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🎵I wanna hear the dogs crying for water
I wanna see the fish go belly-up in the sea
And all those lemurs and all those tiny creatures
I wanna see them burn, it's only 4 degrees 🎵

   

In 1965 technologist Gordon Moore predicted that computer chips would double in price/performance every two years. Unlike, say, a pollster predicting the result of an Australian federal election, Moore was spot on with his prediction and that exponential improvement in computing power has provided the engine for innovation in the 54 years since.


Moore’s law was the only curve in town. The belief that transistor counts on a chip would double every 2 years became the predominant hypothesis for investment in technology and the current masters of the universe surfed its wave to fame and fortune displacing oil barons and industrialists in the Forbes list. But there’s a new curve in town: the Keeling curve. 


The Keeling Curve graphs the accumulation of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere using continuous measurements at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii from 1958 to the present day. The curve is named after scientist Charles David Keeling, who started the monitoring program and supervised it until his death in 2005. 

In 1971 Moore and his colleagues at Intel released the first commercially available microprocessor, the Intel 4004. It contained an incredible 2,300 transistors. That same year, Keeling measured atmospheric CO2 at Manu Loa at 325.46. 


This week’s measurement is 415.22 ppm. Our iPhones now have microprocessors with 10 billion transistors. 


Let’s put that into context, 12 months ago: 409ppm; 50 years ago: 326.66ppm; 250 years ago, est: 250ppm. 


According to the science, 450 ppm is a point of no return when we lock in warming of more than 2`C and the planet becomes uninhabitable. At the current rate, that happens in the late 2030's - yes, Keith Richards will only be 95y/o and I guess the Stones will be on their Uninhabitable Planet tour.


What does this all mean for the Hub?


In much the same way as Moore’s law has done for the last 5 decades, it’s my belief that the Keeling curve will define the core hypothesis for technology innovation and investment in the decades ahead because of the existential threat that it charts. 


Local tech entrepreneurs, Ant Moorhouse and Brian Keayes, call this movement #earthtech and this month launched an ambitious new venture from the Hub that aims to identify and accelerate startups that are working on technologies that could exponentially reduce the use of finite and fragile resources. 


Ant and Brian believe that Noosa is well-positioned to be a global epicentre for #earthtech offering a living laboratory for innovators who are working on promising technologies and an attractive environment for technologists and scientists who want to play by the ocean and raise a family.


Noosa of course has major skin in the game: a fragile coastal environment at particular risk of extreme weather or sea level rises and a local economy reliant on visitors who come to enjoy its natural splendours. 


This fits well with the Digital Hub’s mission to help build a world class digital ecosystem in Noosa by attracting, developing and supporting talent. If you know of someone working on #earthtech, please tell them Noosa is open for business and to get in touch with me.


In the rest of this email, I’ll share some of the exciting upcoming activities at the Hub, including our monthly meetup program, creative residencies, after-school programholiday program, AI education series with the Noosa Chamber and machine learning workshops.


Regards,

Chris Boden

Digital Hub Director


PS: You can share this newsletter with a friend by clicking here.

     

 Artificial Intelligence is the technology topic on everyone's lips. It's a subject that everyone seems to have an opinion on but no-one knows much about. 


We've partnered with the Noosa Chamber of Commerce to deliver a series of AI events through this year that we hope will help our business learn more about what AI really means, how it’s created and how it may affect their businesses and lives in the coming years. Our next event on the 20th of June will zero in on computer vision.


Our presenter is one of the world's leading experts on the topic, Peter Corke, QUT's Distinguished Professor of Robotic Vision and director of the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision. Peter literally wrote the book on computer vision and his online Robot Academy has delivered over 750,000 lessons to 120,000 learners from all over the world.


Prior to QUT, Peter was a senior principal research scientist at CSIRO where he founded the Autonomous Systems laboratory, a 50-person team undertaking research in mining, ground, aerial and underwater robotics, as well as sensor networks. Peter has a Bachelor of Engineering and Master of Engineering Science degrees, both in Electrical Engineering, and a PhD in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, all from the University of Melbourne.


     

 In June we're kicking off a series of Residencies for Digital Creatives, starting with a focus on electronic music production. We're thrilled to have house music producer and DJ Mark Maxwell joining us for an action-packed residency.


As a graduate from the Red Bull Music Academy, Mark has performed across Australian stages at Splendour in the Grass and Listen Out music festivals. Mark's original productions regularly feature on the Aria charts with his current single Free, currently featuring in the club charts.


Mark also leads the Sunshine Coast Producer's Group which meets monthly at the Hub to connect and collaborate around electronic music production. He is an expert on songwriting and production in Ableton Live and a fantastic teacher. We're thrilled that he will be giving two hands-on Ableton workshops during his residency.


Mark will be based at the Hub and holding "office hours" in the afternoons during which visitors can drop in and connect with him to discuss electronic music, production techniques and collaboration opportunities.

 

Residency Schedule

Tues, June 11 - Solo work, office hours, Workshop 1 (6-9pm) 

Weds, June 12 - Solo work, visit to Hub from school group
Thurs, June 13 - Solo work, office hours, SCPG (6-9pm)
Fri, June 14 - Solo work, office hours,

Sat, June 15 - Solo work, Workshop 2 (1-4pm), Open decks + closing drinks


Workshop 1 - Begin Production in Ableton Live (10-15 ppl)
Workshop 2 - Remixing in Ableton Live (10-15 ppl)


The Creative in Residence series is supported by the Regional Arts Development Fund.

