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4. PRODUCTIVITY

4.1 BENDIGO INVENTORS AWARD

Document Information

Authors Brian Gould, Manager Economic Development. Responsible Pauline Gordon, Interim Director City Futures Director

Summary/Purpose

The Bendigo Inventor Awards (BIA) commenced in 2010 and is about to enter its seventh year. This has been an effective method to acknowledge and showcase inventors and innovators both in the Greater Bendigo region and beyond. In 2016 the BIA Advisory Committee was focussed on shifting the BIA to a more specific segment, namely the Emergency Services sector (ES).

This report seeks Council endorsement to fully transition the BIA to a new entity to enable the initiative of the City to reach a new, and greater, audience whilst retaining the concept of branding Bendigo as a City that acknowledges and welcomes innovation and inventions as a key economic driver.

Policy Context

Council Plan – 4.2.1. Promote Bendigo as a centre for invention and innovation through the BIA and associated innovation programs. Economic Development Strategy – 5.3. Business Support and Investment Attraction.

Background Information

The Economic Development Strategy provides direction on and promotion of many and varied initiatives. These are considered necessary to be implemented by, and for, the Greater Bendigo community to support continued commercialisation growth and employment generation in the region. The BIA is one such vehicle for this economic driver. Traditionally, the majority of BIA applications have come from Bendigo and across the State of Victoria. Following the end of year 2013 review, and supported by the interim Chair, operational improvements were initiated including the development of Terms of Reference as well as roles and responsibilities of the Committee. The need to elevate the BIA program to have a stronger commercialisation focus was one of the key strategic directions of the new Committee. To support this move, some of the changes introduced for 2014 included:

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• a new fully online application system and online support information for entrants; • strong social media presence and digital newsletters; • interactive links between CoGB webpage, digital and social media; • optional online ticket purchasing for Awards Ceremony; and • sponsorship of specific elements of the program;

March 2015 saw the appointment of a new Chair and the shift to Emergency Services as a “point of difference” of the BIA against other Awards conducted in Australia. As a result it was agreed to offer a major $10,000 prize to be awarded for an ES (entrant self-nominated) entry. In 2015 there was a change with the predominant number of applications coming from beyond the region. With the shift to an Emergency Service focus, there has been a stronger engagement from university students, in particular from the University of NSW. This shift to “Emergency Services/Emergency Management” focus has resonated with both sponsors and entrants to the BIA. Annual Application numbers Year: 2010 – 121 applications; Year: 2011 – 151 applications; Year: 2012 – 123 applications; Year: 2013 – 95 applications; Year: 2014 – 67 applications; Year: 2015 – 71 applications.

Report

Considerable effort has been made by members of the Bendigo Inventor Awards Group and the City through its Economic Development Unit (ECU) to promote the BIA to universities in Victoria and interstate and to try and reconnect to Secondary School students. Over the past six months, there has been an increased interest from the eight Victorian-based universities to work with the ECU around invention and innovation through both the BIA and the Bendigo Manufacturing Group’s supported initiative (known as Industry and Innovation Collaboration Project). Universities now see both the BIA and the City’s capacity to introduce universities to industry as critical and complimentary by maximising programs such as the Work Integrated Learning opportunities and Career Horizons and not “just the BIA”. La Trobe University, Deakin University, University of New South Wales and Melbourne University have all presented to BMG around their capacity to provide a link between their respective institutes and local businesses and have linked BIA as a positive vehicle for further development of industry/academia linkages. The BIA initiative has been instrumental in encouraging this engagement. The emphasis on emergency services/emergency management launched in 2015 now has a capacity to focus specific attention to universities around the broader issues of innovation and invention. The ability to maximise these opportunities have stretched the capacity and capability of the EDU. Sponsorship has become more problematic with the City of Greater Bendigo being the auspice body. Some sponsors have indicated a desire to have multiple years but are aware that the Council budget, for this (and other) initiatives, generally requires an annual business case as part of Council’s process.

