Showcasing innovation, collaboration and community
To wrap up the year and celebrate the achievements of the pilot, FB IDEAs hosted a Showcase event at the FB IDEAs Hub. It was an opportunity to showcase some of the projects and innovators we have supported throughout the pilot, but it also showcased the ethos of FB IDEAs and our role in Fishermans Bend: seeding innovation + activating place + fostering collaboration + building momentum.
Photography by Dre Chez Photography
On Thursday 27 November, the FB IDEAs Incubator and Innovation Hub was transformed into a curated marketplace of makers, startups, innovators and creatives - revealed a living snapshot of what FB IDEAs has seeded over the past two years and the emerging innovation ecosystem in Fishermans Bend.
Bunurong Elder, Uncle Mark Brown opened proceedings with a Welcome to Country, inviting the room to consider the deep history of place. Reminding us to come to Fishermans Bend with purpose, love and respect, before turning our attention to the future being shaped within it.
Nina Taylor MP for Albert Park then highlighted the strength of industry partnerships, the importance of innovation in placemaking and the important role of the FB IDEAs pilot has played as a catalyst. Alex Makin, City of Port Phillip Mayor also spoke to the value of FB IDEAs showing what is possible when you link businesses, community, creativity and ideas.
Yet before the speeches even began, those ideas were already alive. The FB IDEAs Hub was humming as innovators, researchers, makers, creatives, early-stage founders and guests gathered around the room - leaning in, asking questions, making connections and imagining possibilities.
Attendees drifted from stand to stand, pausing to marvel at a clean-tech prototype here, a rapid manufacturing process there, or a designer reimagining sustainability through circular practice. The density of conversation was part of the charm: engineers swapping insights with ceramicists; defence-adjacent startups speaking with arts organisations; scale-ups comparing notes with creative technologists. It was a kind of organised chaos — the productive, generative kind cities hope for when they talk about innovation precincts.
Seen collectively, the displays carried the unmistakable feel of careful curation: a cross-section of a precinct in transition, and a glimpse of what a truly collaborative innovation ecosystem can look like.
Since receiving its Victorian Government grant in 2023, the FB IDEAs pilot has supported over 70 projects across Fishermans Bend, including 39 which has been delivered or are still active. Many of those were in the room: early-stage concepts now standing as prototypes; ventures once searching for their first foothold now confidently sharing their progress; businesses that began in the FB IDEAs Hub now emerging as part of the precinct’s identity. With more than 60 startups and emerging businesses supported through project grants, in-kind assistance and access to transitional spaces, the program has become a quiet foundation in the transformation of Australia’s largest urban renewal area.
The showcase made that impact visible. From clean tech to creative industries, advanced manufacturing to circular-economy innovations, each exhibitor represented a different facet of the pilot’s guiding principles — innovation, diversity, experimentation and activation.
But it was their interplay that told the real story. Conversations sparked spontaneously. Business cards circulated. Collaborations revealed themselves. A precinct culture was being fostered and supported in real time.
For a pilot designed to test how activating a precinct might seed innovation and collaboration, the FB IDEAs showcase felt like an answer. Not a neat conclusion, but a living demonstration of what happens when you give people room to experiment, partners willing to back them, and a place where ideas can find each other.
It wasn’t just a celebration of a project. It was a celebration of community.
