The Startup Network team celebrating their final Pitch Night of 2023 at MCEC. Left to right: Desmond John (Membership Manager), Dickie Currer (Head of Partnerships & New Markets), Vicki Stirling (CEO), Steph Hall (Head of Programs), Ryan Burns (Head of Community). Image: provided by The Startup Network The Start Up Network is ready to kick off a massive line up of tech events for budding entrepreneurs this year. The sector hit the ground running with over 150 bright sparks attending the AUNZ Startup Growth Summit exploring lessons about scaling Australian unicorns and the role AI will play in the coming year. Future entrepreneurs are also gearing up for a big year. Australia's leading university startup accelerator is even hosting their MAP Founder Drop-in sessions until the end of Jan in the lead up to their Info Night on 1 Feb. But the BIG news is that The Startup Network kicks off the techfest calendar with their Future Horizons Festival. This is sure to become a game-changer in the tech and startup world and we’re so excited its home grown in Melbourne. A stellar line up from brands Culture Amp, Canva and TikTok and a host of creative technologists, investors and industry leaders looking to drive the future, not just be a passenger. Then, get on the dancefloor and network in new ways – it is festival season after all. Inside the Future Horizons Festival Image: taken from Dickie Currer's LinkedIn. To get the inside story on this new festival, the DIF team sat down with Dickie Currer, Head of Partnerships & New Markets at The Startup Network. Can you tell us about the inspiration behind organising the Future Horizons Festival? The inspiration for Future Horizons came while we were planning an end-of-year party. The team had the brainwave of scrapping our plans to squeeze another event into an already packed calendar within our ecosystem, so we opted for a 'Start of Year' party, so that we could kick 2024 off with a bang! With that in mind, there was no better theme than ‘Future Thinking’. How do you anticipate the festival will benefit both aspiring entrepreneurs and established professionals in the tech and startup space? We're confident that there is content that will appeal to everyone within the Tech and Innovation ecosystem. Aspiring and Early Stage Founders will be inspired by the insights of people who have been there and done it before, and more established members of the Startup community will have the chance to learn from their peers and contribute to the conversation. The festival includes a diverse range of speakers. How important is diversity and inclusion in shaping the discussions at the Future Horizons Festival? Diversity and Inclusion is one of our core tenets at the Startup Network, so it was really important when putting together the Future Horizons. It's a responsibility that we have as thought leaders in our ecosystem to make sure that equal voices are heard and that people feel part of an inclusive community. The list of speakers from Festival Horizons Festival’s Day Program includes • Douglas English, Co-Founder & CTO of Culture Amp on the future of teams • A hand-selected panel of Australia’s most creative technologists including Konrad Spilva of Shadowboxer, Andy Lee of WilderWorld & Nicole Gibson of Love Out Loud. • Simone Attanasio, Group Design Lead at Canva. • Rachel Yang from Giant Leap, Tracey Warren of F5 Collective and Rachel Nuemann of Flying Fox Ventures. • Anthony Dever, Head of Brand & Creative Consultancy at TikTok Can you provide details about any interactive or networking opportunities that attendees can participate in during the festival to enhance their experience and connect with the speakers and other attendees? We have plenty of opportunities for attendees to connect. During our day session, we're hosting a lunch where festivalgoers can come together and talk shop. There'll also be a virtual platform to help get to know who is in the room pre, during and post-event. The night is all about relationship building in a different way, as we hit the dance floor for a good old-fashioned party. Personally, what are you most looking forward to experiencing at the festival? I personally can't wait for the debate! We have a highly talented panel of Investors who will be discussing the solutions that solve the gender funding gap present in our Startup ecosystem. It's such an important topic to highlight, and I love the format, so it definitely isn't one to miss. Finally, could you share any exciting plans or developments for the Startup Network or other events in the works? We've got a busy year ahead, with a huge National events program to boot. We'll be kicking off our pitching program in Melbourne with the Australian National Final of the Entrepreneurship World Cup before we hit the road for events outside of Victoria. We're also adding new programs to our existing repertoire and re-launching our successful scale-up cohorts. So, be sure to keep your eyes peeled for updates! With its focus on future thinking, diversity, and inclusive discussions, the Future Horizons Festival is not just an event but a platform for inspiration, learning, and networking. Head here for more information about the event, its speakers and ticketing information.
