First Ever Australian Jewish Innovation Hub Launches

The first Australian Jewish innovation hub for entrepreneurs, social innovators and change-makers will launch in Melbourne this week.

On Thursday 4 July an exciting and innovative new project aimed at engaging the Jewish community will be launched in Melbourne. As the first Australian Jewish innovation hub for entrepreneurs, social innovators and change-makers, The Eden Project will inspire, engage and develop a new generation of Jewish leaders who can address challenges facing the Jewish community through social entrepreneurship and innovation.

The brainchild of a diverse group of community leaders and entrepreneurs, including Danny Almagor, Deon Kamien, Amanda Miller, Malki Rose and Tracie Olcha, this idea was borne out of a Jewish Innovation Day staged last year by the Australian Jewish Funders, the ROI Community and the Charles & Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. In addition to support from those organisations, The Eden Project has also received support from Debbie Dadon, Danny Almagor & Berry Liberman, Nathan and Camit Cher & Family and the Jack & Robert Smorgon Families Foundation.

The Eden Project will support the complete innovation life cycle, from ideas generation and project development to facilitating crowdfunding campaigns, ongoing support and mentoring for project leaders. The Eden Project’s crowdfunding platform will promote collaboration within the Jewish community including existing Jewish community organizations, to develop and implement projects by or for the Australian Jewish community or Israel that address a social, environmental or community issue.

The Eden Project will select the most innovative and compelling projects (applications open in August) to be launched as month-long crowd-funding campaigns. The Australian Jewish community will have the unique opportunity to engage with these projects by supporting the campaigns and their leaders.