CORE in 2022 - What a year!

What a year it has been for CORE Innovation Hub! 

From humble beginnings the CORE network has now grown to include three Innovation Hubs across two States as well as our appointment as the operator and activator for WA’s Australian Automation and Robotics Precinct (AARP). 

The Hub network supports our ecosystem nationally by providing the space for your business to grow, access to programs that build capability and the opportunity to validate your products and services with industry at every level. 

2022 started strong with the announcement of the our Hot 30 Awards, celebrating some of the nation’s top innovators in developing industries, contributing to the vibrancy of the sector and offering fresh ideas that will encourage long term resilience in the economy and the creation of new highly skilled employment opportunities. The national Award ceremony was hosted at Ayers House in Adelaide with a satellite ceremony in Perth. 

The Awards, sponsored by Western Australia Department for Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation, The South Australian Department for Energy and Mining, Wrays, and  METS Ignited saw another 30 innovators inducted into the Hot 30 Hall of Fame and for the first time 6 individual companies awarded across six categories: 

• Innovator of the Year - GreaseBoss

• Women Led Innovation - Cheeditha Energy

• Sustainability Innovation - Wildfire Energy

• Emerging Industry - Great Cell Energy

• South Australian Innovation - 1414 Degrees

• West Australian Innovation - DipTek

A huge congratulations to all the nominees and winners. The full 2022 list of companies can be found here. 

Another major milestone for the business was the establishment of our first regional innovation hub in Newman, East Pilbara, in partnership with BHP. We are so pleased to have a purpose-built space to support resilient business growth for regional operators in Newman and across the broader Pilbara regions. 

Natalie Jones joined CORE as the Newman Innovation Hub Lead and has already made an impact within the local community, hosting workshops including Tender Writing Skills with Tender Relief and Business Pitching and Public Speaking with Chatterbox Public Speaking. 

“I am so excited to work for CORE - it gives me the opportunity to be part of building a vibrant roadmap for the future and feel a close connection with our local community. 

I want to be at the forefront and make a positive impact in our town. Living and working in a remote community has shown me how businesses operate and unite, there is a real passion for helping one another and wanting the local economy to thrive”, said Natalie.

CORE Innovation Hub, Newman was a proud sponsor of the Newman Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Business Excellence Awards where Natalie presented the Innovation in Energy and Mining Award along with a cheque of $5000 to local Newman business, Mark Keogh Training. 

In partnership with ADAPT by Design, CORE Innovation Hub, Newman also launched a business development six month scholarship that along with access to our Hub, will help Pilabra based businesses develop and implement strategies to achieve long term success supported by a dedicated business mentor. ADAPT by Design is the platform that transforms businesses into high-achieving, resilient organisations that are wonderful places for people to work. Valued at more than $6000, we are pleased to confirm that scholarship recipients include Newman Graffiti Removal, Serene Bedlam and Mark Keogh Training. 

CORE Innovation Hub, Newman hosted the first ever CORE Innovation Zone at the Pilbara Summit at the Arts Red Centre in Karratha. CORE team members were joined by with local businesses, 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”.

Things have been busy at CORE Innovation Hub Adelaide as well with a number of ecosystem events including the South Australian Department of Energy and Mining Copper to the World Conference, SAH2H network, Future Energy Week, the inaugural Climate Tech Meet Up in conjunction with Climate Salad and the Digitalisation in Mining Conference.

As part of our ongoing partnership with the South Australian Department of Energy and Mining, we have secured additional space at Lot Fourteen to expand Hub operations into a new purpose-built facility. We look forward to welcoming our first members and residents to join the Hub early in 2023.

Melissa Geue joined the Adelaide team in the role of Innovation Hub Lead and has been a driving force in bringing the Hub online and growing and nurturing the broader energy and mining ecosystem both in South Australia and at a National level. Geared toward driving a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship across the energy and mining industry, in 2023 Melissa will be launching regular professional and social activities including workshops and networking events to drive connection and collaboration. 

A final highlight of the year was to be a judge for the South Australian Department of Energy and Mining Awards Premiers Awards in Energy and Mining. The Awards demonstrated the considerable talent we have in South Australia along with the exceptional level of innovation the state is contributing the industry globally and we extend our congratulations to all of the finalists and winners. 

Of course, our Perth Community and CORE HQ has continued to go from strength to strength under Renu’s leadership. 

One of CORE’s key focuses is on helping founders, innovators and small to medium businesses to be able to build both capacity and capability so they can take their business forward and continue to demonstrate resilient growth in the future, even as the sector grows and evolves as well. Renu has used this to guide the development of the Perth ecosystem this past year introducing two new regular events - CORE Connects and Tech Talk Tuesdays along with a number of conference activations including IMARC and WA Mining Conference, development programs with two rounds of CORE Start in 2022 and a number of industry-led panels including events with Oz Minerals and Safe AI.  

We were pleased to bring on METS Ignited as the sponsor of Tech Talk Tuesdays. Kylah Morrison began facilitating the lunch and learn style event, inviting industry leaders to discuss innovation and technology development within the energy and mining sector. 

