QUEENSLAND Tourism Industry Council (QTIC) has named Get Wet Surf School on the Gold Coast and Townsville-based online ticketing provider Local Tickets as the state’s most innovative tourism small businesses.

The 2015 QTIC Prize for Innovation in Tourism – supported by the Queensland Government, Qantas and EarthCheck – was launched three years ago to encourage and acclaim Queensland tourism’s most vital growth sector – micro and small-to-medium businesses. 

Get Wet Surf School was acclaimed for its innovative program to assist Chinese visitors become accustomed to the ocean and, often, learning to surf.

QTIC chief executive Daniel Gschwind said the judging panel chose Get Wet Surf School because the organisation’s business model was sound, well-researched, repeatable, and adaptable by other similar businesses.

“Get Wet Surf School introduced a clear, concise and repeatable innovation research process that enabled the business to review how they engaged with Chinese tourists and investigated how to further increase their market share of the leisure sector,” he said.

“Through collaboration with Griffith University, Get Wet Surf School introduced an International Visitor Management Process to ensure visitors had the best leisure experience possible with lasting positive memories.

“These behaviour management techniques focused on managing Chinese visitors’ ‘fear’ of the surf and instilling knowledge of the beach environment and how surf water is formed. This helped boost the confidence of Chinese visitors and created a safer environment.”

Get Wet Surf School won $30,000 worth of business support and other prizes, including membership in the Australian Institute for Commercialisation’s Velocis development program, and a dedicated public relations case study by QTIC. EarthCheck was awarded membership of the EarthCheck International Certification program, valued at $3,800.

Mr Gschwind highlighted Get Wet Surf School’s and Local Tickets’ efforts to foster innovation within the tourism industry to support growth of the sector.

“The QTIC Prize for Innovation in Tourism is an opportunity for Queensland tourism businesses to be publicly acknowledged for their dedication to develop products, services or processes designed to drive the industry forward,” Mr Gschwind said.

“Tourism contributes $23 billion in expenditure to the Queensland economy and employs 241,000 people. The QTIC Prize for Innovation in Tourism reinforces the importance of continually innovating to drive a competitive industry.”

The 2015 QTIC Prize for Innovation in Tourism was judged by a panel comprising Ron Apelt from the Department of Tourism, Major Events, Small Business and the Commonwealth Games; Professor Trevor Grigg from Carisgold and Tim Eldridge from the Innovation Centre Sunshine Coast.

In addition to Get Wet Surf School and Local Tickets, other outstanding tourism businesses that entered the 2015 QTIC Prize for Innovation in Tourism included:

Capricorn Caves (QTIC member)

Childers Eco-Lodge (QTIC member)

Dreamtime Learning and Hotel Noorla Resort  (QTIC member)

Flyboard Cairns (QTIC member)

Fun Over Fifty (QTIC member)

First Coat Festival

Straddie Camping (QTIC member)

Sutton’s Juice Factory and Cidery

The Goldfields Hotel and Finnigan’s Rest.

* The announcement of the QTIC Prize for Innovation in Tourism coincided with the global observance of World Tourism Day on September 27 to highlight tourism’s social, cultural, political and economic value. QTIC has acknowledged the contribution of its program partners the Department of Tourism, Major Events, Small Business and Commonwealth Games (Queensland Government), Qantas and EarthCheck.

QTIC is the peak industry body for tourism in Queensland, acting as 'The Voice of Tourism'. QTIC is a private sector, membership-based organisation which, since 2001, has worked to influence and shape the state’s tourism business environment.

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ONE of the world’s leading exhibitions on robotics and artificial intelligence took place in Lyon, France, from July 1-3, with a focus on developing smart cities. Australian robotics developers, universities and city planners will watch the showcase closely.

Innorobo 2015 featured more than 200 companies representing the full range of robotics applications, including industrial robotics and personal and professional service robotics. 

A clear focus for Innobo 2015 is how these applications, technologies and innovations can meet the challenges faced in developing smart cities.

Innororbo founder and CEO Catherine Simon said robotics was set to play a crucial role on the development of smart cities around the world – and by 2050, urban populations will account for 70 percent of the world’s overall population, up from 50 percent today. She said a Frost and Sullivan report predicted the smart cities market would be worth $3.3 trillion in 2025.

“At Innorobo, innovation directors from major groups, institutional players and even citizens like you and me at the general public session can share their vision for the city of the future, as well as discover and explore the technologies that will make them possible,” Ms Simon said. “At Innorobo 2015, both exhibitors and speakers will show us how to give meaning to a smart city approach and make it something more than just a simple technological showcase or large-scale project.

“We must always remember that there can be no smart cities without smart citizens.”

Ms Simon said the three “standard” pillars of the smart city were environmental sustainability, economic viability and the well-being of city dwellers.

Robotics and artificial intelligence will impact smart city fundamentals, including energy, transport, water, waste, safety, healthcare and education sectors, among others.

Initiatives are being rolled out all over the world and many of these will be showcased at Innorobo 2015.

For example, Asia has large-scale smart city initiatives like the Songdo district in South Korea and Singapore’s Smart Nation, which target leaders in the IT, energy and telecom sectors to implement a broad range of new concepts. Europe is making its existing cities ‘smart’ through new technologies and infrastructures.

“We believe in open innovation and a collaborative approach, and we staunchly defend entrepreneurship,” Ms Simon said. “This is why large-scale institutional projects and solutions offered by international groups have to be driven by the ideas and disruptive innovations that entrepreneurs bring.”

The plenary Smart Cities conference was July 2 from 2pm to 4pm featuring a panel of renowned speakers on the subject.