Photo credit: Startup Victoria Founder Connect at The Commons Cremorne July 2021 The Digital Innovation Futures Festival is returning for its eighth year to celebrate Victoria’s vibrant digital innovation ecosystem. From 23 August to 6 September, Victoria’s flagship tech festival will feature two weeks of events including hot debates, deep dives on the latest trends, insights from experts and networking opportunities. With accessibility in mind, DIF2023 Festival will showcase a dynamic, hybrid events program, so that everyone can experience the festival. The DIF Community has co-curated a mix of in-venue, live-streamed and on-demand events, ensuring widespread participation for all. In-person events will be hosted across the state, from panels discussions and debates to hackathons and conferences. And the DIF Hubs are back in Docklands at the Australian Computer Society, in Cremorne at the Cremorne Digital Hub and in Carlton at Melbourne Connect. Plus, DIF On Demand will continue to provide content for those on the go. The DIF team is also delighted to announce the launch of DIF Live – a twice-daily online learning opportunity that connects you with Victoria’s innovators, thinkers and makers. If you’d like to host a Lunch’n’Learn or DIF Download session, find out how you can pitch your #DIFlive idea. Mark your calendars from August 23 to September 6, as the DIF2023 Festival will be an inspiring journey that shines a light on Victoria’s digital ecosystem and invites all Victorians to be a part of the state’s tech community and digital economy. What’s on in DIF2023? The DIF2023 Festival program is officially live. Here’s a glimpse of some of this year’s feature events with popular favourites returning and exciting new sessions on emerging technologies, fintech, AI, cyber and more. DIF2023 Opening Event: AISA Cyber Debate 23 August - Melbourne Connect Battle lines are drawn, debaters make their case, the audience decides who wins! The Australian Information Security Association (AISA) once again leads the official opening of the DIF Festival with a lively debate. Join us at Melbourne Connect where two sides battle it out on one of the day's hot topics. Women in Emerging Tech Conference: Re-imagining the Future 23 August - ACS Dockands Presented by Women in Emerging Teach (WiET) and hosted by the Australian Computer Society (ACS) at the DIF Hub Docklands, this event will explore Gaming, Inclusive Virtual Reality and of course unravel the emerging tech landscape after the recent and growing changes in AI. Digital Summit: Driving Regional Growth Innovation 24-25 August - Bendigo Regional Development Australia Loddon Mallee, Regional Development Victoria, Public Sector Network and Delos Delta have come together to bring this powerhouse event to Bendigo. In driving regional growth and innovation, the Digital Summit will provide a platform for demonstrating and celebrating significant progress in digital and innovation applications in the Loddon Mallee. Intersekt/23 FinTech Australia 30-31 August - Grand Hyatt Intersekt returns to Melbourne with the largest gathering of Australian fintech companies, hubs, accelerators, policymakers, regulators, investors and advisors, devoted to examining, discussing and unlocking the potential of Australia’s fintech market. The Churchill Club Top Tech Trends Debate 30 August - Melbourne Connect Unlike anything else that exists in Australia, this event showcases the visions of five leading industry professionals and gives the audience the opportunity to vote on 2023’s biggest tech trend. Pearcey Oration & Victorian Entrepreneur of the Year Award 6 September - Melbourne Connect The Pearcey Oration and Victorian Entrepreneur of the Year Award returns as part of Melbourne Connect Innovation Week. This year, the Oration is by 2018 Australian of the Year, Professor Michelle Simmons. Michelle is CEO and Founder of Silicon Quantum Computing and Director of ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology. And that’s just the beginning… Keep an eye out for the next wave of DIF events, including DIF community events by the Committee for Melbourne, Startup Victoria and more. There is still time to get involved as an event partner and host your own event. #MaketheDIF and register your event as part of the festival.
The DIF2022 Festival is back to delight with debates, pitch nights and more! One of the things we’ve discovered over the last couple of years is that flexibility is crucial, and so the DIF2022 Festival offers a hybrid events program. Drawing from experience combining the benefits of remote access and in-person networking, this year’s program will offer a combination of in-venue, live-streamed and on-demand events, ensuring everyone can participate. The Festival will see the return of in-person events at DIF Hubs across the state in coworking spaces, local libraries and corporate suites. More details will be announced soon. From 24 August to 7 September, DIF2022 will showcase and celebrate Victoria’s digital and tech ecosystem, bringing together visitors from across the state and the region to share ideas, network and learn new skills. The DIF2022 Festival is the highlight of the Digital Innovation Futures annual program of events. Discover some of our feature events The DIF2022 Festival program is now live with more events being added daily. Below are just a few of this year’s feature events: The in-person Women in Emerging Tech Conference [has been so popular it is almost sold out and will now be live-streamed by Deloitte Digital so no one will miss out on the fantastic line-up. As DIF is all about the intersection of digital technologies and innovation, the inspiring Melbourne Connect precinct is the perfect venue for the Festival’s opening and closing events. The Festival Opening Debate will focus on the critical topic of cyber security, hosted by the Australian Information Security Association as part of