Victoria Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub

Past Event: invitation only – Vic Hub Innovation Showcase

Vic Drought Hub - Farmland 1
    • Wed, June 21 202311:00am AEDT
    • 3:30pm AEDT
  • Deakin University's Waurn Ponds campus

This invitation-only event will bring together a community of innovators in agriculture across Victoria, to showcase the activities of the Vic Hub’s Innovation projects – across exports, climate resilience, biosecurity and digital ag – and build relationships for future collaboration, innovation and market adoption. 

Full event program here.

Overview: 

Incorporating a showcase of the Hub’s Innovation activities, panel discussions and networking opportunities, with invited guests drawn from previous speakers on the Innovation AG podcast, those involved in Hub’s Innovation activities being showcased, and key members of the agriculture and innovation ecosystem in Victoria.  

Our speakers include:

  • Cathy McGowan, Chair of AgriFutures Australia
  • Natalie Collard, Food and Fibre Great South Coast
  • Prof. Colin Barrow, The Deakin BioFactory
  • Simon Falkiner, Falkiner Ag
  • Sam Brown, Agricultural Innovation Australia

    EVENT AGENDA:

    11:00am –Networking Morning Tea

    11:30am – Welcome to Country

    Ashleigh Skinner, Wadawurrung Traditional Owner

    11:45 am – Vic Hub Welcome

    Sabine Tausz-Posch, Associate Director (Agriculture Innovation) at the Victoria Drought and Innovation Hub

    11: 55am – Key Note Speaker or Q and A – Cathy McGowan – Chair of AgriFutures

    12:10pm – 12:50 pm – Innovation Showcase

    Hear from university and researcher groups who will bring their latest projects to life … from innovations in pest detection to digital agriculture.

    Speakers:

    • Dr Jessica Henneken, Researcher, Agriculture Victoria: ‘Monitoring hive health’
    • Dr Sabine Tausz-Posch, Vic Hub Innovation Director: ‘Agrivoltaics: Integrating solar panels into existing crop production systems’
    • Sophie Hanna, Livestock Project Officer, Riverine Plains, ‘Maximising the utilisation of electronic identification tags’
    • Dr Rob Faggian, Climate Adaptation, Deakin University

    12:50 pm – 1:50 pm- Networking Lunch

    1:50 pm – Panel and Live Podcast Recording: “Building Innovation Teams – Getting Agriculture Research Out into the World”

    How do we better get new research to farmers… to start-ups for commercialisation.. or to Ag industry bodies to build on, distribute and use? Should we be incorporating a diversity of skills and building teams from the beginning of research? How can universities and industry better share knowledge and skills?

    Hosted by: Kirsten Diprose, Innovation Ag podcast host and Vic Hub Knowledge Broker

    Panellists:

    • Natalie Collard – Chief Executive, Food and Fibre Great South Coast
    • Simon Falkiner – Farmer and Director at Falkiner Ag
    • Prof. Colin Barrow – lead at Deakin University’s Bio Factory and Director for the Centre for Chemistry and Biotechnology.
    • Sam Brown – Chief Executive, Agriculture Innovation Australia

    2:25pm – Launch Vic Update – a brief upate on agtech opportunities by Josh Lipscombe, Community Programs Lead, Launch Vic

    2:30pm– Pitch Comp: “Powering Climate Resilient Food and Ag” – SPONSORED BY AGRICULTURE VICTORIA

    Co-Ordinated and hosted by Emma Coath, Managing Director of RocketSeeder

    Watch food and agtech startup teams battle it out in this rapid-fire pitch competition!

    Welcome Address:  Stephen Baud, Program Manager Agriculture Technologies, Agriculture Victoria

    • James Diamond, AirAgri
    • Sam Jewel, Urth
    • Simon Mildren, HiveKeepers
    • Garry Rosewarne, Agriculture Victoria
    • Nick Seymour, Farmo
    • Tina Funder, ALT Leather
    • Simon Burt, LB Agtech
    • Brook Kennedy, Fifth Harvest

    Judges:

    • Ben Baghurst, Farmers2Founders
    • Maxie Juang, SproutX
    • Michael Macolino, SVG Ventures
    • Phoebe Norman, Beanstalk

    3:15pm – Wrap and Networking

    3:30pm – Finish