The introduction of the CORE Connect Conversation Series saw a number of high profile speakers join the CORE community including Rob Daw, CIO of Hexagon Mining, Carlie Byrne, Principal Geophysicist, Rio Tinto, Mariel Renteria, Principal Innovation & Ventures, BHP, Stuart Midgley, CIO, DUG, Matthew Hart, CEO, Soter Analytics, Coert Du Plessis, CEO, MaxMine, Bibhrajit Halder, Founder & CEO, SafeAI & Shane Clark,  General Manager Estimating and Technical, MACA, Charlie Gunningham, Director, West Australian Department for Jobs Science Technology and Innovation and Nick Bentley - CEO, Oceania Marine Energy & METS Ignited. Each of the incredible speakers brought their own unique insights to the challenges we face from years of experience within the industry. The value they bring to our community to innovators is second to none and we thank them all for giving up their time to share with our community. 

CORE Start, our 12 week entrepreneurial development program saw 10 companies graduate this year including NGMX, Kara Ged, S5 Systems, Ezi Fix Condition Monitoring, Team Agency, Cheeditha Energy, WorkbenchX, Technautics, Industry OneCARD, and QL Space. Each of the 10 founders got the opportunity to work on refining their business pitch with a seasoned industry entrepreneur who donated their time, working alongside the founders as Mentor. We thank Jasmin Ward, Nick Saunders, Alex Bertram and Bill Withers for their time and investment in the next generation of business leaders. 

CORE delivered an Innovation Zone at the WA Mining Conference with Ai Spanner, Camp Connect, Flanders and Tau5. Each of these companies got the opportunity to exhibit at the conference and it was fantastic to showcase exciting energy and mining innovators and technologists in our ecosystem. Zane Prickett, Director, CORE Innovation Hub & Peta Chirgwin, CORE Start Alumni and Mining Automation Consultant and CEO, PETEC and Chameleon Mettle Group also hosted a panel on hot the digital world will change the way people need to be trained exploring how soft skills will most likely be required to be coupled with a technical foundation as we move into the future of work. 

In November, the team then headed over to IMARC in Sydney, hosting another Innovation Zone on the exhibition floor, this time with Sentient Computing, RWDI, Soft Rigging Solutions, Techenomics, Exor Oceania and Carbonix. It was fantastic to see the industry gather together and discuss ways we can work towards a more sustainable and future-proof industry. Tamryn Barker, co-founder of CORE and CORE Skills lead presented on the outcomes to date of our data science program, CORE Skills and Co-Founder & Director, Brodie McCulloch spoke as part of Industry Panel Discussion: Forming Consortiums and Collaborating on Finding Solutions. I was also lucky enough to facilitate The Arkani Ngura Innovation and Technology Centre Panel at the conference as well. 

CORE Hub Perth rounded out a jam-packed year with West Tech Fest, the highlight being Rotto Tech Fest where once again, I was lucky enough to host the Practical Steps & Initiatives to Decarbonisation - A Resources Sector Perspective with Louis Kent, Practice Lead Group - Decarbonisation, South32; Owen Barrett, Study Delivery Lead – Rail Decarbonisation, Rio Tinto; Samantha Langley, Sustainable Business Development, BHP; and Coert Du Plessis, CEO, MaxMine. 

As we moved into the final quarter of 2022 we were thrilled to be appointed as the Operator of the Australian Automation and Robotics Precinct (AARP), in Perth’s north, by DevelopmentWA. Led by Tamryn Barker, the Australian Automation and Robotics Precinct will serve as a development and testing ground for research and development, and training in autonomous, remote operations, and robotic systems and equipment.

The strategy is to create and manage access to a globally linked and locally relevant test facility with test laboratories, virtual laboratories and design co-labs.

Access to planned facilities will provide precinct users and researchers the opportunity to accelerate technology and analytics testing and scaling, without interrupting on-site production and activities.

A big CORE welcome to Alex Bertram who joined the team as Industry & Innovation Lead for the Australian Automation & Robotics Precinct. "One of the biggest barriers to introducing new ways of working isn't the availability of new technologies - we have that in spades - it's building enough TRUST with frontline operations leaders to let us 'try a new thing thing' in the real world. 

By bringing a diverse range of industries, local/global experts, technologies, research and more together with our world-class facilities we'll harness the diversity of thought we need to solve some of our state, countries and globes biggest challenges", said Alex. 

We couldn’t be more proud of the work our team has achieved in 2022. Our efforts were gratefully summed up by Coert du Plessis at West Tech Fest when he said, “I want to shout out to CORE Innovation Hub. CORE has done so much work to bring innovators and miners together". 

As important as it is to reflect on the achievements of not just our team but the broader ecosystem, we are excited to look forward to 2023 and continuing to build on the incredible momentum that has been created this year. 

There are a great number of opportunities to be part of the action in 2023, starting with the announcement of the 2023 Hot 30 Awards in March, the opening ceremony of our expanded Adelaide facilities, and the Austmine Conference in Adelaide in May -  we certainly have some exciting things planned! Reach out to the team - join the ecosystem that supports more than 4,500 innovators across the energy and resources sectors. 

Rest, relax, reboot, and see you in 2023! 

Renee Hakendorf
National Innovation Hub Lead