Discovering our strengths to build a better future
The Project
The Future of Benalla & District project is an exciting opportunity for Benalla and district to participate in building a brighter and more resilient future for all.
The project uses the Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) to analyse our communities to create a set of projects ready for investment.
The starting point of the S3 process is a close examination of the economic, social and environmental characteristics of the district through a regional context analysis. This will identify the assets, knowledge base and resources available to support economic innovation, as well as the key policy initiatives relevant to the district.
The Future of Benalla & District project is supported by the Benalla Rural City Council, the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions, and RMIT University.
Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3)
The Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) methodology provides an opportunity to foster cross-sector innovation and connections.
If you’re new to the concept of S3, we’re excited to have you on board to help us expand and strengthen this way of working across community, industry, education and government.
Regional Context Analysis
Exploring economic, social and environmental characteristics.
Understanding the regions sectors and potential for growth.
Selection of innovation opportunities to explore in more depth.
Innovation Analysis
Discovering strengths, weaknesses and growth potential of each of the innovation opportunities with stakeholders.
Surfacing themes and opportunities with potential for innovation, specialisation and
competitive advantage.
Entrepreneurial discovery workshops
Exploring themes with each of the innovation
opportunities in more depth with stakeholder groups.
Testing the growth potential of opportunities with a diversity of regional stakeholders and content experts.
Innovation Groups
Co-designing innovations, applying design principles, per discussions and feedback.
Collaborating on inquiry tasks for thew themes discovered in each innovation opportunity e.g.
bespoke research, pre-feasibility studies and global market scans.
Innovation groups and project teams
Co-evaluating outcomes from inquiry tasks.
Testing value propositions and assessing comparative and competitive advantages to determine feasibility.
Project teams
Activating business Cases.
Monitoring, improving, learning and discovery.
The Project Officer
Matt Currie grew up in Benalla and has recently returned to coordinate the Future of Benalla & District project.
He has experience in business management, corporate governance, chairing committees and working in the community. He’s excited to see what the Future of Benalla & District project can deliver for our region.
Supported by:
