Regional tech leaders recognised at the Innovate with NBN Awards

Outstanding ideas and innovations that promote digital capability in regional and remote communities have been recognised through the 2023 Innovate with NBN Awards.

Delivered by NBN Co, in partnership with the Regional Australia Institute, the Awards support entrepreneurs to develop and deliver innovative projects that make a real difference to their local communities.

The 2023 Award categories include: Arts, Tourism, Agriculture, Health, Education, Indigenous Business and Women in Regional Business. Category winners receive $15,000.

Ballarat business Mass Motion was named the winner of the Arts category, for their biennial short film festival Poco.

Poco Film Fest is Regional Victoria's newest short film festival. The inaugural event took place in Ballarat in July 2022, to a sold-out theatre audience. The vision of Poco Film Fest is to foster new and emerging talent and build a community for filmmakers and movie-goers to share, collaborate and inspire. 

The Albanese Government is committed to improving connectivity and digital capability in regional and remote Australia. It has invested $2.4 billion to expand full-fibre NBN access to an additional 1.5 million premises – including more than 660,000 in regional areas – and is upgrading the Fixed Wireless network through a $480 million investment.

Faster broadband speeds enabled by the NBN network is driving productivity and has supported around 169,000 jobs. More than half of this economic uplift is accruing in regional and remote communities.

For more information on the program and to read the full list of finalists visit: Innovate with nbn® Grants Program | nbn (nbnco.com.au)

For more information about Poco Film Festival visit: Poco Home (pocofilmfest.com.au)

Quotes attributable to Member for Ballarat Catherine King:

“Congratulations to Mass Motion on this well-deserved award. It’s terrific news that Poco Film Festival has received this recognition and funding.

“We’re committed to boosting digital connectivity across regional Australia to support outstanding businesses like Mass Motion”.

Quotes attributable to Mass Motion Director Luke Keys:

“It’s incredibly humbling to be awarded the 2023 Innovate with NBN Grant Program – Arts category. Knowing our film festival has been recognised means we have created something special in regional Victoria and we feel so proud to share it with a national audience.

“Poco Film Festival aims to create a world-class event right here in Ballarat, bringing the best of Australian short films to the region, and this award is affirmation of the team’s passion and commitment to the festival.”

“Thank you to NBN Australia and the Regional Australia Institute for this amazing opportunity and recognition!”