The third forum in The Next Crop initiative will be held at the Armidale Bowling Club on May 3, kicking off at 5.30pm.
The Q&A style discussion panel will focus on regional energy security, communications solutions, online business and where rural communities can begin with simple, positive change.
The forum is a platform for innovation. Among those on the panel who will bring experience and and solutions-focused thinking around energy for regional communities will be Armidale local, Adam Blakester, Starfish Initiatives.
Mr Blakester is the founder of Starfish Initiatives, an innovative charity and one of the only rural and regional sustainability specialist organisations in the world.
His specialisation is creating change for sustainability in areas including energy, reconciliation, youth, farming, housing, habitat restoration, governance and leadership. He will share insights into what he has learned from multiple projects.
Other topics will include the forgotten internet connectivity solution, Ngara, developed by CSIRO. Peter Carter, from CSIRO’s Data61 new industries team innovation partnerships says this technology is “an extraordinary opportunity lost” and will explain pathways the regions might take to get this existing technology implemented.
Another panelist who is already making use of internet access is Tamworth’s Edwina Sharrock, mother, midwife and founder of online business, Birth Beat.
She said in the past 15 years 41 per cent of maternity units in Australia have closed, mainly in rural, regional and remote areas and this was something Mrs Sharrock was successfully addressing.
- Visit theland.com.au/news/next-crop or contact The Land, (02) 4570 4498.