INNOVATE TO REGENERATE
Finding innovative solutions to regenerate and future-proof Australia’s precious natural environment and communities.
WWF-Australia has helped catalyse and accelerate the transition to a regenerative economy through the Innovate to Regenerate program. We partnered with Regen Studios and The Australian Centre for Social Innovation (TACSI), and were guided by First Nations Traditional Knowledge and leadership principles. We have worked hand-in-hand with pioneering communities along with partners across industry, government, and finance to test and validate solutions for this critical sector and support experimentation-at-scale to accelerate the transition to a regenerative society.
The journey
‘Regeneration recognises that human and planetary health are deeply interwoven, and actively seeks to enable the flourishing of human and non-human life, on an ongoing basis, forever.’ – Regenerative Songlines Australia
Let’s head back to 2020.
Over 4 months from April - July 2020, right after the bushfires, in partnership with Regen Studios, WWF-Australia conducted a nationwide listening campaign in communities around Australia, asking people about their vision for the future of Australia.
Powerful insights were shared, and many of these led to Innovate to Regenerate with three overarching objectives.
- Cultivate the soil: Spark a national conversation about regeneration and regenerative economy, and help present a positive, compelling story about the future we could have as a country, inspired by the short film Regenerating Australia, set in 2030, and created by Regen Studios with WWF-Australia.
- Plant seedlings: Develop and test capability building and ideation workshops to support communities to develop their own regenerative solutions, through the Our Community Vision Workshop and Local Learning Labs (partnering with The Australian Centre for Social Innovation).
- Nourish growth: supporting experimentation and replication of catalytic regenerative enterprise and finance models through the $2 million I2R Challenge, enterprise capability building workshops for shortlisted ventures, along with grant funding and coaching support.
The movement towards a regenerative society is gaining momentum and offers a future that builds economic, environmental and social resilience. However, strategic intervention is needed to ensure it succeeds. Read more here.
Learn more
WWF-Australia delivered 4 key program areas as part of Innovate to Regenerate:
Regenerating Australia
Together with Regen Studios, WWF-Australia developed the 17-minute short film, Regenerating Australia, which was launched in March 2022 with a national cinema tour of special event screenings. The Regenerating Australia film has been watched by over 130,000 people, has been screened in 400+ communities, schools and businesses and has sparked a nationwide conversation about what a regenerative 2030 could look like.
Regen Places Network
Regen Places, kicked off with catalytic funding from WWF-Australia to Regen Melbourne, and has been co-convened by Coalition of Everyone and WWF-Australia since April 2023.
The network now numbers 80 members, with 19 places. If you are building a coalition, alliance, or network of regenerators in your area, get in touch here to be connected to Regen Places.
Find out more here.
Regen Local Learning Labs
“An action packed two days of learning, brainstorming and connecting with like-minded people wanting and ready to see Australia in a better place”. (Eurobodalla Local Learning Lab)
What is a Local Learning Lab?
The Regen Local Learning Lab is a 2-day workshop experience, designed to support the development of regional regeneration and entrepreneurship. The Lab bring together individuals, small-to-medium-sized enterprises, local partners, community activators, and industry experts to support early-stage regenerative ideas, projects and businesses.
During Innovate to Regenerate, the Local Learning Labs were prototyped, across three regional locations: Eurobodalla, Adelaide Hills & Fleurieu and Gippsland.
What are the highlights from the past 12 months?
- 66 regen-preneurs attended the three Local Learning Labs, building connections and collaborations across local innovation ecosystems
- Initiatives were supported to launch including the Prom Coast Ecolink, Regen Gippsland and a Regional Regen Collective Hub in Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu and Kangaroo Island region.
- Indigenous-led enterprise leaders connected with collaborators around skills and land (cultural burning, native floristry and ceremony, rites of passage).
Our Community Vision Workshop
Imagine bringing your community together for a workshop to explore a vision of a regenerative future and identify potential projects to regenerate the local area.
Our highlights
- 700+ people have attended Our Community Vision workshops around the country, sparking connections and ideas for regeneration within communities.
- Workshops have ranged from a small group of 16 in regional Queensland, to a large group of 270 in Sydney NSW
- Organisations like Climate for Change and Sydney Alliance have begun to integrate the workshop into their suite of community activation offerings around climate change decarbonisation, and nature restoration
- Community Vision workshops have been hosted for large corporations in Australia including Macquarie Bank, Unilever, and through Vivid Sydney Festival 2023.
Innovate to Regenerate Challenge
WWF-Australia ran a nationwide innovation challenge to unearth catalytic regenerative enterprise around the country. We received over 150 applications from community entrepreneurs, spanning sectors including nature-based solutions, landscape restoration, aquaculture, renewable energy and community governance – to name a few. Over 50 enterprises were peer reviewed by a network of experts of 50+ experts and received support as part of WWF’s Regenerative Enterprise Workshop Series.
Experts around the country upskill their awareness of regeneration by collaborating with each other to review the environmental impact, community impact, technical & financial feasibility of each solution. WWF-Australia has leaned on the input from this nationwide community of experts to decide which regenerative enterprises to fund.
Key highlights
- WWF-Australia has deployed $2 million of seed funding to 25 game-changing regenerative solutions which span a variety of sectors and communities across Australia. These solutions represent a ‘virtual’ regenerative place-based community. Together they provide significant economic, social and environmental multipliers for local communities.
- You can view the funded portfolio here. Get in touch with us to discuss funding and support opportunities.
- Further grant funding of up to $300K has been provided by external funders to projects in the funded portfolio.