Earlier this month, goPassport Chairman Matt McKinley joined an FNQ specialist guest panel, sitting down with Dr Sarah Pearson, Deputy Director-General Innovation in the Queensland Government. The guest panel event, which was hosted by the Department of State Development, Tourism and Innovation, aimed to start discussions around how we can ignite and grow innovation, build economies and support job development in rural and regional Queensland.
Matt, along with other panel guests Jess Fealey and Dwayne Good, shared their stories, insights and other issues associated with regional areas, tourism and the coronavirus pandemic.
Having been involved in several innovative start-up businesses, including Koolivoo, Didgigo and the newest venture; goPassport, Matt explained how goPassport was formed and the driving force behind our goal to restart travel safely in the “new normal”.
Watch our summary of Matt’s discussions from the event below:
Other panel guests Dwayne Good, Founder of InTravel Group, and Jess Fealey, a farm and business owner of Back Paddock Business, both shared views surrounding regional Queensland and their industries.
Dwayne Good discussed the importance of achieving greater outcomes for Indigenous Australians within the tourism industry and the impacts COVID-19 has had on his business. Jess Fealey inspired by sharing her passion for increasing the agri-tech and described the role the Atherton Tablelands plays in leading the way in innovation for agriculture here in Australia.
Despite the impacts of COVID-19, Dr Pearson is optimistic about the future and says the pandemic is driving some opportunities.
“There are huge opportunities in Queensland, and now is the time to make the most of them; now is the time to accelerate the growth of high value industry to grow jobs and our economy as we unite and recover from the pandemic,” Dr Pearson says.
Life will never be the same again and it is a hard transition that we’re going through but if anyone can make it, it’s innovators and entrepreneurs…We have some incredible assets in Australia, and in Queensland, and it’s an incredible part of the world to be in.
Dr Sarah Pearson
goPassport’s solution ignites and grows innovation for Queensland
goPassport is an end to end real-time platform which ensures safe international travel for nations, universities and corporates. Here is how goPassport can help:
- Prove travellers are fit to travel before their journey begins to minimise the risk of bringing the virus into the country
- Provide up-to-date health & safety information to individuals, to keep travellers safe and compliant to national, regional and local requirements
- Track and trace travellers for a given period of time before, during and after their travel journeys, to ensure they are compliant to local health and safety regulations
- React and issue alerts quickly if a traveller contracts the virus, and to identify those potentially affected automatically and efficiently
- Prove that travellers are healthy to relieve any concerns from service providers during their journey
Sources:
https://advance.qld.gov.au/whats-happening/stories-about-innovation/future-bright-innovation-queensland