Innovatia

FUTURE PROOFING FOOD AND FIBRE Queensland’s reputation for producing high quality, safe and trusted food and fibre is being boosted by AgTech’s innovative technology delivering essential products and services at home and across the globe.

D rone-to-tractor technology that targets weed kill, reducing the use of herbicides by more than 95 per cent. Satellite images that digitise agronomy and enable farmers to track crop and pasture per- formance, efficiently and cost-effectively. Sensors that continuously monitor plant and animal health. An App that targets work, health and safety pro- cesses and does away with cumbersome paper- work, saving time and money.

The Queensland AgTech Roadmap 2023-2028 is accelerating digital innovation and adoption across the state, the nation, and the world. Improving efficiencies, profitability, sustaina- bility and reliability, AgTech innovations include hardware and software, business models, new technologies and new applications. It’s a success story that’s estimated to boost the value of Australia’s farm output by $20.3 bil- lion annually, a 25 per cent increase on 2014-15 levels.

providing this type of support through Advance Queensland’s investment in the Toowoomba Agtech and Logistics Hub, which is fostering a collaborative ecosystem delivering ag-tech solutions to help producers meet domestic and export demand using less inputs and in a more variable climate. Local capacity building and innovation hubs are important, but we also need to see more support from corporate Australia to truly unlock the wealth and talent of regional communities. The talent is here, technology to support remote working is improving rapidly, and regional peo- ple are proven to be adept at solving real-world problems. There is a massive opportunity for us as a nation to put more energy into unearthing our regional movers and shakers, and give them a platform to genuinely engage with our innova- tion ecosystem.

speed to market, service provider capability and diversity, and infrastructure including transport and internet. How do we unlock the latent potential of regional entrepreneurs and innovators? Investing in innovation precincts and places is one important way to ensure regional SMEs, start-ups and entrepreneurs can access training, mentoring, networking opportunities, work- spaces, specialist equipment, and technical expertise. This helps quickly connect them into industries and networks they might not other- wise have had access to. Advance Queensland’s A Place to Innovate strat- egy set out the government’s plan to develop the state’s innovation places, and facilitate more research and business collaboration to enable more partnerships and contracts between cor- porates, start-ups and SMEs. We are already seeing the benefits of

INNOVATIA

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INNOVATIA

| Queensland Economic and Innovation Special Report

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