The Enterprise Group « Sister City Partners

Weave (Current)

Weave is an integrated suite of regional resilience and community economy redevelopment tools that can empower businesses and citizens to rebuild and activate local foundations in a world of rapid digital change. The suite integrates app-based business tools that strengthens customer engagement with a app that supercharges the economic potential of a trust-based referral network, all of which is ultimately anchored to a blockchain ledger to deliver transparency and trustworthiness.

The Weave Suite is being implemented progressively with our business-to-citizen package already available and actively used in various communities across the country. The live release of the referral package is scheduled for July 2017, and the blockchain development work is ongoing.

BeefLedger (Current)

BeefLedger is the practical application of cutting edge distributed ledger (blockchain technlogies with a real world food supply chain. The development of a beef supply chain blockchain ledger will enable full confidence in produce provenance, eradication of food fraud, and validated credentials to support value adding. The blockchain will also enable the streamlining of supply chain payments, to improve overall efficiency and participant profitability.

This project is being developed under the auspices of two Commonwealth Government co-funded Cooperative Research Centre frameworks.

A limited investment opportunity exists for select strategic partners. If you believe you can bring something to the project and would like more information, please contact Sister City Partners for an Information Memorandum.

CommEnergy (Current)

CommEnergy is a joint venture between Sister City Partners and Renewable Oil Corporation to develop and implement a North Queensland biofuels and biorefinery vision. The biofuels project is based on the commercialisation of fast pyrolysis technologies that will enable the transformation of regional biomass into unrefined bio-oil.

CommEnergy will place a short term focus on local, dispatch able electricity generation with the aim of providing North Queensland with more flexible and competitive electricity supply. This can include localised cogeneration, off-grid power and commercial users. In the medium term, the bio-oil can be refined to become a full "drop in" biofuel to provide fuels suitable for use in heavy industry, aviation and marine environments.

iNQ (Ongoing)

iNQ is a community initiated innovation and entrepreneurial ecology. It seeks to nurture and promote the development of innovation and creativity in all of its applied forms. It is anchored at facilities located at The Central (kindly provided by Honeycombes Property Group) with supporting facilities located at H-Block and the Bohle Workshops at TAFE NQ.

These combined facilities provide the space in which the innovators in our community - whether they are doing "head" work (software development in the main) or "hand" work (engineering design, making things, working "outside"), or a combination of both - can be nurtured to develop their full potential.

Power for the People (Soon to Relaunch)

Power for the People (P4tP) is a social enterprise that focuses on delivering energy efficiency through the power of collaborative consumption.

P4tP's business model builds from a platform of providing fully financed cost effective residential and business energy savings hardware solutions and drives long-term energy use transformations through the aggregation of member's energy consumption data. Proceeds are reinvested into the Regional Environmental Resilience Projects Fund, so as to create virtuous cycles that harness consumption expenditure and convert it into public value capital.

An Information Memorandum is available on request. Complete the form below.

Dongguan Eco Food Hub (in development)

Eco Food Hub is our collaborative food products export platform. It is a single export desk coupled with dedicated wholesale display space in the Dongguan Eco Food Hub, which is aimed at the development of collaborative food and food product export solutions to enable regional SMEs to reach larger and growing Chinese middle class consumer markets.

It is a modern twist on the age-old principles of cooperative and mutual forms of business organisation.

Accessing the growing middle class markets of China represents a significant opportunity for regional communities whose economic foundations are found in agriculture and food manufactures, as well as food technology and food-based services like food tourism.

The Eco Food Hub wholesale platform provides participating producers with an opportunity to mitigate market entry risks, while at the same time, participating in whole of supply chain revenues.

Want to export? Register your interest by clicking on the image above.

CommMesh (not active)

CommMesh is a collaboration with James Cook University researchers, Chinese technology manufacturers, Burdekin Shire Council and Townsville City Council to develop and deploy a whole of city environmental data and wifi communications network, integrated with an energy saving implementation of LED street lights.

The direct and immediate benefits of reduced energy costs and whole-of-life operational cost savings across the lighting network are enhanced by the blue-sky potential of comprehensive whole-of-city environmental data, and a ubiquitous wifi communications architecture. Enterprise earnings are reinvested into ongoing R&D initiatives, to support a foundation of innovation in North Queensland.

Outdoors Partnership (current)

Outdoors Partnership is a collaboration between university researchers, industry and consumer groups active in the growing Chinese outdoor tourism and adventure space. The collaborations with university researchers provides access to leading edge research and analysis of consumer trends and outdoor asset management issues, providing two way benefits for Australian tourism operators (in attracting outdoor enthusiasts to visit) and Chinese regional tourism management bodies seeking to improve the management of sensitive ecosystems and nature-based tourism assets.

Outdoors Partnership has entered into agreements with a number of Chinese outdoor consumer organisations providing access to a pre-qualified audience of in excess of 1.4 million enthusiasts.

This is ultimately getting fantastic Australian opportunities directly in front of ready-to-buy audiences.

Are you a tourism operator with great outdoor experiences? Would you like to get in front of 1.4 million ready-to-buy Chinese tourists? Send us an email (form below) if you think you can benefit.

CommNickel (completed)

CommNickel was a community buyback project launched in late 2015 in response to concerns raised about the then impending closure of Queensland Nickel, in Townsville. A creditor/stakeholder model of ownership was developed and a transaction negotiated with the asset owner. Extensive discussions were entertained with ore suppliers in New Caledonia to maintain continuity of supply, as well as with off take customers in Europe, Japan and the USA to sure-up cashflow.

Confronted with real environmental remediation risks, the project team proposed to the Queensland State Government to support an upgrade of water treatment facilities and undertake a complete overhaul of the tailings dams to fully mitigate future risks. At the same time, we had proposed to the Commonwealth Government that they support the upgrade and expansion of production capacity. Both proposals were in the form of long-term loans (as opposed to grants).

The introduction and subsequent passage of the Chain of Responsibility Amendment Bill in the Queensland Parliament created unknown uncertainties for future investors, and the proposed community buyback was consequently suspended indefinitely (mid-2016).

FinHelp (completed)

FinHelp was an initiative launched in parallel to CommNickel, to provide direct financial advice via licensed advisors to laid off Queensland Nickel workers. The initiative was provided free-of-charge and assisted over 200 workers and their families restructure finances, including negotiate mortgage relief. These FinHelp forums and individual advice sessions addressed issues like accessing superannuation through hardship provisions, dealing with lenders, mortgages and insurance, budgeting etc.

CommPort (completed)

In 2014 the then Queensland Government proposed to privatise the Port of Townsville via a long-term lease. A consortium was established by SCP involving regional local authorities to anchor a comprehensive proposal for the community to "buy back" the Port. In the event, a change of government took place in early 2015; the new government went into the election with a clear policy to not privatise the Port.

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