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Australian INNOVATION Festival CONTENTS 1. SUMMARY……………………………………… 3 2. FESTIVAL OBJECTIVES……………………... 4 2.1 NATIONAL COORDINATION...………………………………………. 5 3. 2005 OUTCOMES…………………….....……. 7 3.1 LAUNCH HIGHLIGHTS………………………………………………. 7 3.2 STATE, TERRITORY AND ASSOCIATED FESTIVALS…..….….. 8 3.3. NATIONAL PARTNERS AND SUPPORTERS……………………... 10 4. MARKETING STRATEGY……..……………... 11 4.1 POSITIONING THE MESSAGE………………………………………. 11 4.2 TARGETING……………………………………………………………. 11 4.3 MARKETING PROGRAM……………………………………………… 12 4.4 MEDIA AND PROMOTION…………….……………………………... 13 4.5 DISTRIBUTION OF PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS…………………14 5. FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS………..……………. 15 5.1 STATE AND TERRITORY PROGRAMS…………………………….. 15 5.2 KEY NATIONAL EVENTS…………………………………………….. 16 5.3 SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS………………………………………….…. 17 6. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS………..………… 18 6.1 EVENT CATEGORIES………………………………………………... 18 6.2 INNOVATION EVENTS……………………………………………….. 19 6.3 WEBSITE COMPARISON…………………………………………….. 19 6.4 FESTIVAL ATTENDANCE……………………………………………. 20 7. WEBSITE EVALUATION………………..……. 22 8. MEDIA COVERAGE………..…………………. 23 8.1 MEDIA SEGMENTS. …………………………………………….……. 23 8.2 ELECTRONIC MEDIA………………………………………….……… 26 8.3 PRINT MEDIA………………………………………………………….. 28 9. EVENT FEEDBACK SURVEY..……………… 29 9.1 SURVEY QUESTIONS……………………………………………..…. 29 Table 1. 2005 Festival - Actual Attendances……………… 32 Table 2. Comparison Statistics – 2002 to 2005………….. 33 Table 3. 2005 Festival - Projected Attendances………… 34 Page 2 of 34 Australian INNOVATION Festival 1. SUMMARY The 2005 Australian Innovation Festival provided a national showcase of the best that Australia can offer. Our purpose is very much to provide a range of exciting and relevant events that will inspire many more people to become involved with innnovation and entrepreneurship. The festival’s theme ‘Innovation and You’ was very much about taking innovative approaches to everyday problems, creating new solutions and using new ideas to change and improve old ways of doing things. Innovation can be defined as “a process that transfers ideas through business activity into saleable goods, processes and service”. On a more practical level, innovation results in creative solutions and enterprises that touch each of us every day, therefore, in line with ‘Innovation and You’, the 2005 event program celebrated Australia’s successes as well as suggest opportunities for further improvement. After four years, this festival is increasingly recognised as the major national platform to celebrate, promote and enhance the value of Australia’s innovation and entreprenuerial endeavours. Summary statistics of the 2005 Festival are as follows: Australian Innovation Festival 2005 Australian Capital Territory 27 New South Wales 104 Northern Territory 21 Queensland 98 Events: South Australia 54 Tasmania 27 Victoria 231 Western Australia 162 TOTAL 724 Attendance: Total event attendance - Australia 401,770 people Festival website - Month of May 2005 3,389 visits Website Visits: - Month of April 2005 4,536 visits Print media Items - Australia 367 items Print coverage reach - Australia plus 10 million people Media Coverage: Electronic items - Australia 218 items Electronic duration - Australia 454 minutes The 2005 Australian Innovation Festival exceeded its marketing targets, in terms of events held, and the total number of Festival attendees. This year’s success has substantially grown from the inaugural 2002 Festival and the follow-up achievements of the 2003 and 2004 Festivals. There were several new initiatives that enabled this year’s festival to achieve a greater impact, including: • An expansion on regional programs, which included 15 associated innovation festivals, related expos and industry fairs. • Increased involvement from national industry and semi-government associations. • Continuing support and engagement from federal government agencies, universities and key corporate organisations. • An increased emphasis by the Secretariat and all State and Territory coordinators on supporting Festival event organisers with their specific needs and requirements. Both the Festival Advisory Council and the Festival Secretariat look forward to working with event organisers, associated festivals, leading industry and educational groups, principal sponsors, media partners, Australian federal, state and territory governments and other supporters – to ensure that the success of the 2005 Festival is repeated next year. Page 3 of 34 Australian INNOVATION Festival 2. FESTIVAL OBJECTIVES The Australian Innovation Festival was established as a private sector not-for-profit initiative to celebrate the best of Australian and international innovation. Its mission is to increase public awareness of the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship through an emphasis on the three pillars of future economic growth – excellence in research, development and commercialisation. There are five major objectives, which determine the future directions of the Festival, namely: 1. Demonstrate the value of research, development and commercialisation. 