‘Senseable Cities’ was the focus of a presentation by MIT SENSEable City Lab director Carlo Ratti. He discussed how the increasing deployment of sensors and hand-held electronics is allowing a new approach to the study of the built environment.

“The way we describe and understand cities is being radically transformed – alongside the tools we use to design them and impact on their physical structure,” Professor Ratti said.

He addressed these issues through case studies and projects by the Senseable City Laboratory, a research initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the design office Carlo Ratti Associati.

National University of Singapore (NUS) associate professorMarcelo Ang covered ‘Sustainable Transportation using Robotic Vehicles for Mobility-on-Demand’.

“Easy mobility is an important capability to enhance the quality of all our lives,” Prof. Ang said. “Self-driving cars provide mobility-on-demand anytime and anywhere. Besides the convenience, autonomous driving provides a safe and productive environment, and an efficient use of resources.

“This talk shares our research group’s current activities in achieving mobility-on-demand using autonomous vehicles, in both pedestrian (malls, airports, parks) and road environments. The current state-of-the-art will be presented together with current challenges and our approach to solving these challenges,” he said.

Designing robots in a more ‘human-centred way’ was the focus of the presentation by Blake McEldowney, founding partner at ZINC. His topic was ‘Designing Citizen-Centric Robots for the Urban Environment’.

“As robotics becomes increasingly woven into the fabric of our lives, we see a need for robots to be designed in a much more human-centered way,” Mr McEldowny said. “Robots should only be developed if there is a defined need that solves a human problem, directly or indirectly. Interactions with robots need to be clearly thought through and the larger effect on society at large must be taken into account.

“With that in mind, we will explore how robotics and AI can be designed and implemented to improve the urban environment. As technology becomes ubiquitous within city infrastructure, we envision ways to leverage technologies like robotics to create citizen-centric cities. 

“Ultimately, we want to improve the lives of humans and we see ways that new types of carefully designed robots can help us in this regard,” he said.

The exhibitors at Innorobo 2015 and the conferences dealing with this topic are listed at the event site, http://innorobo.com/2015-exhibitors/, in the Smart Cities tab.

www.innorobo.com

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BUSINESS leaders and international economists from the UN and OECD, along with Australia’s leading social policy experts, will gather in Canberra on June 23 and 24 to launch Australia’s largest not-for-profit (NFP) member network and business partnership initiative.

The Power of Many CoAct conference will focus on how, through collaboration, Australia can address some of its biggest social challenges including unemployment, equality and youth issues. 

The upcoming The Power of Many CoAct conference seems set to facilitate a collaborative re-set of Australia’s approach to creating jobs – especially in regional and disadvantaged communities. 

The conference created by CoAct – the former Job Futures not-for-profit organisation – is bringing in acknowledged international experts, who have been developing successful programs to re-energise business and job creation, to work and collaborate with Australian community and business leaders.

The transformation from the Job Futures organisation, which has been successful over many years, to CoAct is driven by the experience that as the world becomes increasingly interconnected, employment is now inextricably linked with other community services. CoAct, today, is a national network of locally embedded community service providers working together to create social and economic opportunities for Australia’s disadvantaged, according to CEO Matt Little.

“They operate solely for community benefit and drive over 90 percent of revenue back into the communities in which they operate,” Mr Little said.

One of the key presenters at The Power of Many conference in Canberra is United Nations expert Marco Roncarati. Dr Roncarati is an economist and social policy expert for the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

Dr Roncarati said he was looking forward to the conference and is “seeking to serve and empower those in need, learn more and develop partnerships”. 

“In particular, I am keen to share my knowledge on youth issues and social sustainability,” Dr Roncarati said.

Another powerful insights session will be presented by Stéphane Carcillo, the senior economist for the Social Policy Division of the OECD. Paris-based Mr Carcillo will focus his presentation on ‘Lessons Learnt from Overseas’, providing rare insights for Australian business and community leaders. So will Ireland’s Kanchi Awards founder Caroline Casey, who is to present on ‘The Power of an Idea’ on day two of the conference.

In fact, many of Australia’s leading business and community identities are taking part in the conference and its associated workshop and panel discussion sessions, including Jenny Lambert of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Hero Construction Company founder Matt Lambert, OzHarvest founder Ronni Kahn, and KPMG head of innovation, James Mabbott.

The conference had also drawn participation from Australian Paralympic swimming icon Matthew Cowdrey, media presenter Waleed Aly and comedian and social commentator Tim Ferguson.

CoAct chief executive Matt Little said The Power of Many CoAct conference would be more than just coming, sitting and listening to people speak. 

“The theme is collaboration, and there's a focus on conversations, sparking new ideas and action,” Mr Little said. “We want to start a new way of thinking and doing to create a brighter future for all Australians.”

The Power of Many CoAct conference is expected to assist employers and community service providers to shape brighter futures for their organisations.

The conference addresses problems employers increasingly face as a shrinking talent pool means that the usual sources of recruitment are falling short.

Mr Little said, “We know that a diverse workforce is a better workforce. This conference will show you how to develop a reliable workforce in ways you never imagined possible.”

The conference will show employers how to activate corporate social responsibility programs through better cross-sector collaboration; easily increase diversity targets in their workforces and access government funding; reveal new resources and talent pools from outside the usual recruitment pipelines; connect with decision makers who can help solve urgent business problems; and place organisations at the forefront of solving issues such as youth and indigenous unemployment.

Community service providers and other NFPs will get value out of the conference from showcasing to the government, the private sector and the media; actively connecting with organisations to get ideas off the ground; introductions to government decision makers, thought leaders, and CEOs of like-minded organisations; and hearing from international speakers sharing overseas best practice methodologies.

www.coact.org.au

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