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Consequently informal discussions were held with the Bendigo Business Council to seek interest in partnering with the Bendigo Inventor Awards and to explore the best options to enable the initiative, founded by the City, to reach its full potential. Over the past few months, these discussions have led to a position whereby the BIA group and the Bendigo Business Council Board of Directors believe a transition over 2016/2017 away from the City would achieve greater opportunities to “brand Bendigo”. The BBC is willing to work collaboratively with both Economic Development/City Futures and the BIA Group to achieve a shared vision and to work towards hosting the Bendigo Inventor Awards Program going forward. The BBC has proven expertise and capacity to support the BIA program to make this transition to a national, and potentially global, stage through securing the stewardship and investment of eminent businesses with an interest in emergency services/disaster management. This would require a period of time for the transition to build a combination of trust, understanding and operational capabilities between the BIA Group, the City and the Bendigo Business Council. In order to “best place” the BIA going forward, a number of deliverables will be undertaken in the coming months. These are likely to include: the completion of a three year strategy that articulates the current and future state of the Bendigo Inventor Award Program; A strategy to acquire national and international partners (sponsors) of the Inventor Award Program; Marketing collateral including print, digital and online material specifically to support sponsor acquisition; Market research to produce a list of prospective partner organisations to approach in 2016; Facilitated introductions to a decision-maker within three to five prospective partner organisations; and Support to close the deal with corporate partners.

Resource Implications

The City, through the Economic Development Unit budget, has a total of $70,000 for the Bendigo Inventor Awards (BIA) and the Bendigo Business Council (BBC) in the 2016/17 financial year. This comprises of:

Sponsorship of $20,000 on a partnership basis to advocate on behalf of businesses and/or undertake major business projects.

The BIA budget request is for a cash injection of $50,000 as part of sponsorship commitment through the EDU budget.

Officers request the maintenance of this level of financial support to the BBC up to and inclusive of the 2019/2020 financial year to have sufficient resources to appropriately administer the Bendigo Inventors Award. Additional support by way of venue hire (e.g. Ulumbarra Theatre) and the accessing of EDU and appropriate City staff to further promote and market the BIA to our extensive network is proposed. This would be an essential component of the City retaining its foundation status and more importantly demonstrate its “ongoing supporter function and commitment”.

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Conclusion The City has a tradition of being a catalyst for the establishment of initiatives in both the business and broader communities. The BBC and the City have a track record of a shared vision for Bendigo’s local economy and it proposed that the Bendigo Inventor Awards future direction will be best served by transitioning to the Bendigo Business Council. This partnership proposal has the capacity to further brand Bendigo whilst enabling the respective organisations to use their individual strengths to allow Bendigo Inventor Awards to reach its full potential. The Bendigo Inventor Awards Group, with support from City staff has provided the following draft recommendations to Council for its consideration. Bendigo Inventor Awards (BIA) group acknowledge the success of the Awards since its commencement in 2010 as the prime launching pad for both inventors and branding of Bendigo as the innovation City

That the group recommend to Council that its future optimal development and sustainability can be best served by transitioning the operations of the Awards to the Bendigo Business Council (BBC) with governance maintained by BIA group.

That Council continues to be an integral partner in the governance of the Awards, as well as continuing to maximise and build on the benefits achieved over the past six years and that,

Due to this transition, the BIA group recommends that three showcase events (and possibly other lower level events) will occur in 2016 in lieu of the Major Awards Event.

That the BIA group requests that Council continues as an ongoing partner in the Awards, supports the BBC through a partnership grant at a negotiated level until 2019, at which time the BIA will conduct a review of the Awards and that any further grant will be negotiated with Council.

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RECOMMENDATION: That the Greater Bendigo City Council:

Acknowledge the work of past and present members of the Bendigo Inventor Group and congratulate them on their achievements;

Recognises that the BIA has reached a point where continuation within the City’s Economic Development Unit would constrain its capacity to reach its full potential;

Acknowledge that the focus on emergency services/emergency management has created a point of difference that needs to be exploited as a true differentiator from other national business awards and that this focus has resonated with both entrants and traditional BIA stakeholders.

Congratulate both the BIA Group and the BBC for their willingness to work with the City to find a viable pathway to transition the Awards and to reach a new and expanded market.

Agree to the transition from the City of Greater Bendigo to the BBC to be effective immediately to provide the best opportunity for the development of BIA into the future.

Endorse a total of $250,000, to be distributed over the next four Financial Years in recognition of the City being the foundation body and a willing future partner.