A first-of-its-kind learning experience is bringing together business, industry, education, community, and city leaders to help high school students create and develop a sustainable future for Newcastle.
The recently launched City of Newcastle Sustainnovation Challenge is a community capacity building project being delivered under Council’s NewSkills and Living Lab programs and local company MCB Business Partner.
Supporting organisations include Australian Industry Group, Business Hunter, NSW Department of Education, University of Newcastle’s Integrated Innovation Network (I2N), Castle Personnel Services, and Community Disability Alliance Hunter.
Focusing on creating workable solutions to important issues, students from nine secondary schools will explore four challenges including improving social inclusion and accessibility for people, dealing with plastic, planning for an ageing community, and preparing for a creative economy.
Participating schools include Newcastle High, Lambton High, Hunter School of the Performing Arts, West Wallsend High, Merewether High, St. Philip’s Christian College, Bishop Tyrrell Anglican College and Big Picture Education Cooks Hill Campus.
Each of the participating schools will attend a two-day online workshop tackling the first two of the program’s four challenges: How can our community benefit from being a smart and accessible city? and how does a smart city deal with plastic? during November and December.
Mentored by specialists in smart cities, technology, social inclusion, business and innovation, students will be guided through applied innovation, system engineering, and other analysis and development tools and principles.
Program Director, Duncan Burck said ideas showing the greatest smart city potential will progress to Council’s Living Lab accelerator program to be further developed and possibly implemented.
“Applied innovation is a systematic process of creating ideas to improve or make something work better. It provides an opportunity to fast-track those things that will enhance our lives, communities and the environment we live in now and for future generations,” he explained.
“The more we listen to and encourage our young people to share their perspectives, the better the ideas and future decisions we’ll be able to make as a whole community.”
Newcastle’s Deputy Lord Mayor, Declan Clausen said City of Newcastle was supportive of the exciting initiative and the opportunity it presents for young people to contribute to the city’s social, economic, and environmental future.
“City of Newcastle is committed to leading the way in smarter living and creating a sustainable global future for the next generation,” Declan said.
“The goal of the Sustainnovation Challenge is to empower young people to embrace a new way of thinking and acting, to help create a sustainable future across all sectors of our community.”
IMAGE | Program Director, Duncan Burck hosts Sustainnovation Challenge’s virtual launch.
