Announcement

BeefLedger’s collaboration with Food Agility CRC and Queensland University of Technology has been acknowledged by its entry for  two Good Design Australia Awards.

The two entries are:

  1. BeefLegends, a novel and highly innovative design-led project in ‘social impact’ creation; and
  2. The Export Smart Contracts projects as a whole, as a work of design, in the Commercial Services category.
The Good Design Australia Awards have been running for over 60 years, recognising the best in design across the country

Social Impact

The main objective of the Social Impact category is to recognise the role of design in creating a better society. For Good Design Australia, social impact is defined as:

“The creation of something new or the improvement of existing solutions that meet pressing unmet social needs and improve people’s lives. It is the process of inventing and implementing novel solutions to address intractable or ‘wicked’ problems, drive societal change and/or promote environmental sustainability.”

We firmly believe that the BeefLegends project, inspired and curated by Jock McQueenie, is a groundbreaking approach to technology-driven social benefit.

Services

The BeefLedger Export Smart Contracts project, developed collaboratively with Food Agility and QUT has been nominated in the Services Category.

“We see our journey with Food Agility and QUT as one fundamentally immersed in a design mentality, and to be nominated speaks volumes as to the design intent that brought all of us to the table,” said BeefLedger Chairman Warwick Powell.

Food Agility’s Design Central Process was Key

The Project journey began in November 2017 with the first Design Central workshop, held at QUT. It then evolved through ongoing discussions with industry partners, and other workshops facilitated by Food Agility. The final project scope emerged from a second Design Central workshop in July 2018, involving a host of stakeholders brought together by Food Agility, QUT and BeefLedger.

Workshop participants make commitments to the project with peers as witnesses during the Food Agility Design Central process.

The Design Central method aims to harness diverse perspectives and drive shared commitments to project outcomes. Participants are asked to nominate what they would like to get from participating in the project, and what it is that they would contribute. “In the end, these Food Agility-led processes culminate in formalised project proposals in which participants literally sign off on their commitments,” explained Mr Powell.

“We benefited from the framework put into place by Food Agility, as we embarked on this design journey. Fortunately, also, our QUT collaborators are international leaders in design thinking, led by Professor Marcus Foth. With such a dynamic design-focused group of professionals, the project has had an ‘unfair advantage’,” said Mr Powell.

Design Central II pulled threads together from diverse stakeholders to shape the final Export Smart Contracts project.

Adaption

In keeping with the ‘agile’ theme, the project has had to adapt along the way. We deployed and trialed a range of technologies, some of which proved to be dead-ends in the real world. Others, we found adaptive re-uses for, beyond the original expectations of providers.

As we drive towards the finish line, we can look back on the Food Agility + QUT Export Smart Contract project with a sense of pride and achievement. Breaking new ground is not easy, but the stakes that have been put firmly into place, position BeefLedger and the industry stakeholders we serve well for the future.

“There’s still a long way to go on this design journey. But we are really pleased with where we are at right now. And in no small measure, that has only been possible on account of the passion, dedication and agility of the team and our supporting partners,” said Mr Powell.

Good Design Awards

Australia’s annual Good Design Awards program is one of the oldest and most prestigious international design awards in the world, promoting excellence in design and innovation since 1958. It is recognised by the World Design Organization (WDO) as Australia’s peak international design endorsement program.

The Good Design Awards represent the diverse spectrum of design with 11 specific Design Disciplines, spanning 28 Categories. Through our annual Good Design Awards program, we proudly showcase superior examples of good design to a national and international audience.

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