2022 Pilbara Summit - Collaboration and Connection in Karratha
The 2022 Pilbara Summit wrapped up last month. The fantastic event hosted in Karratha saw almost 600 people converge on the town to explore the economic growth, investment, development, productivity & innovation across this great region.
Henry Ford was quoted at the beginning of the conference, “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success”. And, the Pilbara Summit provided a fantastic platform to help establish that sense of working together to achieve success across the whole sector.
Our Newman Innovation Hub Lead, Natalie Jones said, "Being at the Summit was invaluable - to hear from leading experts about the developments and challenges that we all face Pilbara-wide, along with discussing future opportunities. It was a fantastic to connect and have open conversations with so many Pilbara business leaders. The main theme I took away from the summit was ‘collaboration’ which will lead us to more innovation, more efficient processes, and improved communication and success."
In the spirit of collaboration and driving Pilbara businesses forward, CORE hosted an innovation exhibition featuring two local companies, Wonbon and Magellan Power. Rory Bannon, Business Development Manager at Magellen Power said, “It was great to attend and exhibit at the Pilbara Summit under the banner of CORE. The summit provided us with a fantastic opportunity to make business connections and expand our understanding on future projects as well as industry themes for 2022 and beyond”.
With more than $170 billion worth of projects in pipeline across the Pilbara, there is an exciting and diverse portfolio of mining and resources projects and opportunities already underway including the expansion of activity into greener solutions such as renewables and hydrogen. The conference highlighted an exciting future for the Pilbara region backed by substantial capital investment from government and corporates.
The Pilbara Summit didn’t shy away from tackling some of the challenges that the community faces in leveraging these opportunities beyond simple inputs and outputs, exploring how the Pilbara region can leverage meaningful investment into the community through access to childcare and driving the employment rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
Investment into the local business community, including the small businesses and companies that support mining organisations help support overall growth in the mining and resources sector. This is crucial, and something CORE hopes to be able to provide practical solutions for with the opening of our Newman Innovation Hub later this year.
Our Business Engagement Lead, Renu summed up the Pilbara Summit well saying, “It was an excellent event put together by Informa Australia - with great calibre speakers and networking opportunities. The future for the Pilbara region is bright - and being able to connect with key stakeholders and businesses was such a valuable opportunity. It was great to co-exhibit alongside Wonbon Pty Ltd and Magellan Power as well as our Hot30 Innovator of the Year Award Winner GreaseBoss showcasing their unique greasing equipment”.