Meet the 2024 Innovate with nbn Grant Program winners
9-minute read
Winners of the 2024 Innovate with nbn® Grants Program have been announced. Learn more about this year’s award-winning businesses.
Businesses throughout regional and remote Australia often face challenges.
There are the natural disasters than can occur: storms, fire, drought, flooding and cyclones.
Then there’s the economics of living further from our capital cities and major regional centres. The cost of getting around is more expensive due to vast distances, transport costs can be higher, and less choice can mean higher prices across everyday items in supermarkets.
And then there can be struggles with self-promotion – competing with businesses in larger population centres.
The pathway to success can be difficult – yet, it’s through times of adversity that many of these businesses discover increased determination, innovation and creativity.
Like those businesses we’ve met through our Innovate with nbn® Grants Program.
About the program
To recognise and showcase extraordinary businesses across the country, we partnered with the Regional Australia Institute (RAI) to develop the Innovate with nbn® Grants Program.
Since its inception in 2020, more than 800 entries have been received from the length and breadth of Australia. From that, 35 winners have been awarded grants to help bring their ideas to life, and continue to grow their ventures.
Throughout the last five years, we’ve been privileged to share the stories of past program winners, help them on their journeys, and see them achieve their visions and beyond. At nbn, our purpose is to lift the digital capability of Australia, and it’s a purpose we share with everyone involved in the program.
In years gone by, we’ve awarded winners from places including Darwin in the Northern Territory, Busselton in Western Australia (WA), Blackstone Point in Tasmania, San Remo in Victoria (VIC), Armidale in New South Wales (NSW), Carters Ridge in Queensland (QLD), and Mount Barker in South Australia.
The breadth of locations has been matched by the breadth of innovation, and we’re happy to play a role in sharing their pioneering ideas right from their home turf.
This year, there was a total prize pool of $125,000. Category winners received $15,000 and the overall champion, another $20,000.
Entries were submitted nationally for an opportunity to win in seven categories including Indigenous Business, Education, Agriculture, Women in Regional Business, Health, Tourism and Arts.
The awards were held in Sydney on 12 November 2024.
“As the nation’s first and only independent think tank dedicated to the prosperity of regional communities, the RAI’s purpose is to empower regions to thrive. The Innovate with nbn® Grants Program embodies this and helps to showcase the immense potential of those who reside outside the bounds of metropolitan Australia. The support this initiative has been able to offer to regionally-based businesses and individuals has not only lifted the digital capability in their communities but the wider nation.”
Liz Ritchie
CEO at Regional Australia Institute
The winners
The 2024 Innovate with nbn® Grants Program winners are:
Women in Regional Business and 2024 Innovate with nbn® Champion
Grief Connect
Grief Connect, based in Roelands (WA), specialises in grief and bereavement support services in counselling, widowed support groups and The Grief Language Project.
The Grief Language Project aims to deliver grief education content in webinars and courses, making it accessible to people in regional areas - reducing social isolation. Participants will have access to targeted learning modules that include social work practice, knowledge and education, and focus on four pillars of Prepare, Navigate, Survive and Thrive.
Personal experience (and tragedy) led to the foundation of The Grief Language Project.
"This is not only work for me but also personal, having become a young widow at 38 and, two years ago, experiencing the loss of my dad.
"It is personal connection that fuels my passion for providing grief and bereavement services, ensuring those experiencing grief understand what they are going through and staying connected to support networks. Being recognised enhances my commitment to smashing through the stigma around grief, validating it is a natural human experience.
"This recognition reinforces my dedication to educating Australian communities about grief and fostering safe, transformative conversations that can not only be life-changing but also be lifesaving."
Michelle Moriarty
Founder and CEO at Grief Connect
Indigenous Business
Lola Digital
Lola Digital is a boutique content and marketing agency based on Waibene (Thursday Island) in Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait).
Founded by Kantesha Takai in 2019, Lola Digital supports businesses and organisations to amplify their key messages and solidify brands with culturally-safe and strategic marketing efforts in website design and development, graphic design, copywriting and across social media platforms.
Lola Digital also supports marketing campaigns with strategic planning and event management, and offers photography and videography packages. As a certified Indigenous business, it makes every effort to employ local Indigenous artists, creatives and subcontractors across its supply chain.
