How drones can save lives, money and the environment

Dr Catherine Ball says drones suffer from a bad reputation. “People think a drone is a little toy or something that delivers a bomb,” she says. “You’ll hear about people flying them illegally and crashing into things, or using them to take photos of their cheating spouses and stuff like that. And that’s what bothers me. This technology is so powerful, so egalitarian, so capable of doing so much good.”

A world leader in drone research, UK-born Ball has delivered a number of firsts by using these unmanned flying machines in environmental and infrastructure surveying. Her drones have monitored bushfires, coral reefs, turtle activity and even pest species, and gathered a range of data to assist in effective ecological and engineering processes.

She explains that it’s not so much drones but rather the data they collect that interests her. “I don’t really geek out on the next big, shiny, hybrid things,” she says with a laugh. “What I love is the idea that something is able to get you information or deliver something that you’ve not been able to do before.

“This technology is so powerful, so egalitarian, so capable of doing so much good.”

“Drones are a great way of translating patterns in nature and enabling us to see them from the place that we would never get to, because it’s either too expensive or the satellites aren’t good enough with resolution, or it’s just far offshore, or it’s just far inland, or it’s just too dangerous to go there. We can go there now and that’s what excites me.”

Ball is currently exploring how drones can be used in humanitarian work, such as delivering blood to remote locations in Africa, assisting people in the aftermath of a cyclone and sending food supplies into conflict zones. She cites the bombing of a UN aid convoy that was delivering food to a rebel-held area near Aleppo in Syria, and adds: “I sit here so frustrated because I know we have the technology already and these people do not need to die.

“You can deliver food using unmanned helicopters that can carry two tonnes. To me, it’s an absolute no-brainer and I’m still shocked that we take so long to actually have that pathway from a realisation that technology can do something, to actually allowing it to do it.”

“It’s just scaremongering to say the robots are coming to take our jobs.”

Ball has a PhD in spatial ecology and is keen to see more women in science and technology fields. She works with groups such as She Flies to promote gender equality in science, technology, engineering, the arts and maths (STEAM) careers. And as managing director of the Elemental Strategy consultancy in Brisbane, she helps clients develop both innovative business strategies and the skills needed to deliver them.

In 2015, she was named Telstra National Business Woman of the Year for her groundbreaking work using drones for marine fauna surveys. The data they collected was used to create 3D-walkthroughs of remote islands, so scientists could assess turtle rookeries without leaving the office.

For Ball, technology is not a threat but a tool. She believes drones will make our working lives more efficient, rather than take jobs away.

“Our agricultural economy is set to increase exponentially over the next 10 years,” she points out. “These technologies are going to enable us to work much more efficiently and look for pests and weeds and manage our crops much more effectively. It’s just scaremongering to say the robots are coming to take our jobs. The robots are coming to make things more effective and more safe, which means we can do more.”

How creativity and innovation help make happy customers

Mark Wengritzky believes creativity is the greatest competitive advantage that humans have over machines, so he’s often puzzled why companies invest in innovative technology but don’t put the same money into innovative thinking.

“Too many companies think that being innovative is about building an app or getting the latest and greatest technology,” he says. “Technology is just an enabler. Creativity is the real source of innovation.”

As business development manager of Akqire, a Melbourne-based product development and innovation company, Wengritzky specialises in helping organisations come up with creative ways of reaching their customers and expanding their business. Rather than working as a traditional marketing company, Akqire helps companies cut through advertising noise to reach the heart of their customers.

“If you want to be at the forefront of change, creativity is something that needs to be celebrated.”

“A lot of companies are spending so much money on marketing without actually looking at what their customers want,” he says. “We help companies create innovative products and services by looking at who their customers are and what their pain points might be.”

Brightday, an online platform that aims to make it easier for people to make choices about their superannuation, is one example of Akqire’s work. Akqire’s research showed that people were looking for greater control over their investment decisions, so it worked with Eureka Report to design a new model for advisory services. The Brightday platform provides investors with research and knowledge to assist them in managing their own superannuation.

Sometimes a company’s culture is its own impediment to innovative thinking, says Wengritzky. “Companies know they need to innovate and they may have innovation teams and gather customer insights, but their culture often gets in the way. It may be that people just want to follow their boss’s ideas to keep them happy without ever saying what their own ideas might be. It just means that the breadth of ideas become restricted.”

Mark Wengritzky

Mark Wengritzky believes more companies should invest in creativity (Photo: Eamon Gallagher)

He adds that businesses may need to think beyond their traditional service offering if they want to remain relevant to their customers. He points to the challenges insurance companies face in engaging with millennials. “Instead of following a traditional approach to marketing or engagement, why not look at what is changing within the demographic, what they want now and what service they might need that’s not necessarily insurance in its traditional form,” he suggests.

It’s this kind of creative thinking that can lead to innovative solutions. “If you want to be at the forefront of change, creativity is something that needs to be celebrated.”

Can Geelong be the innovation capital of Australia?

Innovation is more than a buzzword into one of Australia’s largest provincial cities, Geelong.

The Victorian city joins South Australia’s Adelaide in establishing an innovation hub in which tech startups are encouraged to set up shop amid a culture that encourages digital disruption in what is already a multi-billion dollar industry for the two states.

Replacing manufacturing with start-ups

Working with private enterprise is the startup initiative LaunchVic , nurtured by a state government $60 million investment. As in Adelaide’s Tonsley, Geelong’s digital innovation drive is helping fill an employment and industry void following the departure from the area of a major car manufacturing business.

