Another year in this hybrid world has passed and we would like to take a moment to recognise the thousands of Victorians who connected and exchanged ideas as part of the Digital Innovation Futures initiative. Thanks to everyone who took part in DIF this year. Together we delivered 45 weekly event alerts, 70 news articles, 245 festival events, 366 social posts reaching an audience of 20,000 via 38,000 event views, 68,000 video views and 75,000 social media impressions!The DIF team wishes you all a cyber-safe holiday and a happy new year. Save the date for the DIF2023 Festival The Digital Innovation Futures initiative will continue to showcase Victoria's tech industry and connect our digital innovators throughout 2023 and 2024. The DIF Festival 2023 will run from 23 August to 6 September across metro and regional Victoria. Read more in the DIF News. We look forward to offering DIF Community Calls which will kick off in February. In the meantime, if you’re keen to let us know what you are planning, you can submit an expression of interest now. Submit your EOI now In 2022, the DIF News featured award-winning leaders, digital trends, and opportunities from across Victoria’s tech ecosystem. See the latest stories below or read some of the 70 articles from 2022. StartSpace Scholarships announced State Library Victoria’s startup support service StartSpace has announced the recipients of the 2023 Lisa Ring and Family Scholarships program. Melbourne is an ANZ EdTech hub Victorian EdTech companies account for more than a third of the EdTech companies in the HolonIQ Australia and New Zealand EdTech 50. Pause Awards 2022 The annual business awards programme for ambitious and forward-thinking companies, Pause Awards has announced 50 bold winners for 2022. Start-up Gippsland keep connecting local entrepreneurs Start-up Gippsland recently received funding from LaunchVic to deliver the Start-Up Gippsland Ecosystem Activation Program. Got a story? Drop us a line! Shout out to the team behind the scenes The DIF Digital Marketing team was boosted by the talented Digital Jobs participants Michelle Bary (far left), Soo Ho Han (second from left) and Robert Piccolo (not pictured). Enjoying a rare moment in the sun, they were joined by Kelly Hutchinson (second from right) and Bayden McDonald (far right) from the Victorian Government. Thank you for #MakingtheDIF and we wish you well on your career journey. The Australian Sports Technologies Network has been accelerating sports tech for 10 years. Victoria is home to 44 per cent of Australia's sportstech companies including a 'super cluster' at the Australian Sports Innovation Centre for Excellence (ASICE) launched in Cremorne in March 2022. You can catch up on their DIF on Demand sessions below to learn more about the opportunities of this emerging sector which generates $2.72 billion annually in Australia. DIF2022 Women in Sportstech Panel As part of ASTN's Future Trends in Sportstech this webinar provides industry insight with Bianca Keel from Sportradar; Iris Cordoba, GSIC; Tod Bergstrom, University of Washington; Jasmine Lim, ASTN and moderated by Emma Sherry, Swinburne University. Watch on-demand now! Future of Sports in the Digital Age This ASTN Masterclass provides insights into how technologies are changing sports in the digital age. Featuring the TSG Hoffenheim Case Study from Harvard Business School, it exemplifies how technological innovations are used in football practice. Watch on-demand now!
A growing number of Victoria’s public libraries offer makerspaces as part of their suite of services but what does it take to be successful? Join Public Libraries Victoria (PLV) and Committee for Melbourne for Library Makerspaces, a showcase of both; innovative IT use in the public library sector creative community engagement, outreach and partnerships This event will be held online on Thurs 25 August, 10.00AM-11.30AM as part of this year’s Digital Innovation Festival. The event is free but please register here. What is a Makerspace? Makerspaces provide space, technology, equipment and encouragement to enable library users to create intellectual, artistical and/or physical materials. Equipment may include computers, 3D printers, laser cutters, audio and video capture and editing tools, as well as traditional arts and craft supplies such as sewing machine and overlockers. Makerspaces give community members access to resources that might not otherwise be accessible or affordable. They also foster social connection, encouraging patrons to learn from each other as well as from library staff. ‘Library Makerspaces’ showcases different examples of makerspaces in Victoria’s public libraries, outlining how they are activated and managed. Want to establish a makerspace? This event will be of particular interest to organisations keen to establish makerspaces and/or explore how to work in partnership with existing library makerspaces to deliver positive and creative outcomes for individuals and communities. This follows the success of last year's showcase where a selection of local libraries were given the opportunity to share their use of innovative IT and to provide examples of community and stakeholder engagement, outreach, and partnerships. The event provided Victoria’s local libraries with a platform to connect with the broader community, to help make our libraries the best they can be. Case studies from Moreland Libraries, Monash Libraries, Yarra Libraries, Melton City Libraries & Western BACE, and Yarra Plenty Regional Library, were featured as part of the forum. “Public libraries play a crucial role in bridging the digital divide. As well as providing free access to wi-fi, computers and other devices, library staff provide training and support to help community members navigate our increasingly online lives.” Angela Savage, CEO, Public Libraries Victoria This event is sponsored by the Victorian Government as part of the DIF2022 Festival which runs from 24 August to 7 September. The DIF is an initiative of the State Government of Victoria delivered in collaboration with a network of partners and is open for everyone to get involved.
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.