Infrastructure innovation blooms with Smart Seeds Monday, 16 March 2015

Bright young minds across Australia and New Zealand are working together to develop new solutions to some of the most complex challenges facing cities.

Smart Seeds is an annual innovation competition for young professionals focused on solving challenges in the infrastructure industry. It is a unique space where our future leaders can influence the legacy of our current leaders in making a difference.

Led by one of the world’s leading engineering, architecture, environmental and construction services companies, GHD, Smart Seeds has grown from its Melbourne roots to include young professionals throughout Australia and New Zealand. The competition draws together participants from a variety of private and public organisations across the water, energy and resources, transportation, property and building, and environment sectors.

Supported by Engineers Australia, Bentley Systems and Innovation Interchange, Smart Seeds 2015 events are getting under way in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and New Zealand with regional supporters including Lend Lease, City of Melbourne, Metropolitan Planning Authority, Office of the Victorian Government Architect and Transport for NSW.

Smart Seeds participants are working in teams mentored by industry leaders to develop ideas to real-life infrastructure challenges, particularly around the topics of sustainability and liveability. The teams will then present their concepts to an audience of industry representatives and a panel of judges at a showcase event in each participating region.

Jeremy Stone, Group Manager Innovation at GHD, says, “Participants can look forward to learning new innovation skills that they can use to influence positive change in their workplaces. Skills like creative idea generation techniques, idea assessment, and pitching ideas to win support and progress to delivery.

“Supporters and audiences eagerly await fresh ideas to solve some of our trickiest infrastructure challenges.”

Past winning ideas include a proposal for a floating, rotating bridge to improve pedestrian connectivity in Melbourne’s Victoria Harbour and a concept for temporary ‘pop up’ shops, galleries and meeting places to breathe life into disused and vacant urban sites.

[Image courtesy Dan A'Vard]