Australia’s innovation landscape is often viewed through the lens of its major cities, but look closer and you’ll see innovation is thriving in our regional areas. These are places where necessity breeds invention, and where challenges are met with resourceful solutions.
For centuries in Australia, our geographical remoteness has shaped our history and identity. This was outlined famously in Geoffrey Blainey’s seminal book, The Tyranny of Distance. And in our regions, that notion is amplified. One need only think of the number of problems solved over the years with a length of Number 8 wire or a strand of hay baling twine to appreciate the inherent resourcefulness of those living and working outside major cities. Harnessed the right way, regional innovation – driven by resourceful locals, skilled migrants and a knack for problem-solving – has the potential to add billions to the national GDP.
Central to understanding this is recognising that innovation doesn’t have to be confined to labs and research institutions. Just as often, it’s a practical endeavour deeply rooted in the needs of local communities. Indeed, Julia Spicer, who spent 18 months as the Queensland Government’s chief entrepreneur during 2023 and 2024, is never surprised when she hears stories of ingenuity out of regional areas. “Innovation is finding new ways of solving existing problems and I think, regionally, we do that really well,” she says. “We are, by default, efficient problem-solvers.”
During her chief entrepreneur tenure, Julia found innovation followed national trends but was often state-centric. Western Australia, for example, is known for its mining expertise. South Australia is known for defence. Julia positioned Queensland as the state for agricultural development and food security. She believes a greater understanding between the city and the regions would serve all parties better. “There were often times I was sitting around pretty important tables with pretty powerful people, and I’d ask a question, and everybody thought my insights about the regions were unbelievably amazing. Then I’d say to them, ‘I’m not the only one. There is intelligent life beyond the range.’”
From backpacker to innovator
Well beyond the Great Dividing Range, in the south-west corner of WA, Estonian migrant Rain Plaado was looking for a solution to an agricultural problem.In between trips as a backpacker, the 38-year-old was working for Kirk and Lisa Jeitz at Pinehills Pastoral, a broadacre cropping property growing wheat and canola in the Esperance region, when he learned of an ongoing issue involving snails.
“We get tiny, 1-5mm conical snails in crops, which end up in the grain during harvest. They are hard to clean out, and you can’t deliver grain with snails in it,” Rain says. It’s a dilemma common in the Esperance area, and one that can significantly impact crop yields and profitability for farmers in the region. “We don’t have them everywhere, so I thought it would be handy to know where they were exactly – because when you have 6500ha to drive around, it’s pretty hard to see them.”
It was this practical need that sparked Rain’s innovative journey. He first came to Australia as a backpacker in 2014, and in 2019 he migrated permanently with his family and continued to work at Pinehills as a farm hand. But Rain also has a degree in technotronics from the Estonian University of Life Sciences – not to mention a restless, enquiring mind. And so, he brought those skills to Pinehills.
“As an engineer who loves building and improving things, I started looking into machine learning and camera-based object detection,” he says. With no prior experience in this field, Rain developed SnailCam, a camera system that can attach to moving farm machinery, such as a tractor, and map snail populations. Knowing where snails are congregating allows farmers to customise baiting programs, saving money and time and reducing environmental impact.
SnailCam is a simple concept delivering measurable results and has the potential to be applicable to crops worldwide. Rain trialled the model at Pinehills and in 2024 extended it to five more farms in the Esperance area. It’s a testament to how a localised problem, combined with ingenuity and technical skills, can lead to a solution with far-reaching implications.
Regional upskilling
Australia, with almost three out of 10 residents (29 per cent) born abroad as of 2021, has the third-highest migrant share among OECD countries. Indeed, attracting skilled migrants like Rain is proving to be a key component of regional innovation.
Cate Gilpin works with Welcoming Australia, an organisation dedicated to ensuring people of all backgrounds have an equal opportunity to belong, contribute and thrive. “Migrants can re-liven communities with new ways of thinking and doing,” she says. “Diversity brings innovation in thinking. It brings global knowledge. It brings competencies in other areas. We’re moving to a global world, and you need people who can speak diverse languages and who have lived in circumstances different to our own.”
The story of Rain Plaado and SnailCam illustrates this point perfectly. His migration to regional WA brought a unique skillset and perspective that directly addressed a local agricultural challenge. What’s more, attracting people like Rain and his family to regional areas brings multiple benefits. His wife manages two Esperance holiday properties, and his children bolster numbers at the small Cascade Primary School, where the youngest is the only one in his class.
A study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) confirms these anecdotal observations, finding that migration has a tangible impact on regional innovation. According to the OECD Regional Development paper Migration and regional innovation in Australia: “A one percentage point increase in the regional employment share of higher-educated migrants relative to total employment leads to a 4.8 per cent rise in regional patent applications in the medium run (five years).” This is a major boost, and shows that attracting skilled individuals to regional areas can directly translate into increased innovation and economic growth.
