Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has selected Adelaide’s innovation precinct, Lot Fourteen, as the fourth global location for its prestigious Living Lab.
The Living Lab will be established as a partnership between MIT, the South Australian government, BankSA, and Optus Business. It will be a hub where public, private and research sectors will come together to analyse data and determine how South Australia can drive economic and sustainable population growth.
The opening of the Adelaide Living Lab will join an existing network of Living Labs that have opened in New York, Beijing, and Istanbul.
South Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment David Ridgway said the Living Lab will help boost the state’s entrepreneurial activity and give local startups access to rich data and insights.
“Lot Fourteen is the perfect location for a Living Lab – it’s a place where entrepreneurs, investors, businesses, global industries, universities and other leading research institutions come together to share ideas and collaborate to invest in the innovation economy,” he said.
“The Living Lab will further enrich this great site and enable learnings to be rapidly shared and highly effective networks to operate in a seamless, physical and digital environment.”
Mobile intelligence firm and Optus’ sister company, DSpark Australia, will be responsible for the technical fit out of Living Lab, while providing extrapolated data for the work that will be undertaken at the Lab.
DSpark Australia country head Paul Rybicki said the opening of Living Lab is an endorsement of the government’s support for local companies looking to solve real problems.
“We have a great capability and dataset but it’s not often that government agencies have foresight or forethought to leverage this kind of innovation, so we’re really excited that there is that appetite and momentum,” he told InnovationAus.com.
“There are real outcomes that can be achieved with this sort of innovation.”