The best way to get involved is to come down to one of the Agtech Perth – Agricultural Technology and Innovation meetups. Hosted by AgriStart Managing Director Dr Natasha Ayers and CBH Group Transformation Manager Claire Dunkley, the free monthly meetup brings some great speakers in to discuss the various opportunities and hurdles within the industry.
Previous meetups have seen industry experts like Source Certain Executive Chairman and forensic and analytical chemist Cameron Scadding talking about agri-food and bringing transparency to the food chain.
After having its launch party on the 21st of June, the Ministry of Data is preparing for its AgHack hackathon weekend – where like-minded people look to solve significant problems in a collaborative environment.
Working with the WA Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) to create eight challenges to put forward to participants to tackle. These challenges have been designed with real-world data to be relevant to the industry, meaning from the start there’s market for commercialisation.
You don’t necessarily need to be from a tech background, as there’s always a need for different perspectives to challenges. Join in alone and be matched up with a team, or come with a group of your own – you just might have the right approach to take your idea to the next stage.
Prizes for the hackathon winners include $5,000 in cash prizes from DPIRD, as well as $500 in prizes and membership to Bloom Labs. There are also great scholarships, coworking memberships, incubation programs and mentorships as supporting prizes.
Those with an early-stage agtech startup now have an opportunity to grow their business idea with Combine Agtech Hub’s unique scholarship. Combine’s scholarship, supported by DPIRD, offers startups three months of free co-working space at Combine’s dedicated space in the Perth CBD. Combine will work as a dedicated forum to open up new ways of addressing industry-specific challenges such as climate change, IoT (Internet of Things) integration, currency fluctuations and market volatility
Located on the sixth floor of FLUX on St Georges Terrace, businesses will be right in the centre of the city. With 24-hour access to the Combine space seven days a week, kitchen with plenty of fresh coffee, meeting rooms available for booking, high-speed internet access and modern end-of-trip facilities, there’s no better environment to take your ideas to the next level.
There are still spots available at Combine, so if you have an early-stage Agtech startup or business idea and are not sure how to get the cogs turning, this is for you.
Situated in Melbourne, agtech hub SproutX has its own national accelerator available across the country. Venture capitalists, entrepreneur mentors, corporates and academia involved, along with office space and distribution opportunities, make for a helpful environment to build upon your idea – SproutX are also a national partner with Combine Agtech Hub.
The accelerator is seeking “the classic trio of traction, team and technology – in that order”, with pre-accelerator course videos to watch to get a better grasp with the necessary practices and startup concepts.
While the SproutX Accelerator for 2018 closed for entries in February, this is a worthwhile program to be involved with – SproutX’s 2017 Portfolio shows the calibre of ideas coming from the accelerator. Keep an eye out near the end of the year for when the 2019 accelerator is open for new entrants.
Based in Western Australia, HARVEST is an accelerator program targeting late-stage start-ups and SMEs looking to scale their business. Seeking out applicants working on innovations involving broad-acre cropping, meat and dairy, horticulture, viticulture, forestry and biosecurity, there's plenty of potential for businesses looking to scale up.
The second round is almost here, so be sure to sign up to their mailing list so you don't miss out.