Hubs for ideas
SnailCam is still in the early stages of development. “I’ve used 100 per cent of my own money and developed this in my spare time,” Rain says. “But I’ve had support from Kirk and Lisa, our neighbours and the local agronomists who all have faith in this technology.” As SnailCam is refined and upscaled, Rain may be able to access grants and avail himself of the knowledge in government-backed innovation hubs.
Innovation hubs exist in each state, designed to bring together innovators, researchers, industry bodies and those with funds to invest. They’re places where ideas can be shared and experience gained, and all have a regional component supporting an array of different industries. These hubs play a vital role in nurturing regional innovation by providing access to resources, expertise and networks that might otherwise be unavailable.
For example, in South Australia, Innovation Places has created a manufacturing precinct in the Upper Spencer Gulf for green hydrogen and renewables. In the Northern Territory, Innovation Territory promotes anything from healthcare projects in Alice Springs to tourism in Katherine. In Western Australia, innovation hubs are helping researchers develop X-ray fluorescence machines to detect microscopic gold in the field.
Beyond SnailCam, the agricultural sector across Australia is seeing a surge of innovation. These advances are aiding productivity and transforming traditional practices, opening up new opportunities for farmers and communities. From novel beekeeping methods to cutting-edge agricultural technologies and the exploration of alternative crops, Australia’s regions are at the forefront of this agricultural revolution.
Flow Hive, developed by father-and-son beekeper duo Stuart and Cedar Anderson near Byron Bay, NSW, has revolutionised beekeeping with its innovative honey extraction system that allows beekeepers to harvest honey without disturbing the bees. The ingenious design features pre-formed honeycomb cells that the bees naturally fill with honey. Once the cells are capped, beekeepers use a special tool to split the cells, allowing the honey to flow into a collection trough without opening the hive or handling the frames. It reduces stress on the bees and simplifies the honey harvesting process, making it easier for both experienced and novice beekeepers to enjoy the fruits (or rather, honey) of their labour.
TerraLab, on the Bass Coast of Victoria, is also pushing the boundaries of agricultural technology, and has won a swag of awards in the process. It focuses on precision farming and sustainable land management practices, bringing together researchers, farmers and technology developers. TerraLab’s projects range from developing advanced sensors for monitoring soil conditions and crop health to creating data-driven decision support systems that help farmers optimise their resource use.
And in Cressy, Tasmania, Andi Lucas founded X-Hemp, bringing innovation to an industry that until recently has been unable to fully develop its potential. On the back of decreased regulation, turning hemp waste – the stalks and trash left over from harvest – into an industrial product is now an emerging industry, and X-Hemp is leading the charge. Materials made from hemp are non-toxic, can sequester carbon, and importantly for Australia’s bush, are fire-resistant. The possibilities are exciting.
We’ll look closer at Andi and X-Hemp later in this three-part series on Regional Innovations. Of course, regional innovations go beyond agriculture, too. Later in this series we’ll meet Mia Ryan, who created a dating app named Howdy for rural Australians. There’s Dennis Fay, a firefighter from Cairns who now owns Salty Monkeys, an adventure apparel and dive gear brand that’s helping conservation in the Torres Strait. And in another boon for conservation, we’ll meet researchers from the Burnett Mary Regional Group who have developed a sprinkler system that emulates rainfall to save critically endangered freshwater turtles.
The spillover effect
While hard dollar contributions to regional economies may be difficult to quantify, innovative businesses also grow beyond their immediate communities. “There is what’s called a spillover effect where surrounding businesses benefit,” says Dr Chad Renando from the Rural Economies Centre of Excellence at the University of Southern Queensland. “In research we did with the Gold Coast hub, we found that while there may be a decrease in local employment as a business scales and engages employees offshore, the overall staffing of the network increases for full-time, part-time, contract, and volunteer staff.”
Regional innovation also has a tendency to even out the peaks and troughs of the national economy. A report by the Regional Australia Institute (RAI) found that during the global financial crisis in 2009, when city-based growth was slowing, regional Australia took up the slack and contributed 50 per cent of national economic growth. Even when times had improved by 2022, the regions accounted for 34 per cent of GDP. In addition, the RAI estimates attracting more skills to the regions, for example with skilled migrants such as Rain, could add $25 billion per year to the economy.
Back in Esperance, Rain Plaado continues to refine SnailCam, driven by his passion for problem-solving and a commitment to his newfound community. He’s a prime example of the ingenuity and resilience that defines regional innovation in Australia. His story, along with countless others across the country, demonstrates the immense potential that lies beyond the major cities. And with further investment and support around the country, we can ensure that innovation doesn’t move at a snail’s pace.
REGIONAL INNOVATIONS
In this three-part series, Australian Geographic explores how innovative minds in Australia’s regions are proving that remote areas are hotbeds of ingenuity – and are helping to shape our nation’s economic future.