Winning ideas for a better world

THE best innovative, problem-solving concepts of the third annual Ballarat’s Best Ideas competition have been announced.

Crowdsourced from community members via the digital suggestion box platform Suggest it, this year’s successful ideas responded to the theme of ‘people and planet.’

Nurse Anne Watson was awarded for her playful idea which would benefit St John of God Hospital’s temporary dementia patients in ward two west.

“We’d like to increase our stock of little dementia-friendly toys and activities we can bring out, to make their stay more enjoyable,” she said.

“These patients aren’t necessarily sick, but their carer may be stressed and they can’t cope anymore.”

Other winning concepts included a community garden project for Sebastopol led by Phoenix Community College students, and a nesting box initiative for schools and Federation University that would be led by not-for-profit group Ballarat Gardens for Wildlife.

Successful suggestions were identified by a judging panel made up of people from the City, Federation University, Crazy Ideas College, and industry representatives, and the people who submitted them won either an Apple Watch, Trek bike, or Eco Escape voucher.

Alongside support from project partners, the organisations set to benefit from these ideas have been awarded $500 to bring the visions to life.

Suggest it co-founder Nick Clare said most of the ideas submitted to the competition this year were about creating a better Ballarat community and world, and focused on topics including sustainability, sport and recreation, health, circular economics, and diversity.

“About one third of all ideas were submitted by people under the age of 18, and we had some great support from a number of schools in our community including Phoenix College and Loreto,” he said.