With most of Lola's services being digital-first, Kantesha has advocated the need for better connectivity in her region to bridge the digital divide and ensure digital inclusion for First Nations people across the Torres Strait.
"We aim to help bridge the digital divide for First Nations peoples living across the communities in Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait) to help them pursue thriving careers and entrepreneurship opportunities, whilst staying on Country and on Island.
"We want to connect with families, especially those with children in the vulnerable ages of 16 to 20 to strengthen their digital capabilities and online confidence. We will aim at not only empowering young people but their parents and guardians as well to ensure the entire family feels involved, and able to understand the digital landscape and the opportunities it provides for the future of work for young people.
"In addition to digital capabilities, we aim to offer families financial confidence workshops delivered by a partner agency (Lugger Indigenous Finance Education). We believe that, like all households, income and finances play a crucial role in determining better health and wellbeing of First Nations people. Therefore, if we wish to help unlock income-generating opportunities through increasing digital capabilities, we want to provide families the supports to make healthy financial decisions."
Kantesha Takai
Owner and Director at Lola Digital
Education
Disinfluencer
Australia's first inclusive talent hub, Disinfluencer helps businesses, brands and workplaces to be inclusive.
As a certified social enterprise, Disinfluencer - which is located in Merimbula (NSW) - offers meaningful paid work and opportunities to people with disabilities who dream of being stars in content like their peers. This includes in brand advertising, stock photography and through talent representation.
Importantly, Disinfluencer aims to help educate and empower businesses to understand disability, digital accessibility, and the simple steps they can take to be digitally inclusive.
"We are on a mission to take disability mainstream.
"We know business wants to be inclusive, but how and what does that look like? We know business and we know disability so we can tackle inclusion with creativity and empathy, and help businesses start their journey to inclusion."
Simone Eyles
Founder at Disinfluencer
Agriculture
GRO Rural
GRO Rural is a digital platform designed to connect and empower professionals, service providers and businesses across Australia's rural, regional and agricultural sectors. Offering tailored industry registries, networking opportunities and professional resources, the Tamworth (NSW) business helps rural professionals showcase their expertise, find job opportunities and build strong connections with organisations in need of services.
A key focus of GRO Rural is supporting the dairy industry, where it provides a specialised platform that enhances visibility for dairy professionals and connects them with businesses seeking their expertise. This initiative contributes to the growth, sustainability and success of the dairy sector, ensuring that skilled professionals are accessible to meet the industry's evolving needs.
"GRO Rural was created to address a unique challenge - connecting dairy professionals and service providers with farm businesses. Existing platforms, like LinkedIn, or traditional recruitment agencies simply don't work for the rural space, where personal connections and specialised skills are essential.
"We want to create a more digitally-connected and prosperous future for dairy communities, and set the stage for expanding GRO Rural into other ag sectors like cotton, grains and livestock. It's all about making regional Australia stronger, smarter and more connected."
Dimity Smith
Managing Director at GRO Rural
Health
SimpliMove
SimpliMove aims to be best in delivering digital health to improve accessibility of healthcare, health outcomes and health literacy for all Australians. Based in Armidale, NSW, it does this by providing accessible, trusted and cost-efficient online treatment with health advice and rehabilitation programs.
SimpliMove is a mobile and web application that offers:
- Primary care, allied health, physiotherapy treatment and management using telehealth sessions
- Tailored medical exercise and rehabilitation programs adapted to a user's ability, pain, medical conditions, goals and interests
- Health education with more than 100 articles designed to improve health literacy about injury management, chronic disease, and general health and wellbeing
There's also the SimpliMove research project , which involves developing and evaluating a General Practitioner (GP) referral pathway of physiotherapy services using an online health app to:
- Improve accessibility of primary care physiotherapy services to rural populations with chronic diseases and who are middle-aged to older
- Support rural GPs by providing accessible and trusted allied-health referral pathways
Leveraging GP referrals and the SimpliMove digital health platform, SimpliMove proposes to establish a GP referral pathway and streamline processes for patient uptake of its digital platform delivered to populations in NSW's New England area.
"We now wish to provide evidence that online health services using the SimpliMove app are a viable option, particularly in rural and regional Australia where accessing health services can be prohibitive.
