NBN Innovate with NBN grants: The Winners

Choosing the winners

With the high calibre of entries, the judges had their work cut out for them, says Gavin Williams, Chief Development Officer, Regional and Remote at NBN.

“Knowing that people are using the NBN™ network to innovate and explore new ways to do great things for the community or their business, we were expecting impressive submissions – and we weren’t disappointed. “The applicants certainly made it difficult for our judging panel and should be commended for their innovation, creativity and commitment to regional, rural and remote Australia,” says Gavin. The Judges Our inaugural judging panel for the Innovate with nbn™ Grants Program was made up of the following esteemed industry professionals: Ros Abercrombie, Executive Director at Regional Arts Australia Sally Gall, Senior Journalist at Queensland Country Life and North Queensland Register Steven Issa, Chief Digital Officer at Australian Digital Health Agency Andrea Koch, Board Member at National Farmers’ Federation Catherine Liddle, CEO at First Nations Media Liz Ritchie, CEO at Regional Australia Institute Sam Dimarco, General Manager, Segments and Stakeholder Relations at nbn. WUNA (HoldAccess) A digital wallet designed to provide instant access to information. WUNA (HoldAccess) enables individuals to hold and easily access their identification and verified information, including existing proof of (Aboriginality) heritage certification for First Nations’ people, using the Diji-Wallet. “WUNA (HoldAccess) has created a disruptive digital solution that provides instant access to information – a virtual locker at your fingertips – to access certificates and identification swiftly, built for employers and workers to streamline recruitment, onboarding, and industry compliance instantly,” says Jason Davis, CEO and Founder at WUNA (HoldAccess) based in Palmerston, NT (Larrakia Nation). Called the ‘Diji-Wallet’, users can access identification and control their information any time in any environment, helping individuals to be work-ready with transferrable identification helping the authorised Diji-Cardholders (workers) to operate across multiple worksites. “The Diji-Wallet as a document repository solves a problem for people who live regionally or without safe digital access to hold their information,” says Jason. “It can be quite difficult to create economic opportunities when you lack digital access to your essential information or if it is held by third parties on your behalf, and access to it creates a further dependency on the welfare system.” WUNA (HoldAccess) makes the transition for recruitment, employment and training inclusive of the individual. The Diji-Wallet works with ease, offering 24-hour access with or without mobiles or the internet on worksites where mobile phones are restricted, says Jason. “WUNA (HoldAccess) also offers an integrated Enterprise Software to help employers connect faster to their workers, building industry safe work cultures and significantly improving government tendering on procurement conditions.” As a social impact solution, WUNA (HoldAccess) improves the position of job seekers and those in regional Australia enrolled in Community Development Programs with faster access to verified capabilities that empowers independently informed choices, says Jason. For First Nations people, WUNA (HoldAccess) offers a national Diji-Card to display their existing proof of (Aboriginality) heritage certification required on government Indigenous procurement contracts – an essential for Reconciliation Action Plans, and improves Indigenous Land Use Agreements when negotiating employment and training opportunities. “Many people lack access to identification and verified information. WUNA (HoldAccess) is a digital (Diji) tool to leverage capabilities for opportunities faster to give enterprises and individuals a better way to share secure and private information instantly,” says Jason. “We believe WUNA (HoldAccess) will help increase the social fabric for the future of work in Australia and build regional economies with a solution to a much-needed problem of digital access.” How the Innovate with nbn™ grant will be used WUNA (HoldAccess) will use the $10,000 grant to help tweak its digital interface and take the solution to market as a lean and practical solution.