• Charles Sturt hosted the Connectivity Innovation Network’s Regional Connectivity Symposium in Wagga Wagga

Charles Sturt University hosted the second annual Connectivity Innovation Network’s (CIN) Regional Connectivity Symposium in Wagga Wagga on Wednesday 29 and Thursday 30 May.

The event connected the CIN with industry, academia and government on connectivity issues in regional and remote NSW.

The first day featured a half-day tour of Charles Sturt’s Global Digital Farm and a networking event at the Charles Sturt Winery. Day two was an all-day symposium at the University’s Convention Centre.

This year’s theme was ‘Enhancing Connectivity and Sensing in Remote Regions’ and the event was attended by special guests. These included Commissioner for Resilience NSW and Chair of the Connectivity Innovation Network Board Mr Shane Fitzsimmons, Director of CIN Mr Ian Oppermann, Wagga Wagga City Council Mayor Dallas Tout, and Ms Razia Osman from CIN.

The aim of the symposium was to collaborate on what needs to be addressed to improve the connectivity in Australia’s remote regions. The findings will then inform CIN’s calls for future research proposals.

Topics discussed included connectivity challenges in Wagga Wagga and regional NSW, changes and advancements occurring in the regions, new opportunities for NSW regions and highlights from the recently released CIN whitepaper.

Charles Sturt’s Pro Vice-Chancellor Research Professor Michael Friend said the University was pleased to host the symposium.

“Improving connectivity in rural and regional Australia is critical in order to benefit from the opportunities that the digital age provides and removing the gap that exists in service delivery between metropolitan and rural and regional Australia,” he said.

Professor Friend said addressing the challenges of regional connectivity requires collaboration between government, the private sector and community organisations.

“Charles Sturt University is undertaking research across a range of areas to deliver practical outcomes for our communities, in rural health, agriculture, environment, artificial intelligence and many other domains and connectivity is critical to capturing benefits from this research,” he said.

“This was showcased as participants toured our Global Digital Farm and saw firsthand how critical connectivity was to utilising the broad range of data collected across the farm to inform decision making to improve profitability and sustainability.

“Our research, as a member of CIN, includes utilising data from many sources to improve flood mapping, which will enable better flood mitigation activities and emergency responses, and using a novel approach to transform cybersecurity practices.”

As many regional communities grapple with accessing reliable and high-speed connectivity, Professor Friend said this symposium goes a long way toward unlocking the opportunities the digital age provides.