AGRIFUTURES Australia will move its annual evokeAG event to Perth in Western Australia next year, after being unable to find a suitable venue in Melbourne.
The agrifood tech event that brings together farmers, innovators, investors, researchers, corporates, and government will be held on 20 and 21 February at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre.
AgriFutures managing director, John Harvey, said the decision to move the 2024 event from Melbourne to Perth speaks to the evolution of evokeAG and reflects the substantial growth of the agrifood tech community.
“evokeAG. planned on returning to its roots in 2024 holding the two-day event at the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne.
“However, we had an exceptional response to evokeAG. 2023 with a sell-out event,” he said.
“We now require a venue that can accommodate this demand and regrettably there are no suitable venues in Melbourne, available for our desired dates.”
Mr Harvey said in 2019 investment into Australian agrifood tech innovation was about $90 million USD. At evokeAG. 2023 AgFunder announced that in 2022 that figure had risen to $248 million USD.
“More broadly we’ve seen a higher volume of quality agrifood tech startups emerge – partially because of new talent in the ecosystem – plus increased resources from Government as well as corporates,” Mr Harvey said.
Western Australian Minister for Agriculture and Food; Forestry; Small Business, the Hon Jackie Jarvis MLC said driving innovation and increasing adoption of technology across the agrifood supply chain was a key priority for the Western Australian Government.
“WA food and beverage producers are some of the most innovative in the world. Our State’s strong connection with Asia and our excellent universities means we are well placed to become a hub for agrifood innovation and investment,” she said.
“We look forward to evokeAG. 2024 bringing delegates together from around the world and across Australia, to connect and collaborate for the future of our food and farming systems.”
Event details including speakers, startup and investment programs, networking opportunities, and sideline activities will be released in the coming months. Early bird tickets are expected to go on sale in mid-2023.
For more information visit www.evokeag.com
HAVE YOUR SAY