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Six teams submitted innovative and engaging entries at the inaugural GovHack Sunshine Coast event held from 3-5 July. Twenty people attended the launch on Friday night, including sponsors, to kick off the 46-hour event which brought together geeks, digital creatives, data analysts, storytellers and entrepreneurs to explore open government data. Regional Development Australia (RDA) Sunshine Coast Interim CEO Anne Lawrence said the high calibre of participants and collaborative nature of the teams was outstanding.  “We were overwhelmed with the quality of thinking and responses to the open data challenge. This event was a perfect example of everyone working together for…

The Australian Government has released a policy for the provision of telecommunications in new developments. Telecommunications infrastructure in new developments policy May 2015 The policy will make infrastructure delivery more efficient and innovative by helping network providers compete better. It does this by introducing charging by nbn to build infrastructure in new developments. Charging is being phased in to help the development and communications industries adjust to the change, including the cost of backhaul infrastructure. The full details are set out in the policy. Developers Developers can choose any carrier to service their development. If they don’t choose another carrier, nbn…

Forest Glen, Kunda Park, Mons, Palmwoods, Sippy Downs, Tanawha, Buderim, Pomona and Cooran  have been added to the rollout of the nbn™ network. The construction plan provides an indicative schedule of work to begin before the end of December 2016, and covers more than 15,000 additional homes and businesses on the Sunshine Coast. “This is exciting news for the areas which have been added to our construction schedule because it means work to deliver fast broadband is expected to be underway by December 2016,” nbn spokesperson Ryan Williams said. nbn is planning to release a three-year rollout plan in the…

The Sunshine Coast has been shortlisted as one of three finalists for the Innovative Regions Award. The Australian Technologies Competition (ATC) has announced the following regions as being the best places in Australia to grow technology companies: Sunshine Coast, Queensland, with its Business Gateway, Innovation Centre and Smart City Framework. Greater Adelaide Region, South Australia, featuring 109 innovation programs, fourteen co-working spaces and eleven incubators. Hunter Region, NSW, with an Innovation Cluster, accelerator program and industry showcases. Combined, the regions represent around 10 percent of both the country's population and GDP. The finalists are judged to be the regions that…

Digital technologies is one of the fastest growing parts of Australia’s economy with its economic contribution growing from $50 billion in 2011 to $79 billion in 2013-14. Growth in the ICT sector is likely to be strongest for technical, professional, management and operational occupations. Deloitte Access Economics and the Australian Computer Society Australia have partnered to produce Australia's Digital Pulse which examines how digital disruption is dramatically changing industries and occupations across the economy. The report found there has been 5% growth in the number of ICT professionals, with an increase to 600,000 ICT workers in 2014, and demand for a further…

Kin Kin, Belli Park, Maleny-Kenilworth Road between Conondale and Kenilworth, and Dulong are set to receive new or upgraded mobile base stations under the Federal Government’s Mobile Black Spot Programme. Round 1 of the Programme will deliver 499 new and upgraded mobile base stations across regional and remote Australia – 429 Telstra base stations and 70 Vodafone base stations. The locations to benefit under Round 1 of the Programme were announced on 25 June. The new and upgraded base stations will provide new handheld coverage to 68,600 sq km and new external antenna coverage to over 150,000 sq km, and over 5,700 km of major…

Sunshine Coast based Schoolzine, one of Australia’s fastest growing eNewsletter platforms, has announced the appointment of new Chief Digital Officer (CDO) Craig Josic, and its expansion into New Zealand. Mr Josic, who has been involved in a range of education and technology based projects, will be responsible for the end-to-end strategy, design and implementation of Schoolzine’s digital roadmap. “I’m excited to be Schoolzine’s first CDO, and one of only a few in a CDO position in Australia's education sector, and am looking forward to engaging with key stakeholders and collaborating with new partners as we expand internationally,” he said. Schoolzine, which started…

GovHack is an annual national competition that brings together geeks, digital creatives, data analysts, story tellers and entrepreneurs to work together over 46 hours to explore open government data and make it more useful or engaging. Teams will trove through the official data sets to find new ideas or ways to reuse the data to win prizes in international, national and local categories. “A ‘hack’ is when you take something and make it better. You don’t have to be super technical, ­although it helps, but we’re looking for people’s ideas, passion and energy,” RDA Sunshine Coast Interim CEO Anne Lawrence…

Digital Sunshine Coast and Regional Development Australia (RDA) Sunshine Coast have teamed up with Sunshine Coast Council to launch Speed it Up, an Australian-first initiative using an interactive online map to demonstrate where business grade broadband is available across the region. The campaign will also highlight where people cannot access broadband and will forward this information to telecommunication providers so they know where to invest and develop infrastructure in the region. Speed it Up is a priority action in the Digital Sunshine Coast Action Plan launched on 3 June at the Coastal Revolution event hosted by Kawana Waters Chamber of…

Digital Sunshine Coast and Kawana Chamber of Commerce have teamed up to host Coastal Revolution: The future for high-speed internet, an information and networking evening to discuss the future of your business with like-minded people. The Digital Sunshine Coast Action Plan will also be released at this event, together with the first stage of the digital infrastructure campaign called SPEED IT UP, a two-part project that will: help aggregate demand for business grade broadband, and communicate the regions where business grade broadband is currently available through an integrated user-friendly online map. Chamber president Linda Delamotte said many businesses in the region relied on high-speed internet to be…