the annual Cyber Day on 24 August. The Festival will wrap up on 7 September by looking to the future with the ever-popular Top Tech Trends Debate, hosted by The Churchill Club. ACS Victoria hosts our first DIF Hub Day at their Tech Innovation Hub Docklands. Opening morning with Bradley Deacon on Cyber Jobs and The Pearcey Foundation Roundtable will also explore the challenges of the future of work. The Emerging Innovation Summit 2022 (EIS'22) is a future-shaping event that offers the attendees a rare opportunity to learn from the world’s best innovators and thinkers with 35 speakers and 20 expert panelists. Opening on Sunday 28 August via Zoom then into the CBD for some interactive fun at Foy's Arcade hosted by ISPT. Why not spend a weekday exploring outdoor emerging innovation at Yering Station, in the Yarra Valley on Tuesday 30 August. We love a pitch night, and this year we have three! Startup Victoria is on the lookout for Inspiring Young Founders for their August Pitch Night. Silicon Beach will host two pitch nights, one virtual and one in-person. Infoxchange and Connecting Up are back with a dedicated webinar series for not-for-profits to support their digital transformation journey. The Committee for Melbourne is bringing its members together to tackle the opportunities and challenges of the digital economy. The Committee will host the Smart Cities Summit with nbn co, and an online forum with Public Libraries Victoria showcasing makerspaces from Docklands to Wodonga. Future jobs are in the spotlight with the return of the Victorian Engineering/IT Careers and Startup Jobs Expo on the closing day Wednesday 7 September via livestream. Enjoy DIF2022 in three ways Everyone is welcome and to make it easy to access, you can participate in one of three ways: 1 / Online 2/ In-person 3/ On-demand Join a DIF Live event online at set dates and times Attend an in-person event at a local DIF Hub or partner venue Engage with on-demand content on the DIF Online Event Hub anywhere, anytime It's not too late to #MaketheDIF The DIF2022 Festival has been launched but there are still opportunities to be involved by posting a session as part of the DIF On Demand program by the deadline 20 August. It’s FREE to be a DIF Event Partner! All are welcome to attend events and we encourage you to create your shortlist and register early so you can make the most of your DIF2022 experience. Interested in being part of this year's DIF2022 Festival? START HERE
Exciting news the Digital Innovation Festival is on again with a hybrid program of online and in-person events from 24 August to 7 September across Victoria. Event alert: Save the date #DIF2022 Festival The annual Digital Innovation Festival will return for a 7th year showcasing entrepreneurship, building digital capacity, and developing Victoria’s technology culture and innovation ecosystem. The festival, set across both Metropolitan and Regional locations, will run from 24th August to 7th September and will give people the chance to connect, innovate, and engage about the amazing opportunities created by the digital economy, which is what DIF is all about. A curated program of live and on-demand sessions with technology-driven innovation across the economy and community will play host to Victoria's favourite tech festival in its return this year, raising awareness, featuring emerging tech, promoting jobs of the future, helping businesses grow online, and celebrating digital inclusion. The 2021 the Digital Innovation Festival saw hundreds of events delivered by 80 partners to an audience of over 60,000 across the state. Many of the events are now available via the DIF On Demand sessions right here on the DIF Online Event Hub. Between now and September a curated program of online and in-person events will be developed, keeping festival goers up to speed on the latest IT trends and innovations. Picture: DIF Hub Digital Economy Day, Cybersecurity Panel at the Goods Shed 2019 Hybrid Program If the festival has learnt anything over the last couple of years it’s that flexibility is key and this year the DIF2022 Festival will continue to offer a hybrid events program. Drawing from experience combining the benefits of remote access and in-person networking, this year’s program will consist of in-venue audiences and live-streamed and on-demand events, ensuring that everyone will be able to take part. DIF Hubs A unique feature of the festival is the DIF Hubs, a place-based activation that provides a platform for a diversity of voices from across the Victorian innovation ecosystem. This year, the DIF Hubs program will take place across a number of locations, leveraging the existing regional and metro partnerships between industry, community and education venues, including libraries, to deliver selected events for their communities. The aim will be to create an experience that will support the digital transformation of Victorian business in the local community. How to get involved There are many ways to get involved in this year’s festival, you can attend a live or online event, meet in small groups at a local DIF hub or engage with on-demand content anytime, anywhere. Why not become a festival event partner? It’s free and easy to host your event as part of the festival, simply sign up, create your account on the online events hub and you are ready to go. If you need inspiration, want to pitch an idea, or simply want to learn more, join the DIF Festival community calls which are a great platform to connect with likeminded people, share ideas or brainstorm challenges. Come along to the next DIF Community Call to connect with others interested in hosting events in this year's Digital Innovation Festival. DIF2022 Festival Community Call REGISTER NOW Jun 9, 23 / Jul 7, 21 / Aug 4 and 18 Thursday fortnightly 2 - 3 pm The Digital Innovation Festival is delivered by the Victorian Government in collaboration with a network of partners.