"The grant money will help fund our research to provide this evidence and provide a future blueprint for rolling out other online services to create greater accessibility for healthcare to these populations."
Deborah Hunter
Co-Founder and Owner at SimpliMove
Tourism
Rocky Trail Destination
The Rocky Trail Group is a leading Australian mountain bike event promoter and destination development company. Located in Malua Bay (NSW), Rocky Trail Destination (RTD) is at the forefront of the group's innovation offerings, specialising in nature and trail-based tourism. RTD is currently developing the 130-kilometre Mogo Trails network in Batemans Bay, NSW, which will host the Sea Otter Australia event in October 2025.
To enhance regional adventure tourism and trail-based activities, RTD is working on a new Destination Zone portfolio, a transformative digital platform to make regional destinations more accessible and well-managed.
By leveraging data on trail usage, conditions and visitor demographics, its objective is to enable trail network stakeholders to make informed decisions to improve trail sustainability, optimise maintenance and demonstrate return on investment through increased tourism spend. It will empower travellers to explore, plan and book adventures to ultimately enhance both the visitor experience and regional visitor economies.
"Our goal with Destination Zone is to bridge the gap between travellers and regional destinations. We want to make it easier for people to discover hidden gems, plan their adventures and support local businesses. By providing real-time information on trail conditions, weather alerts and local attractions, we're helping to ensure that visitors have a safe and enjoyable experience.
"We want Destination Zone to be more than just a travel tool. It's intended to also be a powerful economic driver. By attracting more visitors to regional areas, we're helping to boost local economies and create jobs. And by providing valuable data and analytics to stakeholders, we're empowering them to make informed decisions about tourism development and management.
"Ultimately, we want Destination Zone to be a beacon of innovation and a model for sustainable regional tourism. We believe that by harnessing the power of technology, we can create a brighter future for both visitors and residents of regional Australia."
Martin and Juliane Wisata
Directors at The Rocky Trail Group
Arts
Threshold
Based in Kyneton, VIC, Threshold specialises in digital interactive and hybrid works that celebrate the poetic and the playful. Co-founders Tahli Corin and Sarah Lockwood collaborate with a team of artists and tech wizards to create artworks that sit at the intersection of visual arts, digital experience and immersive theatre.
From audio theatre experiences to analogue treasure hunts and immersive installations, Threshold's adventures have brought the delight and wonder of theatre to thousands of people across the globe.
Their latest project, which they call Best. Party. Ever., is an innovative Zoom show that connects grandparents and grandchildren globally, offering a creative and playful intergenerational experience. Threshold's audio theatre experience, Mountain Goat Mountain, has been translated into Chinese, featured in The New York Times, and reached audiences through 29 international venues and festivals.
"We started Threshold because we faced challenges accessing cultural experiences for our children, and we knew we weren't alone. Our goal was to create work that strengthens connections between people, no matter where they live. Best. Party. Ever. brings grandparents and grandchildren together, using technology to foster joy and belonging across distances.
"Our live online show has connected families from Melbourne to Victor Harbor, from Spain and Greece to Wagga Wagga, New Zealand and beyond. Performed live, directed remotely from Adelaide, and managed by a tech wizard in Brisbane, it transforms Zoom into a creative playspace for grandparents and their grandchildren. The show isn't just about technology; it's about using technology to nurture joy, laughter and connection across the miles, and leave a digital legacy in these intergenerational relationships.
"This opportunity allows us to further develop our work and continue bridging the gap between families, helping them share special moments in new, creative ways."
Tahli Corin
Co-Director at Threshold
Innovate with nbn in 2025
We are always looking at how we can evolve and improve this program to ensure it remains relevant to regional Australian businesses.
If you thought about applying for the program this year but didn't, stay tuned for updates on what will be happening next year.
And if you have entered before but weren't picked as a finalist or didn't win, we welcome you to apply again next time - and greatly look forward to hearing how your business has continued to innovate.
Header image (from left to right): Simone Eyles, Dimity Smith, Kantesha Takai, Deborah Hunter, Michelle Moriarty, Sarah Lockwood, Tahli Corin, Martin Wisata, Juliane Wisata, Mark Carpenter