The ideation workshop on July 4 forms part of this year’s Life Tech Challenge, a competition to find solutions that can improve any area of community life.

Organised by Hume Bank, the Life Tech Challenge is presently taking registrations, with a $10,000 main prize and new $2000 Rising Star award on offer.

Hume Bank chief customer officer Andrew de Graaff said about a dozen places remained available for the inaugural ideation workshop.

The July event is not limited to people who have entered or intend to enter the main competition.

“We know that this is an evolutionary challenge,” Mr de Graaff said.

“We also recognise that some people might actually have their ideas at different stages, some might be at their infancy, others might be well and truly in train, they just need help getting it over the line.

“Collaboration in itself can actually help build even greater ideas as a result, so this workshop's going to be fantastic.”

Jennifer Weller, of Creativeworkz, will lead the ideation session and is also part of the judging panel for the Life Tech Challenge’s pitch night in September.

Fellow judges include The Border Mail editor Xavier Mardling and Jack Hurley, the founder of innovation hub Possum Works.

Mrs Weller said developing an idea was not as intangible as some might believe.

“Creativity is actually like anything else, you can train it, you learn it and there are tools and techniques that help you develop,” she said.

“It’s simply thinking about doing something differently.”

Being aware of the motivation behind an idea remained an important element.

“Because people don’t care what you do until they understand why you do it,” Mrs Weller said.

“Once you’ve got the why, you’ve got the passion.

“You really need that purpose because that drives you then to finish everything.”

She advised workshop participants to attend with an open mind.

“What they need to do is chuck out any preconceived ideas they have,” she said.

Mrs Weller also recognised attendees could end up competing against each other in the Life Tech Challenge and so might not wish to discuss their idea fully at the workshop

“It’s to give them some structure to think about how to present their pitch and develop their pitch,” she said.

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