With a different theme each year, the competition calls for innovators, entrepreneurs, students and community members to submit their bright ideas to solve the challenge.
Launched in 2018, this competition is designed to tap into the creativity and expertise of our community and stimulate new ideas and effective solutions.
Participants are encouraged to incorporate data and emerging technology into their ideas to address common urban challenges.
Previous competitions
(upbeat music)
[Text on screen: Open Innovation Competition 2023. An Inclusive City for international students and alumni.]
[Andrew Wear] There are close to 140,000 international students in Melbourne.
[Text on screen: Andrew Wear. Director Economic Development & International.]
[Andrew Wear] They contribute an enormous amount to what makes this city great. But many of them face barriers to full participation and this is the challenge we put to the community.
[Text on screen: Usman Iftikhar. CEO, Catalysr.]
[Usman Iftikhar] In my work at Catalysr one of the biggest issues we see international students facing is the issue of employment and this open innovation challenge is really helping create amazing solutions to help international students with employment.
[Text on screen: Chris Kong. Asian Expert Connect]
[Chris Kong] Something that the city of Melbourne has really achieved in this open innovation competition is bringing together different parts of the ecosystem in one forum.
[Text on screen: Phil O. Co-CEO, 25ei]
[Phil O] The open innovation competition benefits entrepreneurs because you can apply your thinking to real problems that affect the city.
[Text on screen: Xuan Wang. City Compost Network.]
[Xuan Wang] He has has turbocharged one of the ideas that I have for City Compost Network. And the organizing team and the mentors and the pitch coach have been incredibly supportive and all they want is for us to present our best.
[Text on screen: Laxmi Pun. Illume Foundation.]
[Laxmi Pun] The results tonight were awesome because I think all the three participants that got the award tonight were solving problems around employability, which is exciting but they all brought their own strength and flavour to how they solve the problem.
[Text on screen: Ngoc and Anh. PassMe.]
[Ngoc] Winning the RMIT Launch Hub Prive is definitely what we need right now.
[Text on screen: Enya Loo. Stint.]
[Enya Loo] We're very pleased to be able to be awarded the People's Choice Award and I think that's an extra validation of what we're trying to do.
[Text on screen: Volker Breuer. UPitch.Me.]
It feels a bit like we've got a golden ticket to the startup ecosystem and the universities here in Melbourne.
(upbeat music)
[City of Melbourne logo on screen]
