Hosted in collaboration with the UNE SMART Region Incubator (SRI), headed by Dr Lou Conway, and the UNE Precision Agriculture Research Group (PARG), headed by Professor David Lamb, Agmentation is a sprint and pitch hackathon-style event designed to produce and deliver technical and innovative solutions to real issues identified by primary producers.

Teams consisting of UNE students, high school students, technical engineers, researchers, ag industry professional and primary producers will come together to create and pitch solutions to improve efficiencies in agriculture.

In 2018, Agmentation’s mission statement is “Weighing In – Measuring Productivity in Non-Traditional Ways”; teams will be exploring ideas and developing technical solutions to assist farmers and others in the agricultural industry to improve processes and systems for measuring productivity of livestock and produce. We want to produce real solutions that can be developed and bought to market fast. We want to use technology to transform the way we farm, produce and create. We want to collaborate, discover, explore and build. We’ll use grassroots methods to solve grassroots problems.

Agmentation 2017 sponsored by Cisco Technical and Meat and Livestock Australia resulted in the development of two startups, one which has progressed to the GATE accelerator in Orange, NSW. The winning team was awarded a NSW Government to develop a Minimal Viable Product and launched their product in May this year. You can see more of Agmentation 2017 via the video.

This year, the SRI is partnering with industry bodies and government groups to benefit from a diverse range of experience, skills and knowledge. Building upon this base to develop exciting solutions and create viable outcomes.

In 2016, the UNE Business School opened the UNE SMART Region Incubator with the support of the NSW Government’s Boosting Business Innovation Program (BBIP), creating an incubator to support startups who are building business and innovation opportunities in our region. With SRI’s particular focus on agtech, Agmentation provides an opportunity for business, education, research, community and industry to come together to solve grassroots agribusiness problems.    

For further information about Agmentation 2018 please contact Sue-Ellen Hogan, Manager, UNE SMART Region Incubator on shogan23@une.edu.au on 0409 929 632.