guesswork in managing their farming systems to provide them with a better insight into their crop’s performance and to help them achieve better efficiency and improve yields,” he said.
Mr Hart described weekend as “invaluable”.
“The skills we’re acquiring here are just phenomenal,” he said. the