Activation fund recipients announced at City North Fest

Featuring experts, students, local residents, policymakers, and entrepreneurs, the lively discussions examined future opportunities to create an inclusive innovation ecosystem.

City North at RMIT is already the base for thousands of educators, researchers and students, particularly members of the College of Vocational Education.

Throughout the two days, participants heard from City of Melbourne representatives, food systems social enterprise leaders, climate change and circular economy experts, city planners, government officials, industry partners, and RMIT experts, challenging the what, why, and how we can work together to create an innovation district that serves the future needs of Victoria’s community and economy.

Speakers and participants included Bec Scott, co-founder of STREAT, Kate Dundas, CEO of the UN Global Compact in Australia, Andrew Wear, Director of Economic Strategy at the City of Melbourne, and Professor Gary Thomas, Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous at RMIT.

The event marks an important milestone in the University’s ongoing work, bringing together community members, innovators, practitioners and decision-makers to implement a shared vision for the Social Innovation Precinct and achieving urban renewal with skills for Victoria’s workforce as a key piece in the wider City North ecosystem.

Tom Bentley, Executive Director of Policy, Strategy and Impact, said the discussions raised some important considerations for future planning.

“One crucial point across every session was that having everyone in the conversation is vital to achieving common growth,” he said.

“As Professor Gary Thomas pointed out, we need to address ‘Everywhen, with Everyone.’

“Between us we already have space for experimentation and failure that enables shared progress. Time and practical resources are needed to co-design and co-create shared solutions that are inclusive and grounded in the City North community.

“If we can leverage our collective knowledge, we can create scalable solutions for the betterment of not just City North, but greater Melbourne and even global challenges. This is an exciting opportunity, especially as we face challenging and uncertain times in our wider world.

“As conversations with government about our Precinct Proposal continue, the next few months are an important time for RMIT.”

Recipients of the 2024 City North Social Innovation Precinct Activation Fund

During the Fest, it was announced that eleven projects have received funding as part of the City North Social Innovation Precinct activation, building collaboration across five impact areas:

• Clean economy
• Social care and wellbeing
• Future engineering and technology
• International collaboration
• Indigenous recognition and celebration

Our Street: A collaborative project between Master of Teaching students, VE students in the Diploma of Educational Studies and the STEM digital Hub working with Carlton Gardens Primary School children to design a sustainable green space for Cardigan Street. Led by Associate Professor Tricia McLaughlin, College of Design and Social Context.

Indigenous engagement for the City North Social Innovation Precinct: A project to ensure meaningful, ongoing engagement and planning with our Indigenous community in shaping and building the shared future of the City North Precinct. Led by Gheran Steele and the OIERE team, Policy, Strategy and Impact portfolio.

Localising the Sustainable Development Goals through tabletop gaming: A creative, interactive and educational gameplay that uses imagery of native, Australian species to engage local communities in sustainable practices. Led by Master of Communication Design Graduating Student, Wei Wang.

Student Wellbeing Week and public art trail activation: A collaborative project showcasing RMIT Multifaith and Wellbeing Centre supports, experiences and programs, and the development of student co-created public art experiences. Led by Tim Burdue and Lynda Roberts, Education portfolio.

Cardigan Street Future Focused Activation: A two-day program transforming Cardigan Street into a hub of future focused immersive experiences and activities through cinema, food, art, music and literature in line with Melbourne International Games Week and Melbourne Fringe. Led by Ali Barker, International and Engagement portfolio.

PV recycling collaborative workspace and showroom: An innovative solar panel recycling workspace and collaborative hub to facilitate the development and prototyping of new recycling technologies and techniques. Led by Dr. Ylias Sabri and Professor Namita Roy Choudhury, STEM College.

Storying City North: Using new technology, traditional publishing practices and archival sources to generate a collaborative history of the precinct This initiative will launch the inaugural Composite City publication (co-authored by six researchers from across RMIT) and includes a live streamed, generative AI storytelling hackathon research experiment. Led by Dr Rose Michael and Dr Kathryn Day, College of Design and Social Context.

Play the Future: Cardigan Street 2050: A collaborative street-based urban activation on Cardigan Street designed to engage the community through future focused workshops, playable art commissions, and augmented reality experiences, in which players can reimagine City North through the lens of 2050. Led by Dr Troy Innocent, College of Design and Social Context.

Towards healthy habitats: A civic health data + storytelling Initiative: A pilot partnership with Civic Health Innovation Labs (the University of Liverpool UK) to leverage the innovation precinct as a unique test bed and platform for data-driven social innovation. Led by Dr Sarah Barns, College of Design and Social Context.

Social Enterprise Pop-Up Shop and Symposium: This project includes a 10-day pop-up-shop featuring a diverse mix of local social enterprises and culminates in a knowledge sharing and networking conference to foster collaboration among social enterprises, researchers, students, peak bodies, local government, and the broader community. Led by Dr Melissa Wheeler and Phd Candidate Jon Hewitt, College of Business and Law.

International Design for Life Mission: Co-designing civic solutions to address urban heat: An international collaboration led by RMIT Europe in partnership with the Royal Society for the Arts (RSA) London/Oceania and the City of Barcelona, which brings together leaders and changemakers in urban innovation precincts across the world to explore and co-create regenerative solutions to protect urban communities from extreme heat. Led by Professors Wendy Steele and Laurene Vaughan, RMIT Europe.