Innovating Together for a Better Tomorrow

The pivotal role of public service is to empower the public by ensuring smooth and user-friendly interactions, delivering proactive, personalised, and easily accessible services, and adeptly meeting their evolving needs.

To progress into 2025 and beyond with public confidence and trust in healthy tact, it is critical to remain at the forefront of delivering smart, simple, and secure services in line with SA public demands. With the rapid progression of AI capabilities over the course of 2024, even tighter fiscal and budget constraints, and pressure on public service to keep up with evolving customer needs and expectations, innovating effectively and strategically has arguably never been as crucial.

Spanning Digital, Data, IT, CX, People, and Cyber, The Government Innovation Showcase South Australia, supported by our official partner, the Government of South Australia, aims to help guide and facilitate this significant, ongoing undertaking. The SA Government leaders and influencers will converge to collaborate and assess emerging requirements, 2025 public service priorities, and explore the most effective approach to harness the next wave of opportunity within AI, digital, operational efficiency, and service experience and ultimately cater to public needs, in the way they need.

View Agenda

Deep Dive Into Four Dedicated Tracks

Digital Services & Customer Experience

The Digital & CX event is at the heart of redefining public engagement and experiences by 2025. It is where inclusivity meets innovation, ensuring digital services are accessible to every consumer. This stream will showcase how to embed co-design and accessibility into service delivery, creating experiences that are intuitive and user-focused.

We delve into the transformative processes that refine citizens’ digital journeys, making every interaction with government services as seamless and personalised as possible, always with a focus on protecting personal data and ensuring privacy.

Data, Analytics & AI

The Data & AI event stands at the forefront of propelling government decision-making into a new era. This event is dedicated to the responsible and strategic use of big data and artificial intelligence to improve service delivery and policy formulation.

We’ll explore how ethical data practices and AI can be leveraged to enhance public administration, leading to more predictive and responsive governance. The sessions will focus on generating insights that respect citizens’ privacy and foster trust while enabling a more proactive public sector.

ICT Modernisation & Cloud

The ICT Modernisation event addresses the critical need for robust and adaptable technology frameworks within the public sector. As we progress towards a more interconnected government, this stream will cover the evolution of IT infrastructure that supports a secure, agile, and integrated approach to service delivery.

We’ll discuss how cloud technologies can enhance operational resilience and facilitate innovative government services, all within a framework that prioritises security and scalable solutions. 

Workforce, Skills & Capability 

The People & HR event will unpack ‘Future Skills Security – The 2025-2028 Workforce’ and how to enhance the SA Government’s positioning as an employer of choice, map the terrain of anticipated and required skill sets, and avoid ‘talent leakage’ to keep public sector skills inhouse.

We’ll explore the evolving intersection between people and AI/technology, and how to align the two for the greatest efficiency, excellence, and productivity. We’ll also discuss how to develop more sophisticated referring of talent, creating pathways for progression between Agencies, and working more collaboratively with HR data, while sense-checking creative and effective recruitment strategies.

2025 Speakers

Dr. Eva Balan-Vnuk, Government CIO, Department of Treasury and Finance, SA

Grant Stevens,
Commissioner,
SA Police

Nikunj Mandlas,
CIO,
Department for Child Protection SA

Billie-Jo Barbara,
Former CHRO,
Department for Child Protection

Mahadhir Aziz,
Chief Executive Officer, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation

Professor Anton van den Hengel,
Director, Centre for Augmented Reasoning (CAR) Australian Institute for Machine Learning (AIML),
University of Adelaide

Sally Nicholas,
Executive Director, People & Culture,
Department of Human Services

Martyn Campbell, Commissioner for Consumer & Business Services, Attorney-General’s Department

Dr Andrew Dunbar, Executive Director, Research and Innovation,
Department of State Development

Richard Hill,
CIO,
Department for Infrastructure and Transport

Dr Robyn Lawrence,
CEO,
Department for Health and Wellbeing

Kerrie Mahon,
Deputy CEO,
Clinical System Support & Improvement,
Department for Health and Wellbeing

Di Dixon,
State Project Lead, Lot Fourteen,
Department of Premier and Cabinet SA

Ben Taylor,
Assistant Commissioner, Data Insights,
Australian Taxation Office

Stuart Watt,
CIO,
Department of Primary Industries and Regions

Julia Waddington-Powell, CEO,
SAFECOM

Matt Opie,
CEO,
Defence SA

Dr Melanie McGrath, Research Fellow, Human Trust in Collaborative Intelligence Systems, Data 61 CSIRO

Dr Melissa McCradden,
AI Director,
Women’s and Children’s Hospital Network

Julie Holmes,
Commissioner of State Taxation,
Revenue SA

Professor Keith McNeil, Commissioner,
Commission on Excellence and Innovation in Health

Lukah Dykes,
Managing Director,
HeartAI

Peter Worthington-Eyre, Government Chief Data Officer,
Department of Treasury and Finance, SA

Jeannie Sim,
Chief Digital Health Officer & Director Cybersecurity and Assurance,
Department of Health

Lea Diffey,
Deputy Director-General, Innovation,
Department of Tourism and Sport QLD

Shikha Sharma,
CIO,
Department of Human Services

Will Luker,
Government CISO, Department of Treasury and Finance

Professor Martin Westwell, Chief Executive,
Department for Education

Jessica Pisani
Executive Director, Strategic Engagement,
Department of the Premier and Cabinet

Sally Smith,
Deputy Chief Executive, Department for Housing and Urban Development

Benjamin Lamont,
Manager, Technology Strategy and Data,
Australian Federal Police

Graeme Jackson,
Executive Director, People and Corporate Services Department for Infrastructure and Transport

Susan Pearce,
Secretary,
Transport for NSW

Adam Wilson,
CEO,
Essential Services Commission

Nathan Heeney,
CIO,
Australian Federal Police

Chris Bernardi,
COO/CFO,
Department for Education

Elise Vervetjes
CIO,
SA Water

Dan Hughes,
CIO,
Department for Education

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Attending Innovate SA for the third time has been consistently enlightening and beneficial, to continue learning and growing in our industry.

