NSW North Coast Innovation Festival

Travelling back from Melbourne to the Gold Coast after the Easter break through NSW, and noticed a lot of promotion of the North Coast Innovation Festival (NCIF) in the newspaper at Coffs Harbour.

It’s great to see that the Australian Innovation Festival, now in its ninth year, has expanded so well and that regional areas are embracing it.  Looking at the NCIF website www.ncinnovationfestival.org.au it is fantastic to see so many valuable events.  Have a good look over their website for details, but a quick background is…

North Coast Innovation Festival was launched in 2009 to raise public awareness of the Mid-North Coast’s reputation as an innovative and entrepreneurial region, and harness this culture in a way that will help ensure the region’s sustainability and future economic growth.

Following on from the successful 2009 MNCIF and the Northern Rivers Innovation Awards, the 2010 Festival will expand to include the Northern Rivers. The North Coast Innovation Festival will encompass the entire NSW North Coast from Tweed Heads to Taree covering a population of almost 600,000.

The 2010 NCIF had 87 events with 7,600 attendees. The events showcase the intellectual capital of innovative companies, individuals and education institutions that are located on the NSW North Coast. Each event incorporated aspects of innovation, sustainability, research, knowledge and entrepreneurship and aimed to bring together businesses from all industry sectors to share new ideas and approaches on how to work smarter.

Innovation has in the past been linked very closely with inventions and their commercialisation. But it is much more than that. Businesses can increase their productivity by just changing the way they do things, reducing their costs and their wastage, using their resources more efficiently and being more effective marketers. For each business the challenge is different but sharing experiences and visiting each other’s workplace has been a big catalyst to change. For many it is not the lack of desire but knowing what to do.

The objective of the NCIFis to encourage organisations within the Mid North Coast and Northern Rivers regions to host events and share their knowledge while the festival itself highlights all the opportunities and encourages all businesses to take part.

Festival events cover a wide range of businesses and organisations which will involve the entire community including community groups, students and industries such as (but not limited to);

Congratulations to the organisers of the Australian Innovation Festival, the NCIF and all the companies and departments supporting the Festival with some great events.

May your creativity flourish.