Innovation Tour – Reflections four weeks in, with video

3,500km, 75 interviews, 2 terabytes of video footage.

I’m four weeks into a national tour, exploring who supports entrepreneurs in regional Australia. I spent a week each in Sunshine Coast and Rockhampton, a couple of days in Mackay, and just wrapped up a week and a half in Brisbane and Ipswich. Here’s a few reflections so far…

Getting into the groove

AirBNB, Sunshine Coast, Week one

Day one was awkward. Day two more so. Day 30 and I am getting the hang of things.

Leading up to the trip I picked up a DSLR camera, drone, GoPro, 360 camera, audio recorder, and a video editing laptop with Adobe Premier – none of which I had previously used. Some sessions with videographer Hugh Whitehouse were incredibly helpful, and I plugged myself into the internet matrix to study YouTube vloggers and online tutorials. That said, nothing beats putting it into practice.

The analogy that kept playing in my mind was like riding a bike for the first time in a professional race, accidentally shifting into high gear, going uphill, chain falling off, while trying to look cool in spandex on national TV. It’s not going to happen. I pulled something off, but I feel for my first few interviewees as I bumbled about with camera settings, tripods, microphones, and b-roll footage. I don’t intend to be a professional videographer, but just practiced enough so I can be fully present for those I am interviewing and efficient at getting content out to share the impact.

Each day is spent in back-to-back interviews, averaging between 5 to 7 on a good day. Evenings are spent backing up six SD cards, charging 13 batteries, lining up schedules for the following week, arranging the next AirBNB, and documenting the day’s events. The next morning, posts are prepared for social media and schedules are confirmed before heading out to the next interview.

The plan was to do daily vlogs and blogs to keep people updated. I have reconciled to myself that it is not going to happen. I am catching up, however. You can see a sample below from a single day in Ipswich. The back-track for Sunshine Coast and Rockhampton is in the works, and there will be more rapid releases of 30 second snippets to keep people engaged and informed. More will come…

Why the tour – looking for what is real

Geoff Higgins, Startup Capricorn, Rockhampton, Qld

For background, I managed an innovation hub in Ipswich, Qld for about 18 months, and followed that role with a part-time contract for the Office of the Queensland Chief Entrepreneur to map and measure the Queensland startup ecosystem. Also on occasion I consult to local governments to assist with business plans and models for entrepreneur communities. I am completing my PhD exploring the role that innovation hubs play in building community resilience. Finally, I have developed an online platform to help hubs and programs measure their impact over time, and provide funding bodies an aggregate view of impacts across a region or sector. These are all through three businesses I operate – a traditional fee-for-service consultancy, a software company, and my primary not-for-profit research and education company, Startup Status.

All this to say that I have an awareness of entrepreneur communities, but there is much that can be better understood. Who is involved? How are outcomes impacted based on population, density, history, type of region? Where are the entrepreneurial hot spots? And how can we best help everyone as effectively as possible, rather than a few here and there?

My aim is to move past extremes in both rhetoric and critique. Startups and entrepreneurial activity are one component of a region’s economic development portfolio. It is not the sole salvation for a region’s economic resilience, but it should also not be neglected for a reliance on traditional roads and rates. I am keen to understand the roles currently being played across Australia, who is doing it well, and how we can collectively do it better.

So I am hitting the road to speak with as many leaders in the regions as possible to co-create an approach.

The interview process

Coby Sullivan, Sunshine Coast #SCRIPT program

The line of questioning being used is called “Appreciative Inquiry” which I picked up in my consulting days. The method follows three broad lines of questioning:

  • What are some examples of what is working well?
  • In 12 to 36 months, what is the best that could be?
  • If we say that it has already happened, what did we do to make it happen?

The line of questioning allows for challenges to come out, but in a positive frame that provides for improved problem solving. It is a technique used in facilitating large groups down to small teams and executive boards. I figured I would give it a crack for a national innovation ecosystem and add in the underlying data of the region and entrepreneur outcomes to test the results.

The premise is that by asking the same structured approach to each actor, we will develop common principles that can be regionally adapted. The frame used is to test the strength and value each actor has with their local innovation hub. I am also using the term “hub” loosely, as I can refer to a physical or virtual space, a community group, the local research group, a local chamber, or an individual.

Most of the interview content is reserved for research, but the interviews are filmed for transcription and review. I pull sound bites where appropriate for promotion videos to give people an idea of the good work being done in the regions.

One of the principles of Appreciative Inquiry is that change happens as soon as you ask the question. It is my hope that simply by asking the question and raising awareness, we can collectively begin to make positive change.

Join me on the journey

The past four weeks can be treated as an MVP as far as process is concerned. The interviews and content were great, but the process is being refined.

After a few days to regroup at home base in Ipswich, I am now preparing to head west, visiting Toowoomba, Western Downs, and Goondiwindi over the next week before heading north to Longreach, then on to Cairns before heading back south along the coast.

I will be on the road until mid-December, after which I pause to write up the results for the PhD before heading south into NSW around March.

The priority is the interviews for the research, and providing a platform to help connect and measure impact. The social posting may slip a bit, but I aim to keep everyone in the loop as much as possible to share the good work being done in the regions. I expect I will need to build more time into the schedule, as well as bring on partners so as to add resources onto media.

Please join me on the journey, and connect, subscribe, or otherwise follow on the social channels that you call home:

Thanks again, I look forward to seeing you on the road as we better understand how regions are helping everyone across Australia give it a go.