– SA Health

The showcase was fantastic with engaging presentations, useful round table sessions discussing real scenarios, and a good turnout of relevant exhibitors.

– Australian Taxation Office

Key Benefits of Attending

Learn about CX progression: Discover how leading SA Government Departments are integrating digital, in-person, and personalised journeys to enhance efficiency and reduce costs.

Hear from leading voices on data and AI: Ensure ethical adoption, meet evolving AI requirements, and learn how AI is being used to achieve efficiencies and higher customer satisfaction.

Join SA’s HR leaders: Explore strategies that position the public sector as the #1 employer of choice, attracting and retaining talent, and sharing skills across agencies.

Collaborate with SA Government leaders: Foster innovation, meet new public service expectations, and retain public confidence and trust, while gaining practical advice and inspiration from SA’s thought leaders on leveraging emerging tools and technologies to enhance public services and value.

Who Attends

Chiefs, Directors, Heads, Managers of

Digital Innovation
and Technology

Service Design and Delivery

ICT and Enterprise Architecture

Operational Excellence

Citizen Engagement and Experience

Data, Information, Analytics and AI

People, HR, and Workforce Planning

Culture and Change Management

Join your peers involved in:

Digital Services and Customer Experience:
Leverage digital innovation to deliver enhanced citizen services.

– Activate, build, and retain a solid connection with the citizen via digital innovation and intuitive service interactions
– Become better equipped to understand emerging citizen needs and promptly cater to these
– Design and deliver a simple, inclusive and accessible service that meets all needs and expectations
– Evolve Omnichannel: Avoid repetition in communication across channels
– Adopt emerging AI capabilities within the realm of CX
– Harness co-creation and user feedback to design smart, simple and connected services
– Balance digitisation and self-service with human connections: striking the X-factor within CX

Data, Analytics and AI:
Assess evolving data and AI requirements and harness emerging opportunities.

– Identify when and where to deploy AI: exploring potential areas where AI practices can drive both operational efficiencies and innovations, building on SA’s existing strengths and capabilities
– Achieve ROI on AI investments: explore how to democratise secure AI deployment and generative AI tools into everyday activity
– Navigate privacy, regulation & ethics to maintain public trust and adopt responsible and ethical AI practices
– Unlock the potential of emerging AI capabilities to drive responsible, transparent and explainable AI workflows, today and for the future
– Activate modern data and analytics engineering: Accelerate trusted data delivery, continuous monitoring and improvements to harness the full capability of your data and drive AI accuracy and impact
– Advance the development and adoption of AI to maximise efficiencies in service delivery and CX
– Responsibly scale business-ready generative AI to deliver tangible and reliable business outcomes

IT Modernisation and Cloud:
Define your strategy for modernisation to achieve agility, resilience and innovation.

– Modernise legacy ICT infrastructure to support innovation agility and meet the needs of continued digital advancement
– Overcome persistent challenges associated with legacy system modernisation and minimise disruption to existing systems and processes
– Deliver scaled technology change transformation and unlock ICT as an enabler of change
– Build a flexible and adaptive ICT infrastructure to sustain agility and innovation
– Implement resilient network, cloud computing, and data centre strategies to strengthen government operations, ensuring scalability and reliability
– Unlock the potential of hybrid IT and Cloud and navigate complexities of its roll-out to drive further efficiencies and enhanced service capabilities
– Create the foundation to deploy more advanced AI technologies and information management uplift

Workforce, Skills and Capability:
Unlock the potential of talent to deliver the next generation of public service.

– Explore the 2025-2028 workforce and how to enhance SA Government’s positioning as an employer of choice
– Map the terrain of required and anticipated skillsets, and strategies creative and effective recruitment strategies to attain them
– Avoid ‘talent leakage’ to keep public sector skills inhouse and develop more sophisticated referral of talent
– Assess the evolving intersection between people and AI/technology, and how to align the two for the greatest efficiency, excellence, and productivity
– Create pathways for progression between Agencies and work more collaboratively with HR data
– Sense-check creative and effective recruitment strategies
– Curate a culture conducive to innovation and promote creativity and psychological safety within your Agency

Benefits of Partnering

A crucial part of the solution to your challenges and vision, are our partners.

The Government Innovation Showcase South Australia allows you to put two and two together, connecting you with quality solution providers to drive efficiencies, enhance your service capabilities, and ultimately deliver better outcomes for citizens. Join this collaborative gathering to evaluate what partnerships align with your needs, and explore what they can do for you. Our interactive event formats enable you to make informed and strategic investment decisions, analyze product capabilities, and forge a deeper alignment with partners to deliver on your Agency’s critical priorities.

Foster partnerships and collaborate with the South Australian Government Digital, Data, IT, CX, and People leaders to uplift and build on the State’s service capabilities

Position yourself as a thought leader in emerging trends, technologies, and strategies to meet 2025 customer expectations and deliver the next generation of digital innovation and CX.

Join SA’s pioneering people and HR leaders to unpack progressive tools and solutions at the forefront of strategic workforce planning, attracting and retaining talent, and leveraging HR data to enable the sharing skills across agencies.

Pathe the way forward by unpacking the next steps for ICT modernisation within the State, and educate on how you can help solve critical challenges in overcoming legacy system limitations to allow modern service delivery.