The 2020 Digital Innovation Festival bought a new spirit of optimism to Victorians who participated in hundreds of online events, webinars and activities, live and on-demand sessions via the DIF Online Event Hub which became the place for people to tune in across the state. Without the usual constraints of location, thousands of Victorians, Australians and even attendees from overseas got involved across the two-week festival. The DIF2020 Festival saw Australia’s leaders in innovation, YBF Ventures announce the inaugural 2020 Online Startup & Innovation Awards and thirty thousand people log in to review finalists and vote globally! The Western Victoria Dairy Awards was delighted with the online format that allowed 3,000 views of their new YouTube channel. The Bendigo Invention and Innovation Festival saw over 4,000 session bookings as part of DIF2020. The state’s north saw Swan Hill’s Mallee Rising and Albury-Wodonga Innovation Showcase and Expo (AWISE) host multiple events for their communities and beyond. Students actively engaged with DIF2020 with 450 joining a Tech Graduate Skills Expo livestream and 150 high school students tuning in to Wangaratta’s Big Day In to learn from industry leaders. The final day saw 50 STEM academy students from Wyndham College join the Scienceworks High School Hackathon to address the big question of “How might digital innovations support Victorians to adapt to change?” The panel below featured speakers from Museums Victoria, Microsoft, Bureau of Meteorology and the Pearcey Foundation explored loads of questions that can be viewed on demand. DIF2020 offered opportunities for Victorians to lift their digital skills, learn about jobs of the future, and engage with technology such as AI and blockchain. Festival goers shared success stories, connected with innovators and entrepreneurs, and explored the potential for regional growth. Importantly they learnt about cyber security and privacy as they prepare themselves and their businesses for a rapidly changing digital future. Key annual events returned embracing new virtual formats including the Future Work Summit, an AISA Cyber Security demonstration, The Pearcey Oration, Emerging Innovation Summit, The Churchill Club’s Tech Trends Debate and NorthLink’s North and West Melbourne Data Analytics Forum, and many more in the annual celebration of Victoria’s digital and innovation ecosystem. Regional Victoria’s participation was at an all-time high, with people actively embracing the ease of online access. The Bendigo Invention and Innovation Festival celebrated 10 years of regional innovation with an optimistic look to the future of space, mining and manufacturing. The team at City of Bendigo stepped up with a full production to deliver #2020BIIF see pics below . Gippsland’s Binary Shift Conference, opened by the Minister for Innovation, Medical Research and Digital Economy, Jaala Pulford MP, was a huge success with international keynote agtech leaders SVG Ventures and local company PirateTV demonstrating how to add the entertainment factor into an online tech event. See below the Big Marker platform used for Binary Shift 2020. Startups found support during DIF2020 with 650 entrepreneurs attending LaunchVic’s new Ultimate Masterclass series. To look forward it’s good to look back and for the 5th DIF Festival, sessions from Startup Victoria’s 2018 Above All Human event were edited and offered exclusively as part of DIF On Demand until 21 October. Melbourne’s flagship startup conference, with humanity at its heart reminds us of the innovative spirit that will lead Victoria into a prosperous digital future. In a challenging year, DIF encouraged Victorians to think positively about our capabilities, our strengths and our future across all areas of technology. Feature photo: Finding Balance in Business: Health and Wellbeing with Technology, by Regional Rising, held on 25 Augist 2020 and can be viewed on demand.
We’re delighted to announce the Digital Innovation Festival #DIF2020 will run virtually state-wide from 21 August to 4 September. The #DIF2020 Festival offers something for everyone from exploring emerging tech to learning about jobs of the future or how digital inclusion can make a difference for communities. Our team has been hard at work adapting and innovating this year’s #DIF2020 Festival program to work virtually, giving all Victorians the chance to get involved in our program. There are already events being planned, and we encourage you to get involved and make the DIF. Likewise, our DIF Community are digital innovators, and we know they are excited to explore options for virtual, remote, online or hybrid events. Just check out what they've been up to lately on this very site hosting online meetups, webinars even whole virtual conference. Together we are sure to develop creative ways to connect, share ideas and keep learning. The challenge moving forward will be to ensure events are in line with restrictions put in place to slow the spread of coronavirus. Information about the easing of restrictions on entertainment activities in concert venues, theatres and auditoriums is available on the DHHS Coronavirus website and will guide our program development In the meantime, thank you. There’s a lot to be proud of. But there’s still a way to go. Restrictions have been eased, but limiting our movement everyday means everything. It means we slow the spread of the virus. We all have a part to play. It’s up to all of us to make this work. For details go to vic.gov.au/CORONAVIRUS Authorised by the VictorianGovernment, Melbourne