NATIONAL INNOVATION PROGRAM FOR RESOURCES SECTOR ANNOUNCED TODAY
Announcement posted by RIIT 09 Dec 2014
PERTH - The creation of an innovation ecosystem in Australia is crucial to the future productivity and profitability of the country’s resources sector.
This is a key objective of ‘Unearthed’, a national program combining ‘hackathon’ events and a technology accelerator. Details of the 2015 program were announced today by organizers Resource Innovation through Information Technology (RIIT) and on http://unearthed.solutions/
Four ‘Unearthed’ events around Australia will bring together top software developers, designers, and data scientists with mentors from industry. The events focus on quickly prototyping potential solutions to high-value resources sector problems.
According to RIIT representative Justin Strharsky, “The event format lowers the barriers to experimentation and expedites the development of proof-of-concept solutions. Essentially we’re crowd-sourcing multiple potential solutions to industry challenges.”
The winning teams from these events may be offered one of only 10 places in the Unearthed accelerator. The accelerator is a focussed 6-month long program that will help form new startup companies and connect them to industry mentors and customers. Participating companies will each receive $70,000 in seed investment to help them bring innovative new products to the resources sector.
The first startup to be accepted into the accelerator is Perth company Newton Labs. The team from Newton Labs took gold prize at the Unearthed event held in May. Their unique monitoring system helps detect oversized boulders in hard rock mining operations which currently cost the industry more than $100 million in down time each year.
Simon Vincent, Commercial Director of Newton Labs says, “We’ve been on an incredible journey since winning the event in May and we’re very excited to participate in the Unearthed accelerator.”
The technology startups coming out of the Unearthed ecosystem will create jobs, Australian export income, and industry productivity gains.
“Australian mining has experienced a steady decline in productivity over the past decade,” says Strharsky. “Most stakeholders believe part of the solution lies in innovation and the ability of the mining industry to more quickly adopt new technologies.”
Iluka Resources, present at the launch event today, is a key sponsor and data provider.
Alison Morley, Manager - Project Generation & Geological Services at Iluka explains what she hopes see from Unearthed:
“The first reason that I find Iluka’s participation in the hackathon compelling is because it will expose my geology team to people they normally wouldn’t meet. They will interact with mathematicians, software designers, engineers and be given the chance to collaborate with them. It will probably take them out of their comfort zone a little. The second idea related to Open Innovation that I find compelling is the chance we have to allow fresh eyes to look at some of our problems. …We look forward to our interaction with the Unearthed teams and seeing where this collaboration will take us and our business.”
In 2014, Unearthed received support from Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Gold Fields, The Australian Government Department of Industry, Landgate, Amazon Web Services, and others. New supporters in 2015 include Iluka Resources, Austmine, acQuire Technology Solutions, and Spacecubed.
The potential of the Unearthed program to accelerate innovation in the resources sector has earned it the support of the peak industry bodyfor the mining equipment, technology and services (METS) sector, Austmine. According to Austmine CEO Christine Gibbs Stewart,
“Austmine is very pleased to support Unearthed. It is this kind of fast innovation and collaborative energy which is needed to really crack the challenges which global miners face. It is a very exciting program from both the point of view of accelerating innovation into mining supply chains, and as an important catalyst in helping high-tech, highly innovative start-ups to grow.”