The Hub's digital industry and talent development program is supported by TechnologyOne.  
     

 There is an exciting schedule of monthly events happening at the Hub this year which will bring together members of various digital industry groups to network, share ideas, and hear inspirational talks from top notch presenters.



Are You A Coder or Technologist?

Coding From Beach is the leading industry group for technologists on the Sunshine Coast. The group has around 450 members and meets at the Hub on the first Thursday of every month. 

 May's Coding from Beach meetup took the form of a machine learning workshop led by Ric Pruss (Principal Engineer for Cisco) and Ruth Luscombe (data scientist) with participants learning the very basics the FastAI 2019 course. A second workshop is being held on May the 23rd. Join here.

The next Coding from Beach meetup takes place on Thursday 6th of June 2019 from 6-8pm. Join here.


Are You A Digital Agency?


REBOOT is a new industry group created to support the Digital Creative and Marketing Industry in the Noosa Region. REBOOT aims to grow the profile of the sector and attract opportunities for local service providers.


This month we had 3 fantastic talks from Cameron Dunlop, Co-Founder of The App Team who spoke about the state of mobile app development in 2019. 

James Grugeon, Founder at The Good Beer shared his approach to building brands and business through authentic collaborations, partnerships and craft beer. 

Matt McDonald, Youi Insurance's Digital Marketing Specialist, told us about programmatic advertising and the marketing challenges of the rapidly evolving privacy landscape. 


REBOOT Meetups are curated to inspire and up-skill digital agencies and those creative professionals who provide digital marketing services to clients. Meetups take place on the second Tuesday of every month. Join here.



Are You A Digital Storyteller?


The Sunshine Coast Screen Collective is an industry group for the many talented visual storytelling creatives living on the Sunshine Coast who are involved in film, tv, video, photography or related services.The purpose of the meetup is to organise, inspire and up-skill the screen industry on the Coast to grow the profile of the sector and attract opportunities for local creatives. The next meetup takes place on Monday 17th June 2019. Join here.



Are you an electronic music producer or DJ?


Sunshine Coast Producers Group is a monthly meet-up designed for local electronic music producers and DJs based on the Sunshine Coast. The group aims to build a community of people who are interested in developing their skills as either DJs or producers, put local talent on the map, foster collaborations and develop young talent.


Meetups take place on the second Thursday of every month and are hosted at the Hub. The next one is on Thursday 13th June at 6pm. Join here.


Are You A Crypto Geek?


NoosaCrypto has a new date, with meetups now taking place on the 3rd Thursday of every month at the Hub from 6-8pm. The NoosaCrypto group have joined forces with the growing Holochain community and will be learning more about building scalable distributed apps with data integrity.


Meetups typically cover latest crypto news, security best practices, updates on Noosa Power, Holochain news and upcoming activities.


Tell a friend about these groups

     

EarthTech Launch

The Hub hosted the launch of #earthtech launch at the end of April. The evening featured pitches from founders Nusqe Spanton of Provectus Algae, Cliff Benns of Sustainable Food Corporation, Tim Bennett of LoveTo Global and Alex Kohl of Noosa Power. Projection art by Jandamarra Cadd.

     

 The Hub has a growing roster of talent development activities with both after-school and holiday programs for kids. Courses include inventing with micro-controllers, programming, 3D design and robotics.


The classes are all taught by senior school students who are part of the Hub's mentoring program for Young Inventors.


After-school Program


Inventor Club - Every Thursday during term from 4-5:30pm (Sold out)

Robotics Club - Every Friday during term from 4-5:30pm (Sold out)


Holiday Program

Activity Who for?Date Tickets 
Girls Engineering &
Robotics Workshop
Girls only aged
9-13y/o
29 Jun
30 Jun
$32.74 
$32.74
3D Design & 3D Printing
Workshop
Boys & Girls aged
9-13y/o
 9 Jul
10 Jul
 $32.74
$32.74
LEGO Sumo Robotics
Workshop
Boys & Girls aged
8-13y/o
 13 Jul
14 Jul
$32.74
$32.74

     

Kick off your day with your favourite cuppa from our on-site barista and riff on ideas with a brilliant co-worker at our Co-Op bar. That's before you've tapped into the gigabit internet at your sit-stand desk and taken a conference call in our private meeting rooms.

Take a 5 minute stroll to beautiful Peregian Beach Village and grab lunch with a colleague at one of over 10 awesome restaurants and eateries. Award-winning sushi, health food bar, Indian, French, Thai and one of the best pubs on the Coast.

The Hub's unique location lets you slap on the sunscreen and take a run with colleagues along 10km of pristine beaches, just 50m away then cool off with a swim and shower.

Get connected to industry colleagues through the packed calendar of top class events hosted at the Hub's Co-Lab for technologists, digital creatives, entrepreneurs and young talent.

Full-time and flexible membership options available for startups, technologists and digital businesses.

Apply now or tell a friend who would benefit from being at the Hub.

     
Peregian Digital Hub is a Noosa Council initiative Noosa Council