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Innovation in practice
News 24 JulyA message from Executive Dean of Health Sciences Professor Suzanne Chambers: Winter has so far been a season of future-thinking and action for the Faculty of Health Sciences.
26 July 2023
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Congratulations to Jessie Alice and Adam Hough on winning the ACU Co-Lab Circular Economy Award and $10,000 prize.
Following evaluation and voting by a panel of expert judges, Jessie and Adam’s Inner Tube Recovery social enterprise program has been named as the winning idea. Nation-wide and supported by industry, the Inner Tube Recovery Program (ITRP) aims to collect inner tubes from bicycles to be locally remade into new products. Every bicycle store that signs up to the program would then be reinvesting into the future of growing rubber here in Australia.
In Australia, 2.6 tonnes of inner tubes are taken to landfills every week. The program plans to work with more than 2,000 bike stores across Australia to turn this valuable resource into new circular products like rubber flooring, bicycle patch kits and bike bags. With rubber becoming extinct, it is important that we invest in the future of sustainable rubber growing locally.
Watch Jessie and Adam’s video pitch
The Co-Lab Circular Economy Award also offered a prize to an entering ACU student.
Jenni Montgomery’s idea was based around the challenges for Autistic people in starting Circular Economy businesses. To combat this, she proposed combining their skills to create successful small businesses within this community.
Jenni is currently a Neurodiversity Consultant for businesses and government clients. Before that, she managed Autistic-led school mentoring and professional development programs. She set up a Neurodiversity Network in a Government department and has 25-years experience leading people, teams and projects through change, as well as crafting policies, procedures and services. In her 'spare time', she is a conveners of the Northern Autism Network and enjoys axe carving and subversive cross-stitch.
Jenni has just completed a Graduate Certificate in Mental Health at ACU, where she used a Neurodiversity Paradigm perspective on everything she was learning.
The Co-Lab team were thrilled with the range and quality of innovative ideas from budding entrepreneurs that responded to the Circular Economy Award.
We would like to thank all entrants for their participation in the initiative, particularly for their time in researching, practising, and recording their pitch video. We are further encouraged by the underlying positive impact intended by the various solutions presented.
You can keep up-to-date with the ACU Co-Lab programs on their webpage.
A message from Executive Dean of Health Sciences Professor Suzanne Chambers: Winter has so far been a season of future-thinking and action for the Faculty of Health Sciences.
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