RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub

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Blockchain opportunities for Vic Aboriginal native food businesses

Blockchain Innovation Hub

Around 70 native foods business practitioners attended the inaugural First Nations Native Food Blockchain Workshop at Healesville which was delivered by RMIT Digital3 and the Blockchain Innovation Hub in partnership with Agriculture Victoria and the Federation of Victorian Traditional Owners Corporation (FVTOC) in February 2024.

Key Takeaways:

  1. Around 70 native food business practitioners attended the First Nations Native Food Blockchain Workshop.

  2. RMIT researchers presented blockchain capability and opportunities at the workshop with collaboration and feedback from participants for contextualisation.

  3. Blockchain technology has the potential to support positive outcomes for Victorian Aboriginal native food businesses.

  4. Blockchain technology also:

  • offers new abilities for data management and governance by enabling decentralised and tamper-resistant storage

  • enables new and unique ways to further enable Aboriginal self-determination and data sovereignty for First Nations people within the native foods and botanicals industry.

  • offers a secure and transparent system for tracking product authenticity, with the ability to store and manage traditional knowledge and stories.

Gunditjmara Elder Professor Richard J Franklin said that blockchain was a promising pathway for Aboriginal data sovereignty and community empowerment. “Blockchain is crucial for uplifting our communities and ensuring improved outcomes.” he said.  “I am enthusiastic about the possibilities that blockchain holds, particularly within the native food and botanicals industry. Technology must be one of the many spearpoints we use in charting toward a tomorrow Australia.”

This First Nations Native Food Blockchain Workshop tapped into the objectives of the Traditional Owner Native Food and Botanicals Strategy which was developed in 2021 by FVTOC and the Victorian Government to create a strong, authentic and sustainable bushfood sector.

For more information on this project or to be involved, please contact RMIT Digital3 Director Learning Stuart Thomas.