It is bringing together leading-edge institutions and companies to connect with startups, business incubators and accelerators in a high-value industry, research, education and residential precinct, says LaunchVic CEO Kate Cornick.

Cornick says Geelong’s transition to an innovation district is integral to the state’s economic development. The shift involves creating an operating environment for manufacturers to innovate and grow through connections to research, education and collaboration.

“The Victorian economy is sound but needs renewal,” she says. “Over the last 30 years, Australia’s manufacturing employment has declined steadily with Victoria being the hardest hit losing around 30,000 jobs.

“Cities, regions and countries are aggressively seeking to unlock new sources of high-value jobs and have identified investment in startups and entrepreneurs as critical for a broad-based, future-proofed economy. Some of Victoria’s high-value jobs will be created by simply doing things smarter, for example by using technology to drive productivity and create value.”

Geelong manufacturing decline

Traditional manufacturing is in decline in Geelong (Photo: Bloomberg)

Cornick says LaunchVic will provide capital “and the right environment for entrepreneurs to develop, incubate and grow early-stage innovation businesses”.

“Startups create a pipeline of new companies and jobs. For example, firms like SEEK have grown to become multi-billion dollar companies, providing high-paying jobs and consuming many professional services.

“Startups also play a critical role in disrupting how things have previously been done and, as a result, they renew as well as displace traditional industries. By introducing new products, services and processes, startups contribute to a more competitive, innovative and globally connected economy forging new ways of doing,” she says. “Entrepreneurs tap the underutilised knowledge that resides in our universities and research institutes turning ideas into economic value and creating wealth in the process.

“LaunchVic’s objective is to launch a startup culture in Geelong that will establish the city as a global centre for innovation and entrepreneurship.”

“By introducing new products, services and processes, startups contribute to a more competitive, innovative and globally connected economy forging new ways of doing.”

The Runway project, led by CEO Peter Dostis, secured $1.25 million and acts as a catalyst for innovation in the region, creating new businesses and jobs through the provision of mentoring, networks, training and access to venture capital.

Entrepreneurship is not new to Geelong, Dostis says, with universities and local chambers of commerce having encouraged innovation as car manufacturing slowly declined.

“How to create an innovation environment starts in schools by teaching students about start-up principles and entrepreneurship, and Geelong’s universities have been doing that for years as traditional manufacturing has been lost to the region,” he says.

“Runway is more than an incubator or accelerator. It’s about how we create an entire ecosystem to support start-ups – how we attract them here, how we keep them here after exiting the program and establishing their businesses. We want them to remain in Geelong. We teach people how to transform an idea into a business, and that includes how to run a business.”

LaunchVic has also provided $450,000 to Dimension Data and Deakin University, an AIM Affiliate Member  to establish a cyber security incubator at Deakin’s Waurn Ponds campus. The incubator will accelerate the development of unique cyber security solutions and help address the skills shortage within the industry in Australia.

THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT

The Geelong Region Innovation and Investment Fund (GRIIF) is a joint venture between the Australian and Victorian governments, Ford Australia, which shut down its manufacturing operations in Geelong in 2016, and aluminium manufacturer Alcoa, which left in 2014.

The GRIIF allocates grants to boost employment and support innovation in the region. In November 2015, the fund handed out $11.2 million to seven local businesses.

Victorian Minister for Small Business, Innovation and Trade Philip Dalidakis says an Innovation Expert Panel will also help strengthen the state’s position as an innovation and tech hub. The panel comprises entrepreneurs, experienced in turning bright ideas into commercial reality.

“As a state, we can be the number one destination for technology and startups in the entire Asia Pacific region,” Dalidakis says. “In the past year alone, we have seen global tech leaders like Slack, Square, Stripe, Zendesk, Pocketmatch and GoPro all choose Melbourne as their regional headquarters. They’ve joined our local success stories – Nitro PDF, SEEK, Catapult, Red Bubble, CultureAmp and Appster.

“We have also done a lot of work to position Victoria as a cyber security powerhouse, so that we can capture a large slice of the global industry now worth an estimated US$71 billion and growing at a rate of 10 per cent per annum.”

Geelong aerial view

An aerial view of Geelong and Corio harbour (Photo: Getty Images)

As for Geelong following Tonsley’s successes, the minister says Victoria is already a major contributor to the nation’s $79 billion digital technology business, making tech bigger than traditional industry sectors such as agriculture and retail.

“Victoria’s digital technology industry currently generates annual revenues of around $34 billion and exports worth about $3 billion,” he says. “Currently, the state’s digital technology workforce comprises around 160,000 ICT professionals. By 2020, the forecast value of the Australian digital economy is $139 billion, and Victoria’s could be worth $50.8 billion.

“Digital tech employment is predicted to grow 70 per cent faster than Australia’s overall employment growth over the next decade. And, research shows that for each new technology job, five additional jobs are created in other sectors.”

Professional services firm PwC, Cornick says, estimates the Australian tech startup sector alone has the potential to contribute $109 billion or 4 per cent of GDP to the Australian economy and 540,000 jobs by 2033.

“Successful cities build on their unique strengths,” she says of Geelong’s future. “It’s about an active approach and supporting those entrepreneurs with ideas to be able to convert those ideas into businesses – so it is important to surround entrepreneurs who invest their own capital and sweat into building businesses with organisations and networks to help them succeed such as accelerators, universities and investors.”