Northern Australia has an abundance of resources that need to be carefully managed for sustainable growth of the region, its communities, but importantly its people and producers of foods and fibres.
Many of the natural resources present, have been the foundation of human resilience and the ability of peoples to thrive and communities to grow for millennia. As a people, our indigenous have been, and remain custodians of these vast areas of northern Australia and are so connected to the Flora and Fauna that have supplied them with food, fibre, medicines, tools, resins, dyes, oils, solutions and signals, that now are finally being recognised as key assets to food security and human health globally.
Through their management of landscapes and resources, the protection of their ICIP, and enabling economic participation of indigenous communities should be something we honor, and all strive towards, bringing our skills to the table in partnership and collaboration to elevate their knowledge and wealth.
Innovation is not a new phenomenon. Creating new ways, new foods, new solutions is thousands of years old.
Innovation and commercialisation - a program I lead in TNQ for the Drought Hub housed within JCU, allows us to consider and support ongoing new enterprise development, flavored with ingenuity and value from First Nations entrepreneurs and communities that want us to work and walk with them through the pipeline of delivering remarkable products and services for customers.
This presentation explores a selection of pivotal projects we are supporting that bring innovation from Indigenous resources such as the Cherabin, Rainforest species like Candlenut, wetlands plants such as native wild rice, or herbages that have been medical miracles to the forefront of a new definition of innovation and solutions driven enterprise.