2. Profile Australia’s intellectual capital. 3. Reinforce the innovation and entrepreneurial process, from idea to market. 4. Facilitate networking between innovators and investors. 5. Collaborate nationally and with each Australian state & territory. The role of the Festival Secretariat is to build and co-ordinate the program of events, and to market the festival from a national perspective. Each of the individual events was hosted, marketed and funded by organisations with an innovation focus. Festival Coordination ProgramEvent ProgramPEventrogram ManageManagersOrganisersrs Attendees Government Educational & Agencies research institutions Universities Small business enterprises Australian Hospitals Business & financial service providers Innovation CRCs FestivalFestival Government agencies IndustryIndustry AssociationsAssociations Commercial Private organisations Companies The general public Venture Capital Industry Marketing & PR Support There were 200 events in the inaugural 2002 Festival – 157 capital city & 43 regional events. Over 76,200 people attended and print coverage alone reached 7.5 million people. The 2003 Festival was again held in the first two weeks of May with national, state and territory launches organised for the preceding week. There were 334 events including over 120 regional events and more than 150,000 people attended festival events. There were 502 registered events in the 2004 Festival program including over 200 events in country and regional Australia. Almost a quarter of a million people attended these events. The 2005 Festival included 724 registered events and 400,000 people attended these events. A major highlight was the large increase in associated festivals. The New Zealand Festival included 129 events and was held at the same time to build further Trans-Tasman business opportunities. Page 4 of 34 Australian INNOVATION Festival 2.1 National Coordination As has happened each year since 2002, the Festival Secretariat started the process by bringing together previous event organisers as well as interested groups including universities, TAFE and educational institutions, national and state industry associations, regional councils, potential associated festivals and federal, state and territory government departments and agencies. The Australian Innovation Festival performs a key role in ‘value adding’ a greater awareness of the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship. In this regard, the most important determinant of the festival’s success is the level of support, commitment and engagement from existing event organisers. The Secretariat undertakes a “principal driver” role by starting the organisational process for each year’s festival. This involves encouraging event organisers and participants to develop networking linkages. In most Australian States and Territories, the Secretariat performs the key position of local festival coordinator. This responsibility extends to identifying suitable collaborators, providing advice and guidance, helping to develop each new or modified event, assisting with aspects of event management and promotion, and working closely with each and every government liaison officer. The major priority for the Festival continues to be that of seeking ways to maximise benefits for event organisers, through increased attendances, media coverage and networking and sponsorship opportunities. The following initiatives were developed this year to assist in achieving this priority: Increase in Associated Innovation Festivals There were over 300 events in regional and country Australia this year (compared with 200 events in 2004). With the exception of ICAN (Canberra), Northern Melbourne, Monash and Swinburne (Melbourne) and Belmont (Perth), the other associated festivals were based outside of capital city metropolitan areas. The inaugural NZ innovation Festival was held in June 2004. After consultation with the NZ and Australian governments, NZ Innovation was also held after Anzac day this year. Associated Innovation Festivals 2002 2003 2004 2005 Illawarra Innovation Showcase 3 3 3 3 ICAN -Canberra’s ideas and innovation festival 3 3 3 3 Gold Coast Innovation Festival 3 3 3 Gippsland Innovation Festival 3 3 3 Limestone Coast Innovation Festival 3 3 Alice Springs Desert Knowledge Festival 3 3 Swinburne Innovation Festival 3 3 SKI (Science, Knowledge Innovation) Cairns 3 3 North West Expo (Broome) 3 Northern Melbourne Innovation Festival 3 Belmont Designedge Innovation Festival (WA) 3 Monash University Innovation